Sick animals

sav4it

I see that a particular thread about a very sick rabbit has been removed. I am not surprised but it was a shame as it would have served the purpose to prove the following point:
You take a gamble when taking on a pet. Most of the time they will be healthy and low cost but as was the case the other night, they can start to show serious symptoms and need urgent medical assistance.
If you are considering having a pet, ask yourselves the question:
COULD I AFFORD OUT OF HOURS FEES AND NECESSARY VET TREATMENT COSTS?
If you can't, then please don't have a pet until you can.
There is a closed sticky started by golly99 here. Whilst this is a very useful forum indeed, it can't be used instead of seeking expert advice from a vet. That is cruel and false money-saving.

blossomsuz

I would advise anyone to get insurance for their animals if they can. I worked at a vets for 6 years and saw first hand how much the bills can soar to. My own dog needed three operations during the time I worked there.
You can even get exotic insurance for snakes and lizards these days

JennyW_2

sav4it wrote: »

I see that a particular thread about a very sick rabbit has been removed. I am not surprised but it was a shame as it would have served the purpose to prove the following point:
You take a gamble when taking on a pet. Most of the time they will be healthy and low cost but as was the case the other night, they can start to show serious symptoms and need urgent medical assistance.
If you are considering having a pet, ask yourselves the question:
COULD I AFFORD OUT OF HOURS FEES AND NECESSARY VET TREATMENT COSTS?
If you can't, then please don't have a pet until you can.
There is a closed sticky started by golly99 here. Whilst this is a very useful forum indeed, it can't be used instead of seeking expert advice from a vet. That is cruel and false money-saving.

I agree. This isn't a forum to get medical advice for sick animals. TAKE THEM TO THE VET!

Froglet

I was following this thread,what happened to the rabbit then? Did it die,poor thing?

golly99

The Rabbit thread was the kind of the thing which drove me to write the other post before which is now a sticky. That post was clearly asking for advice and the suggestion that the person was waiting to hear what to do next on an internet forum to save £70 was making my blood boil!

I'll see if I can change the title of the sticky - thanks for the support guys, some posters in the sticky message didn't sound too pleased, but I hope the majority have got the common sense to seek expert advice when needed as I hate to hear about animals suffering unnecessarily.

I'm all for saving money where I can in most aspects of life in true MSE style, but I know I would bend over backwards if I thought our dog or rabbits needed treatment without a second thought - if cost is an issue most vets are usually very reasonable about this, allowing you to pay in installments for example if you haven't got pet insurance.

golly99

Well, seems I can't change the title as it's locked, so I guess we'll all have to keep an eye out for dodgy topics!

shanleypink

blossomsuz wrote: »

I would advise anyone to get insurance for their animals if they can. I worked at a vets for 6 years and saw first hand how much the bills can soar to. My own dog needed three operations during the time I worked there.
You can even get exotic insurance for snakes and lizards these days

Could not agree more. We have our maine coons insured. My youngest won a show but picked up a virus in the proceeds. 2 days in intensive care with a temp that could have killed and £600+ later we got him back. I paid £50 excess and that was it. Do not have a spare £600 lying around! For £10 a month it is worth every penny. The greatest thing about insurance is that YOU DO NOT hesitate in getting medical help, because you have the peace of mind that you are covered.

Curious_George_2

golly99 wrote: »

I'll see if I can change the title of the sticky - thanks for the support guys, some posters in the sticky message didn't sound too pleased, but I hope the majority have got the common sense to seek expert advice when needed as I hate to hear about animals suffering unnecessarily.

this is the last time im going to defend what i said....
I agree with what you said about taking your animals to a vet as soon as you spot symptoms of illness, and i agree that anyone sat here posting things like "my rabbit is sat in a puddle of wee and it wont move no matter how much i poke it, i called the vet but it would cost me £70 to get it seen" should not be allowed to keep animals, if you dont have the sense to figure out that animal is in trouble and you dont have the money for a vets appintment, you dont have the money for a pet.
infact i think you will find it was me that got the snotty PM from the rabbit poster because i told her that if she cant afford proper health care for a clearly very ill animal then she should give the rabbit up to someone who can.

my point in the sticky was that MOST people on here are not that stupid, if you have a question about something and you have nobody better to ask then chances are you would go to the vet and get charged a fee just for being seen, when a 20 second post on here asking if anyone else has had the same problems could have saved you that time, effort and wasted money.
and also that the majority of these boards go off topic one way or another and its not your job to be the internet police and tell people off because you dont like whats being said,

are you telling me you have never consulted a book? asked a friend, neighbour or family ANYTHING about your animals? (or are you James Herriot?)
some people dont have anyone else to ask what they may think is a stupid question and people here could suggest something you hadnt thought of... and as most threads end up with the words "take it to the vet if your not sure" anyway i found your snitchy post about it quite redundant.
its not all life or death.

tiamai_d

Does nobody think that maybe she was just looking for some support?

She had already spoken to the vet who told her to wait till the morning.

Most people who post about sick animals are looking for support, for someone to say 'Hey, my pet was the same, I took him/her to the vet, they got some medicine and in a week they were all better'.

Would be so quick to criticise parents on the family board who post 'My son has chicken pox, what do I do'?

Curious_George_2

tiamai_d wrote: »

Would be so quick to criticise parents on the family board who post 'My son has chicken pox, what do I do'?

jesus... in one line you have managed to sum up what ive been struggling to get across since day one!
whatever im trying to say in future im going to come to you with my 100 line answer and get you to knock it down to one sentance! :rotfl:
thanks

tiamai_d

Curious_George wrote: »

jesus... in one line you have managed to sum up what ive been struggling to get across since day one!
whatever im trying to say in future im going to come to you with my 100 line answer and get you to knock it down to one sentance! :rotfl:
thanks

lol! :rotfl:

thnaks!