Just fill my order. - This is my old dog, Rocco. He is my bud, a great friend, and an animal I love. As you can see he's a Dalmatian and he's about twelve years old. His biggest problem is really debilitating arthritis.
This morning I had to call the vet and request a refill for a drug called Rymadyl. A bottle contains thirty pills. For Rocco a dose is a pill and a half. Which means I get twenty doses out of one bottle for Rocco costing $48.10.
The pills are worth it because the drug quite literally is a wonder drug. Over a year ago on a weekend when Rocco really started suffering from arthritis I thought he was dying. He couldn't walk, he couldn't eat, he couldn't stand still without falling over. I had to help hold him steady so he could go to the bathroom.
On the first day of giving him the medicine I thought someone had switched dogs on me. He was up running around within hours. It was amazing.
After the first daily dosage for a week the doctor told me to switch to a dosage as needed for pain. And that is what I've done for over a year now.
My last time at the vet with him was in December. Rocco was in good, even surprising, health for an large old Dalmatian, a breed that, from what I've come to understand, lives 12 to 13 years. They did blood work and gave my bud a clean bill of health. The doctor then said something to me that intimated that though Rocco looks strong then, that because of his age I should expect at some point to see his health deteriorate quickly. I think he was honestly trying to prepare me for the possibility of him dying with in the next year or two. And you know what, I respected that.
I bought another bottle of Rymadyl at the office visit in December. 20 doses. On April 15 of this year I purchased another 20 doses. Today, July 18, I picked up another full bottle of 20 doses.
Now, having set the table, here is my frustration with my vet office.
In April when I called the nurse, office assistant, or whatever her title is, she put me on hold and claimed she took Rocco's file to the doctor for review. After a couple of minutes on hold she proceeds to tell me that they would fill the order but suggested I bring Rocco in for blood work so that they could check his liver. Apparently Rymadyl could be bad for the liver. Something the doctor explained to me earlier in the year.
But I was given all this information in such a way that was made to make me fill guilty for not rushing him down for blood work right then and there. At least that's how I was left feeling when I said, "No thank you."
After all, I had doled out 20 doses of this wonder drug over a three month period. That's 6.6 doses a month.
Today, another three months later, I got the same guilt trip speech and even a note on my receipt that he should be brought in for blood work.
This time I asked, after listening to the reason why I should bring Rocco in and spend another $100, just what other medication was available that I could replace Rymadyl with for pain.
I was told that Rymadyl is the best thing available.
I let that answer hang there for a moment hoping that she could figure out my frustration with what amounted to a sales job. What I really wanted to say was, "So basically, it doesn't matter what I do."
I know, and they know, that if Rocco doesn't get a dose of this medication every-now-and-then that he will die in terrible pain. I know, and they know, that Rocco is likely going to die within the next year or two of old age. And common sense tells me that 20 doses spread over three months is not that likely to cause Rocco liver problems.
I could understand it if I was giving him a does every day, but that isn't the case.
So why can't they just fill my order and stop trying to sell me stuff that I and Rocco don't need every time I talk to them?
Don't get me wrong, this veterinarian office is very good at taking care of and diagnosing whatever ails animals. But it seems to me that over the last couple of years, every time I go there I feel like I'm being pressured into buying something I don't need and don't want.
