These discount or "Value" providers are not telling the whole story by any means, they are "spinning" tales and manipulating numbers to make it appear that they are on equal ground with other full service pet care facilities, but less expensive. Some are implying or outright alleging that most veterinary facilities over charge for their services and that the "Value" provider can do the same work for less money. Therefore making it look like quality facilities are ripping people off. Here's what they're not telling you, discount providers list prices on what they call "shoppable" items. These are items that are the most common for people to call around and get general pricing on. Things like spays, neuters, declawing, dental cleaning, vaccinations etc. What they don't tell you is that their prices for other services (if they even offer other services) are typically quite a bit higher than the average full service veterinary facility. Further, the quality of care in these discount places pales in comparison.

High quality veterinary facilities have a professional staff, some of which need to licensed by the state, like RVT's (the veterinary equivalent of a registered nurse) High quality facilities also have rigorous training programs for all other staff persons from the reception staff to the RVT assistants. The discount providers typically don't have anywhere near the same level of trained staff and they usually run very short handed increasing wait times for clients and adding medical risk to patents from improper or incompetent supervision. Sometimes these discount providers have staff persons that are absolutely unqualified to dispense medications, assist in surgeryand monitor anesthesia, that's assuming they monitor at all. The reason that these discount providers can supposedly offer lower pricing on a few "shoppable" items is because they charge more elsewhere and they cut corners with staffing and medicine, sometimes leading to pets getting inferior care this can be potentially life threatening to the pet. As a consumer, if you are considering a discount or "Value" provider you should look at the next page and ask the discount guy if they do all of these things, like pain management after the surgery. In the case of a spay, this is a MAJOR abdominal surgery and if the proper care and pain control are not used your pet will be in a great deal of malaise and discomfort for days.

At Animal HealthCare Center (AHCC) we pride ourselves on quality and safety at a reasonable price. I will plainly tell you that we are not the lowest price in town, but we are certainly not anywhere near the most expensive, especially relative to the caliber of services performed by our highly trained professional staff. Low end prices are typically indicative of cutting corners particularly in areas that the average pet owner would really never be the wiser. Scary!



Here is a sample list of items that a high quality Animal HealthCare facility, routinely does during any anesthetic procedure. The discount providers don't even come close to this level of necessary care and safety:

Cost of anesthetic procedure (Spay, Neuter, Abscess Trmt etc.) includes:

• Pre-anesthetic exam; to ensure that your pet is health enough to be sedated.
• Blood work to evaluate internal organ function and anesthetic risk.
• Gas inhalant anesthesia (isoflorane- used in human hospitals)
• IV catheter and IV fluids
• Postoperative pain management
• All hospitalization (overnight)
• Surgery
• Constant electronic monitoring of heart rate and blood oxygenation
• ECG monitor during surgery
• Anesthetic Tech present during throughout procedure
• Technician monitored recovery period
• (12-day post-op surgery recheck and suture removal)

Our dental cleaning includes the following:

Pre-dental - These services are performed at least 2 days prior to the dental.

• A complete physical exam is performed.
• Blood work to evaluate internal organ function and anesthetic risk.
• Oral antibiotics are prescribed and are to begin forty-eight hours prior to dental cleaning. This precaution greatly diminishes the risk of infection from oral bacteria during cleaning.

Dental

• Dental evaluation
• Gas inhalation anesthesia
• Continual oxygen and heart rate monitoring with pulse oximeter
• Ultrasonic scaling (Cleaning)
• Polishing
• Two extractions if needed
• Pain management (the day of the dental)
• Out patient day care.
• Owner update with post dental progress report.
• For animals six years and older, intravenous catheter and fluids.

Protection Options

• Fluoride Sealer: Desensitizes exposed dentin, strengthens tooth enamel, decreases the rate of plaque build-up, stimulates remineralization of the enamel.
• Provey Seal: Reduces dental caries and lesions as well as tartar build-up. The sealant robs the bacteria of nutrients and air, thus they can't survive. Bacteria cause plaque, which becomes tartar.
• Home Sealer Kit: Begin 30 days after the prophy to maintain protective covering on teeth. (Apply every 7 days)

Post Dental (6-8 weeks after dental)

• Dental exam, evaluation of pet's mouth for the reoccurrence of plaque and gum disease.
• Recommendations for continuing home dental care.