Queen City Jacks

11/08/2024

Ironwater Splash getting laser treatments for the first time at our new veterinarian's office. This is our second visit and we are extremely happy and impressed with everything about the new place. Wish I would have changed to this vet years ago. If you look through the pictures of Splash he gets happier as the laser treatment progresses 😀 They were super kind to him.

11/07/2024

All our Jackals wear Paco Collars

10/25/2024

Everyone who is thinking of getting dogs should read this because you need to understand this reality:

***I am a 21st century dog.***
-I'm a Malinois.
Overskilled among dogs, I excel in all disciplines and I'm always ready to work: I NEED to work.
But nowadays I get asked to chill on the couch all day everyday.

-I am an Akita Inu.
My ancestors were selected for fighting bears.
Today I get asked to be tolerant and I get scolded for my reactivity when another approaches me.

-I am a Beagle.
When I chase my prey, I raise my voice so the hunters could follow.
Today they put an electric collar on me to shut up, and you make me come back to you - no running - with a snap of your fingers.

-I am a Yorkshire Terrier.
I was a terrifying rat hunter in English mines.
Today they think I can't use my legs and they always hold me in their arms.

-I'm a Labrador Retriever.
My vision of happiness is a dive into a pond to bring back the duck he shot to my master.
Today you forget I'm a walking, running, swimming dog; as a result I'm fat, made to stay indoors, and to babysit.

-I am a Jack Russell.
I can take on a fox, a mean badger, and a rat bigger than me in his den.
Today I get scolded for my character and high energy, and forced to turn into a quiet living room dog.

-I am a Siberian Husky.
Experienced the great, wide open spaces of Northern Europe, where I could drag sleds for long distances at impressive speeds.
Today I only have the walls of the house or small garden as a horizon, and the holes I dig in the ground just to release energy and frustration, trying to stay sane.

-I am a border collie
I was made to work hours a day in partnershipwith my master, and I am an unmistakable artist of working with the herd.
Today they are mad at me because, for lack of sheep, I try to check bikes, cars, children in the house and everything in motion.

I am ...
I am a 21st century dog.
I'm pretty, I'm alert, I'm obedient, I stay in a bag...but I'm also an individual who, from centuries of training, needs to express my instincts, and I am *not* suited for the sedentary life you'd want me to lead.
Spending eight hours a day alone in the house or in the garden - with no work and no one to play or run with, seeing you for a short time in the evening when you get home, and only getting a small toilet walk will make me deeply unhappy.
I'll express it by barking all day, turning your yard into a minefield, doing my needs indoors, being unmanageable the rare times I'll find myself outside, and sometimes spending my days sunk, sad, lonely, and depressed, on my pillow.
You may think that I should be happy to be able to enjoy all this comfort while you go to work, but actually I’ll be exhausted and frustrated, because this is absolutely NOT what I'm meant to do, or what I need to be doing.
If you love me, if you've always dreamed of me, if my beautiful blue eyes or my athletic look make you want me, but you can't give me a real dog's life, a life that's really worth living according to my breed, and if you can't offer me the job that my genes are asking, DO NOT buy or adopt me!
If you like the way I look but aren't willing to accept my temperament, gifts, and traits derived from long genetic selection, and you think you can change them with only your good will, then DO NOT BUY OR ADOPT ME.
I’m a dog from the 21st century, yes, but deep inside me, the one who fought, the one who hunted, the one who pulled sleds, the one who guided and protected a herd still lives within.
So think **very** carefully before you choose your dog. And think about getting two, rather than one, so I won't be so very lonely waiting for you all day. Eight or ten hours is just a workday to you, but it's an eternity for me to be alone.

10/24/2024

Protect your pets from the horrors of getting lost at the Humane Society’s upcoming microchipping event.

09/26/2024

VETERINARIANS WITHOUT LAW OR LIABILITY

Whenever the issue of pricing or competency comes around, Veterinarians and Vet Techs like to compare themselves to human doctors and nurses, which is quite a fine comparison provided they are comparing themselves to doctors and nurses in 1890.

A case in point from when I went in for kidney stone surgery. The fellow who operated on me was not a general practitioner — he's a board certified urologist (*my* urologist) who is also head of surgery at the local hospital. He’s insured up to his teeth because if things go south, my life and limbs are worth more than a $500 used dog.

There was an anesthesiologist too -- he visited with me before things started up. He too is board certified, and heavily insured. He was going to knock me out in order to shove a camera and a laser up my urethra. No argument from me!

My last major surgery was 20 years ago for the removal of a fatty tumor encapsulating an old nail-gun injury. The growth that was removed from the side of my thigh was pretty deep and ended up the size of a chicken egg. No full knock-out anesthesia -- I was awake through the whole thing. Ditto for some recent dental bone implant surgeries -- no knock out anesthesia. I was awake for all of it.

Why do human doctors and anesthesiologists typically shy away from knocking out a perfectly healthy adult with no heart, blood pressure, liver, or breathing issues? Simple: Full knock-out anesthesia is very dangerous.

And yet veterinarians thinks nothing of doing it to a 15-pound dog for simple teeth cleaning.

Why? Simple: there are "pearly white profits” in teeth cleaning and little or no liability if things go wrong. Never mind that your your vet never went to dental school and that dental scaling has not been shown to be of any use even on human patients. Focus instead on the fact that the vet tech never went to anesthesia school, and that vet tech school is often a correspondence school course that qualifies you to do a job that pays all of $34,000 a year.

What’s my point?

My point is my dentist is not my GP doctor and my GP doctor does not do dentistry — he will tell you he is unqualified -- as will the state and a jury if it gets to that.

We can go down the list.

My urologist does not treat skin diseases. He will tell you he is unqualified.

My rheumatologist does not sell food or prescription drugs in his waiting room. If I asked him why not he’d give me a weird look and tell me it’s against the law.

But a veterinarian?

They sell food in the waiting room and prescription drugs as well.

They claim expertise in everything from hip and knee surgery to parasites, from dentistry to psycho-pharmaceuticals, and from endocrine systems to anesthesiology.

To be fair, most vets are doing a pretty decent job within a narrow set of goal posts that involve vaccines, minor skin issues, spay-neuters, and ripped claws.

These folks are "general practitioners" who operate as 19th century general practitioners for humans once did, unencumbered by liability insurance, and laws against bill padding, self-dealing, up-coding, and selling medically unnecessary goods and services.

The good news is that today's vet can lean heavily on simple over-the-counter vaccines, antibiotics, and topicals to prevent and treat a lot of fairly common pet health issues.

But are they the equivalent of human doctors and nurses? Nope. In fact, most of their core business practices would be illegal if tried on a human.

Look at vaccines. Your pediatrician and general practice doctor is not pounding on you to get annual measles, mumps, rubella, typhoid, and polio vaccines because if they did so they would be prosecuted for fraud. Your veterinarian, on the other hand, is free to revaccinate your dog every year, or every three years, for everything under the sun, and never mind if it's not medically necessary.

You know why doctors don't sell antibiotics and Jenny Craig meals in their waiting rooms? Simple: it's illegal, because the enticement for self-dealing and price-gouging is obvious. With veterinarians, it's a never-you-mind.

The veterinary trade is not proscribed from self-dealing, operates with little fear of liability, and has no enforcement mechanism to curtail price-gouging or the foisting of medically unnecessary services. In fact these are core business practices at most vets.

In the "good old days," you could generally find a rural independent vet who lived within the bounds of his or her knowledge base and what their clients could afford. Today, however, veterinary practices are being vacuumed up by large holding companies and operated as pet store-adjacent service companies. Is your veterinary practice owned by a candy company? There's a good chance it is!

When veterinary practices are owned by candy companies and holding companies, the bottom line is always the bottom line, and the push to industrialized levels of upcoding, bill padding, and delivery of medically unnecessary services becomes their standard "policy".

All of this is abetted, of course, by the rise of pet insurance which obscure the costs paid, as well as "pet wellness plans" which offer folks little more than $10 worth of vaccines and puppy worming medicines in exchange for $360 a year in annual premiums ($30 a month).

None of this is to criticize veterinarians for what is their "standard practice" any more than it is it to criticize human doctors for their "standard practice" which too often *also* involves kickbacks, upcoding, medically unnecessary tests, and massive bills obscured by insurance payments and behind the door "adjustments" designed to extort people into embracing ever-rising insurance premiums.

It is to say, however, that veterinarians and vet techs are NOT operating in the same world as human doctors and nurses, and claims to the contrary are, for the most part, nonsense.

09/25/2024

Is pet insurance worth it? CR rated eight insurers: ASPCA, Banfield, Embrace, Fetch, Healthy Paws, Nationwide Pet Insurance, Pets Best, and Trupanion.

09/25/2024

A fellow took a couple of stuffed Jack Russell terriers into an antique dealer for appraisal.

“What would you expect them to fetch if they were in good condition?" he asked the dealer.

"I don't know... Sticks?" 🤔

09/24/2024

09/21/2024

https://www.iveterinarians.org/about/member-practices/

Member Practices

09/21/2024

https://www.vetlocal.us/find-a-vet

Neabore Veterinary Clinic’s mission is to meet the needs of pets and humans in their local community by providing the highest quality service and veterinary medicine at the best value.

09/20/2024

https://fortune.com/2024/05/09/private-equity-petco-pets-inflation-covid-19-veterinary-clinics-vet-hospitals-rabbits-dogs/

Costs for veterinary services have jumped by more than one-third since March 2020, and some owners are choosing economic euthanasia.

09/20/2024

https://www.pehub.com/shore-capitals-mission-veterinary-partners-explores-sale/

Why is vet care so expensive?

The chain of general practice vet hospitals has grown quickly and successfully via an M&A-driven playbook, but that adds complexity in valuing the Detroit-based business.

09/20/2024

https://stateline.org/2024/03/29/vets-fret-as-private-equity-snaps-up-clinics-pet-care-companies/

Why are the vet bills so much higher in the past few years?

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — About a year ago, veterinarian Melissa Ezell started noticing subtle changes at the midsized animal clinic in Huntsville, Alabama, where she works. She said she and other vets were feeling pressure from management to make a certain amount of money from every appointment. If a pe...

09/20/2024

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/vet-private-equity-industry/678180/

"Indeed, some pet owners told me that they realized that ownership of their vet had changed only after what they thought was a routine visit resulted in recommendations for mounds of tests, which turned out to have shot up in price. Paul Cerro, the CEO of Cedar Grove Capital, which invests in the pet industry, says this issue is frequent in online reviews. “People will say, ‘I’ve been coming here for four years, and all of a sudden I’m getting charged for things I’ve never been charged for,’ and they give it one star.”

This has been happening to me at Mason.Animal.Hospital

Buyer Beware. Anywhere you take a pet get a written estimate before the day of your appointment.

Corporations and private-equity funds have been rolling up smaller chains and previously independent practices.

09/12/2024

Vaccine Clinic Alert!
We’re excited to host our upcoming Vaccine Clinic, offering affordable services to keep your furry friends healthy! Here’s what you need to know: 📅
Details:
• Dogs must be on a leash, and cats should be in secure carriers.
• If your dog is a bit unruly, no worries! We’ll have you enter through the side door after checking in at the front desk.
• Walk-ins only, no appointment needed, and no exam fee.
• Please don’t bring sick pets! This clinic is for healthy animals only.
• Payment is due at check-in. We accept cash, checks, Care Credit, or credit/bank cards (a 4% fee applies for debit/credit).
• Prices and services for this clinic are listed in the attached image.
• Flea & tick and heartworm prevention will be available for purchase. Please note: To buy oral preventatives, your dog must have had a negative heartworm test and/or a nose-to-tail exam by our vet within the last year—no exceptions.
• New Addition beginning August 17, 2024! 🔍 Limited Exam Option: For just $25, we’re offering a limited exam during the clinic. This will allow your pet to get the prescription flea and heartworm medications they need! Please note, if the doctor finds any issues during the exam, they will need to be addressed at a follow-up visit.
🐕‍🦺 Your pet’s health is our priority—we look forward to seeing you at the clinic!