Vet money

[Lynn & The Chins]

My first chinchilla, Mr. Whiskers, was kind of an impulse buy. After I discovered him in the pet store while I was on vacation and immediately fell in love with him, I went straight to the library to go online and find out as much as I could about keeping a chinchilla as a pet. Up until then, I had no idea that they could be kept as pets.

After determining that if he survived the 8 1/2 hour drive home to Denver, I would need a vet, I realized that I lived less than a mile from the world famous Exotic Vet, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald!!! That was easy!!! :thumbsup:

I have no special fund set aside for emergency situations, but I do have more than one credit card that I could use if necessary. I don't think that there is a limit to what I would spend; it would pretty much depend on the situation and what the possible outcomes would be. Quality of life would mean everything for me, though.

 

[3CsMommy]

After determining that if he survived the 8 1/2 hour drive home to Denver, I would need a vet, I realized that I lived less than a mile from the world famous Exotic Vet, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald!!! That was easy!!! :thumbsup:

I'm jealous, for 2 reasons: 1, you're that close to an AWESOME vet (nearest one to me is... 90 min. drive away), and 2, you live in one of the most beautiful areas I've ever visited (had a boyfriend from Lewiston that took me out for a visit).

As for my set up... it kind of went out the window when I took in stray cats & had to move within the same month. I did track down chin vets closest to where I lived when I got the chins before bringing the first one home. Right now, my "Oh $#!%" fund is down to about $150. That'll get cleaned out the rest of the way when I get the kittens fixed next month. Before that, I had a $300 limit to what I could personally shell out, and the Former Taller Half had a high limit credit card for that kind of emergency. Between us, we could have handled probably $2,000-$2,500 worth of medical expenses before we had to worry about lousy decisions. :cry3:

As for chin-savvy vets in this area... There's a vet nearby that could probably do an x-ray, start an IV line, or give me baytril, but beyond that, my options are few, which means I'd likely be calling a local C&H member that breeds chins and asking her what to do if something horrible happened to my guy.

 

[tkc1038]

Well my chin was a rescue off of Craigslist, I researched in the few hours before I went to get her. I then found this Fabulous site, My Vet was easy I have a wonderful Vet here that treats every kind of fuzzy and not so fuzzys around. They even have a fish Vet!! They also take payments which is great between 2 emergencys with ferret and the Chinny attack I wiped out my cushion. I had a $500.00 cushion set aside but that flew out the window.

 

[stephysaurusrexx]

I have wanted a chinchilla for about 7 years, but have only ever seen one and knew of one person who owned one so I thought they were harder to come by. I knew a tiny bit about them, but never did any research. My boyfriend and I bought some rats and tried that out and our rats got sick so now we just have one, and we wanted something else. We were aiming for a ferret but his parents said no :[. We got a cage for free from one of our friends, then one night just decided to get a chinchilla. Less than a week later - I bought Conquistador. So I guess getting my chin was kind of on impulse, but kind of thought out as well. Ever since the night we decided to get one I've done MAD research, and have been reading about them nonstop. I'm always on this forum reading new things and thinking about future with chinnies =).

I think it's important to be prepared for an emergency, and I'm sad to say that I am short on funds right now and have nothing set aside as of yet. I also don't know of a vet in my area that deals with chinchillas if something were to come up, I'm sure there are some - I just haven't found one yet. I don't know how much I would be willing to spend on something if it were to happen, I guess it would depend on what my financial situation was and what type of problem there was. =/ If something were to happen I'd do anything and everything in my power to save my little pets, no matter if it was my chin, my rat, or my dog in trouble; I love my animals like they were my children, when I walk into my boyfriend's room I always say "Mommas home!" and my rat Chloe get's more excited each time I say it ^.^

 

[hkkjstwcl]

I don't have a special chin account within my savings, but I am willing to spend as much amount as necessary. Not only for vet bills, but I am aware that I might have to fly all my chins to Japan, if I need to move in the future. Imagine all the paperworks and transportation fees... it's gonna be a rock stars' moving! They are my irreplaceable babies.... After all, I am the one adopted so many chin babies... so I will take care of them no matter what.

 

[Mystic]

My first chinchilla was not an impulse buy. I made sure I did all the necessary research so I could care for my new pet properly.
As far as the vet, I didn't have one at first but within a week of having my chin I found a great exotic vet. I have about $500 put away in case of an emergency.

 

[Stackie]

My emergency fund was used the other night when I had to take a trip to the emergency vet. Just walking into the doors of an e-vet is not cheap, and it was at a time like that that I am grateful that I have the vet fund. I had just made a car payment and bought several things that the chins and I needed, and realized that I made a mistake in my check book that made me think I had more money than I actually had.

Thankfully the vet fund is in a separate bank account, so I knew I had a specific amount of money in it and it had no influence on my regular bank account.

 

[Parkerspetchins]

I did lots of research before I decided to get chinchillas and I had my vet lined up right after I picked out my future chinnies from the breeder.

As far as vet costs, I will spend as much as necessary as long as quality of life is good. I have had dental surgeries for one of my chins twice now and after the second surgery was told that it looks like she will need surgery (roughly 700.00 - 800.00 per) every few months so now I am faced with a tough decision. I have reconciled that I will have her euthanized when she starts to decline because the amount of time she has pain free is relatively short compared with the time she spends in pain and unable to chew on her own . Money has little to do with my decision.

 

[Ilysuiteheart]

My first Chinchilla was kind of an impulse buy. Yeah I know I am an idiot, but I am a sucker for things in misery. I was actually wanting a rat ^^, but this chinchilla was there and it was the sweetest thing and one of the employees was sneaking it raisons so it was friendly towards him, so I bought him. Luckily for once, one of the employees DID know about chinchillas and told me to avoid plastic, get feed without extra stuff in it, large cage...ect..
So There isnt really a chinchilla vet near by but there is exotic vet and small animal specialist. One day Chinchy got really sick, he was really lethargic and just looked plain miserable(wasnt eating) out of the blue. I took him to the ER(which prob jacked off the price) not like it could do much because the specialist wasnt in other than keep him hydrated. Long Story short for some reason, he had a kidney infection. I spent roughly 1000 dollars fixing him. Somehow he got miraciously better. I have no clue why he got it, but now I am way more careful and clean his cage thoughorouly.
Yeah Impulse buys are a no go.

 

[lessthansign3]

I'd researched chins when I got Zumi, but I honestly don't remember if I'd looked up a vet at all. I don't think I did, though... I'm sure I assumed that, "Hey, I live in a big city, so if something happens I'm sure it will be easy to find a vet!" I did know of an emergency vet, though, so I guess that's better than nothing

I have various credit cards to fall back on (my finances are pretty ugly, but I always manage somehow) in case of emergencies, and I'm very fortunate that I haven't needed to take Zumi in yet. I have, however, taken lots of other critters in this year... If I had to guess, I'd say I've spent at least $800 just on my one rat! A couple months ago the clumsy girl fell onto a wood chew toy that had become sharp... She had a huge gash around her genital area and needed stitches. That was $300, and I'd already spent probably $500 on other things for her (mycoplasmosis, another injury because she's clumsy, etc.)

Oh, and before that happened, I was just at the vet three days earlier with my boyfriend's cat who was having diarrhea. I learned my lesson about saying, "Hope I won't have to come back for a long while now," as I leave their office

Still, I love my vet's office (for anyone else in the Twin Cities area, it's VCA Cedar Animal Hospital in Minneapolis). There are three vets there that have treated my critters, though Dr. Monroe, who just saw my bunny for a check up last Wednesday, is my favorite as she's real good with exotics. They have a board with photos of their new clients on it, and probably half the time I'm in there they have a picture of a chin or two up! <3

 

[cherylslittleangels]

Its important to locate an exotics vet as soon as you get your pet. I live in a fairly large TOWN thats full of vets but NONE of them are exotics vets. I have to travel 60 miles to get to one, but they are good and relatively inexpensive. I know their hours and how to get in touch with them after hours. It just gives you peace of mine knowing that you'll know what to do when something bad happens

 

[greychins]

When I got my first chin, it was an impulse buy, but thank god, he has never actually had to go to the vet. It wasn't until my 3rd chin that I ever had to search out a vet. I didn't have a good vet lined up, the best I could find was the regular cat/dog vet in town. I went to several cat/dog vets that said they treated chinchillas on the side (the chin in question had teeth spurs), and every single vet said I either needed to go to some vet in Chicago (that I don't know the name of) or Dr. Lennox (birddr.com) in Indianapolis... As I was still living at home with no car and my parents were not driving me to Indy or Chicago, one of the cat/dog vets did anesthetize my Toby and grind down the teeth points (he eats oat hay in addition to his timothy now)... and thank god I had no additional problems... until I moved to Indy several years later (YAAAAY). In fact, I moved just in time for my mom's chin to stop eating and warrant a visit to Dr. Lennox (who is terrific, btw, she called France on a consult for my mom's chin because she'd never seen the specific problem before). So now, where I live, Dr. Lennox is like 30 mins away... it's great.

Anyway... I never had any vet fund set up for a chin, and I still technically don't have actual cash put aside, but I've spent quite a bit. One rescue I spent over $1000 on, so my limit for what I'll spend is reasonably high. While I don't have money put aside, I do have a credit card with a $3500 limit and Care Credit with a $3700 limit, so I think between the two, I should be covered if the need arises...

 

[suzi1780]

I got lucky as well as far as vets go, my kitties vet also has an extoic clinics so I didn't have to do any research.

As far as money goes, I don't have money set aside in a bank account but I have a credit card that has nothing charged on it and use that as my emergency money if needed.

As far as my money limit, I don't have one. I had a very dear kitty that required a lot of medical attention and I probably spent around $9000 (if not more) in the 9 years I had her and I would spend double that and more if it would have kept her alive and healthy, but her poor little body just gave up on her. Lucky my boyfriend and I make decent money together and I know if one of our fuzzy children needed expensive surgery or something, we would spend the money without question.

 

[shadow29]

Buying our two chins was a big decision for my girlfriend and I. We read up on them, travelled to breeders, looked into the best supplies, purchased everything we needed, found a vet, and finally chose Koda and Mia.

As far as vet money, I put away $10 a month for an annual vet visit ($120 for the pair) and have a $500 reserve for emergencies - which is kind of difficult because both my gf and I are students and short on cash!

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

When I sell a chin I make sure to tell the new chin parents to look for an exotic chin vet that KNOWS chins right away - just in case. I offer to find one for them if they can't seem to find one. I always recommend my vet if they live anywhere near where she practices.

 

[chinchildren]

no emergency fund here but i do have access to A LOT of money if need be and a husband that shares the sentiment of my signature. that being said i find i think twice now before i spend the money because the question is what will be the quality of life for the animal and how much suffering will it have to endure in order to spare me the suffering of letting it go! spending the money is the easy part - the hard part is making the RIGHT decision...

 

[Tman1005]

I got my first chin after months of research, and I had already found a good chin vet.

 

[Sierra]

I seen a hedgehog on Emergency vets getting a shot for mites (so jealous to the person who is close to Dr. Fitzgerald) and immediately wanted one. I think I was like 10 but just being me I researched and researched and finally got one when I was like 14 or 15. I got hired into a vet's office at 16 and knew more about hedgehogs then the vet did. I wouldn't take him for his yearly exam or anything bc obviously what was Dr. Harrison supposed to do. He had no idea. Perkins finally passed away about 3 months ago, the same day that I got Phoenix, bc of old age and he was unable to run on his wheel anymore so I knew right away that he was unhappy.

Dr. Harrison is about 10 minutes away and between the two of us we could fix any illness that Phoenix has. Since I am a college student with a 2 year old daughter and my fiance is the only one working (7-up semi-driver at age 20, youngest in the whole company) we currently do not have any money saved up because it is winter and his job is seasonal but in the summers we save everything extra that he gets so if an emergency does come up, we have some cushion. Plus we also have my Ferris State University refund money every semester which ranges between $500 to $3000 and yes I know I have to pay it back eventually but right now it is all the extra money that we are able to come up with. In the winter months, we have enough to pay our bills and possibly have a few splurges if its a good deal and of course I still spoil Phoenix with some new treats here and there and Dustin just shakes his head and just lets me throw it in the basket because I write out the bills, he just brings home the money.

 

[TashaR]

I had a regular vet and an emergency vet ready -- and then come to find out when I have an actual emergency, the exotics vet was out of town. However, they were able to direct me to an emergency vet who could take care of my chinchilla. (Of course, it was an hour away...goodie.)

I'll be honest and say that I never planned to spend as much as I did on Terrah's vet care. It was 2300 dollars in sum for her spay, her follow up checks, her visits for fluids, and the food I had to order her. I'm very glad she's okay right now but the honest reason that I chose to go ahead with the C section and spay is because she had one live baby first. I couldn't justify putting her to sleep and basically condemning her live baby to death as well. Not to mention Terrah was otherwise healthy save for the birthing complication, which let the vet to believe she would do well post op. I'm a full time grad student so I have very little money. But I did have a credit card set aside for animal emergencies, which came in very handy.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. It made me understand the responsibility of breeding chinchillas better than anything else I've learned in the ten years I've been breeding and owning chinchillas.

 

[Jazicat]

We did a lot of research before Edgar and was going to take him to the vet our birds go to. After talking to our breeder we decided a parrot specialist wasn't necessarily the right vet for Edgar. We found one I like who specializes in ferrets but owned a chinchilla who was abandoned with a broken leg when the owners didn't want to treat her.

Personally I don't think an emergency is the best time for an animal to see the vet for the first time so Edgar got a well baby exam. As a new chinchilla owner I wanted to see her do an exam and kind of interview her. It wasn't in any way necessary but the right decision for us. I now know that I like the vet and that Edgar has someone close by in an emergency.

We try to always have a little money set aside for emergencies and $1000 - $1500 is what I would love to be able to keep aside if not more. We have lots of other pets so it's nice to have it but not always possible to maintain in this economy. However we never hesitate to take our pets to the vet and the amount we will spend depends on the prognosis.