The ‘Price of a Pal’ Strikes a Chord

After reading Bettijane Levine’s article and especially Dr. Jerrold Tannenbaum’s statements, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Regarding Bear, the hit-by-car cat with $800 plus in emergency bills--where was the owner when he was out roaming the streets? Pet ownership carries a tremendous responsibility--cats did not evolve to detect and evade speeding objects weighing thousands of pounds.

In this day and age, I am appalled to still see cats with distemper, dogs with parvo, tomcats with fight-wound abscesses, elderly intact male dogs with perineal hernias, and mixed-breed older bitches with life-threatening uterine infections, all of which can be cheaply and easily prevented.

I spend most of my client contact time educating the pet owner about preventive health care. I push vaccination, neutering, good nutrition and responsible pet ownership until I’m blue in the face, and still I must deal with diseases of ignorance and neglect. Some days it seems I care more about my patients’ welfare than their owners do.

And lastly, regarding Tannenbaum’s remarks: It’s obvious he works in a university and has little concept of the realities of private practice. He feels we vets have a “moral obligation” to provide credit to pet owners. Dr. Tannenbaum, I am not a banker. I am a doctor. I am most certainly not in the business of making high-risk unsecured loans. I do not intend to incur $125,000 in bad debts as did a colleague of mine. I make $8.90 per hour after taxes and business overhead, and I cannot afford the financial folly he proposes.

GAYLE A.. ROBISON, Encino