Phone shopping for veterinary care is a risky business for your pet.

Phone shopping for surgical/anesthetic procedures is a risky business for a pet owner. The pet owner looking for the cheapest cost in the Treasure Valley will book with the cheapest clinic around due to the cheap cost- unfortunately, the only cost that is being cut is the standard of the pet's veterinary care. The reason why as a pet owner you need to be wary when it comes to shopping by phone from clinic to clinic is simply this: Not all veterinary care is the same when it comes to anesthetic procedures. There is no standardized veterinary care that you are guaranteed your pet will get when it comes to phone shopping. "You pay for what you get" is a very true statement when you are considering the pricing of veterinary care. Be sure when you call for pricing from other veterinary hospitals, you need to know you are comparing apples to apples. You don't want to just ask what the price is for a dental cleaning, a spay, or neuter- you want to know what is included in that cost that they are quoting you. Here are the things that are included in the cost of our anesthetic procedures at Broadway Veterinary Hospital:

1. The doctor does an exam prior to surgery (to make sure the pet doesn't have a problem that you as a pet owner can't see that might be a problem for your pet to go under anesthesia.)

2. We have a technician specifically dedicated to your pet for monitoring vitals before, during, and after anesthesia (you would think that would be important but not all hospitals have a person watching your pet's vitals while they are anesthetized, that person could also be doing the teeth cleaning at the same time! One way a hospital can cut down on costs but unfortunately also cuts down on the safety of your pet.)

3. We place an IV catheter on all patients that are anesthetized (so we can have direct access to your pet's vein if an emergency does happen, we can administer emergency drugs fast and usually save your pet's life doing so.)

4. We give your pet fluids (so we can flush out the anesthesia drugs and give your pet a less "hang-over" type anesthesia)

5. We have dental x-rays (this is extremely important if your pet has never had a dental before or is going to have an extraction of a tooth during a procedure. We have found so many PAINFUL retained roots from pets that went to other hospitals to get their teeth cleaned and removed a bad tooth but they left the root in! Ouch! Not all hospitals have dental x-rays.)

6. The doctor does not take appointments while your pet is asleep! (You might think this is common sense but another way other vet hospitals cut costs to give cheap vet care is to leave your pet with a technician while the doctor does other appointments. Another cut in cost that affects your pet's safety.)

7. We give your pet pain medications for painful procedures. (Pets feel the same amount of pain that we feel when we have surgery, they are just awfully good at hiding painfulness. Some hospitals won't give your pets pain medications because they don't act painful. It just seems like such a terrible thing to do to cut costs but it does happen at other hospitals.)

8. We have heated water blankets to keep patients warm and strive to keep our patients at 99 degrees or higher after anesthetic procedures. (Not all hospitals monitor pets' temperatures and sometimes they can drop drastically after anesthesia to low levels.)

At Broadway Veterinary Hospital, you can always rest assured your pet is getting the Gold Standard of veterinary care. We don't cut corners to cut costs and we don't risk the safety of your pet to save you a buck. We are all about what's best for the pet. That's why Broadway Veterinary Hospital loves your pet.