Here's how I chose which vet would do London's knee reconstruction. She ruptured her CCL (equivalent to human's ACL) chasing a scrub turkey down our slope. A favourite pastime...
We took her to our normal vet, of course, whom we love, who diagnosed her and prescribed anti-inflammatory medication and rest in the hopes it would heal itself. It didn't, so we took her back.
The surgeon at the practice had a look at her and told us about what needed to be done. I booked her in, and was later complaining about the cost--I mean--discussing her operation with work colleagues. One mentioned that a vet surgeon in a nearby country town did lots of these surgeries for almost half the price. So I checked him out.
COAST VET
appointment --in a few weeks
cost -- $1200-1500
post-op --over-night stay
physio --advised several sessions
recovery -- confine her 6 weeks
other --needed to order sutures
COUNTRY VET
appointment--day after tomorrow
cost--$800
post-op --take her home
physio--not mentioned, and I thought he'd laugh if I asked
recovery --let her use the leg
other --as we left our meet and greet appt., he introduced us to a bouncy boy dog walking by who had had the surgery a month earlier.
The country vet ended up costing $787 and so far we think he did a wonderful job. Ask London in a few weeks...right now she's not speaking to us.
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