and long time waits to get a pet in as one of the reasons the vet and I missed the diabetic crisis that came on suddenly, out of nowhere it seemed, and cost me my cat last year. It was three weeks before I could get him in to the vet's. I will say the vet tried everything to bring him out of it, but in the end, his organs just gave up. I was out of my mind... feeling like the worst pet person in the world and how badly I'd failed him. But it did dawn on me the next time I tried to get a sick cat into see them that trying to get an appt quickly was an impossibility. And there's really so few vets in this town, they're all the same. I now know if one of my cats (or my dog) is showing distressing signs to tell them it's a crisis and I need an appt *now*. When I do that, I can usually get in within a day, but it will cost probably 2 to 3x the cost of the office visit to do it, on top of whatever tests are done. Still, there is the chance then that I'll go home with a cat who'll live... unlike my poor baby, Sweetie. I wasn't given that option when I tried to get her in. It still causes me so much distress I cry as I write this.
I heard that these firms were buying up vet offices. I cannot express how much I feel this should NOT be allowed -- no more than they *should* be allowed to buy up hospitals and medical clinics for us. There are just some things where profit should not be the overriding concept. And when you have these corporations buying up the medical businesses - both human and animal - suddenly "health" is no longer the concern. I feel the same way about privately owned prisons, too. Where human and animals life and welfare is concerned, in no matter what way, money should NOT be the overriding concern. Blessed be my Sweetie. She was only with me for a year, but she left huge tracks in my heart.
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