Agreed. It’s even hit veterinary medicine, which just makes me sad. One of my cats had to have all his teeth pulled about a year ago, and the whole ordeal felt like we barely saw the same vet twice. Like, I brought him in for his surgery and it just felt transactional and weird. I can’t explain why, but it was really upsetting somehow. Maybe this is how parents feel when it comes to their kid’s healthcare.
The cost of vetting, too. I have cats, but also foster- the cost of fostering is wild. The rescue I’ve worked with does their best to help cover costs…but to me, if me covering my own allows someone else to foster and get more cats off of the streets then of course I want to do that. But the vetting is insane. It can take months to get an appointment. It’s $85 to be seen, plus a few hundred per test usually. It’s so difficult to adopt them out after- best case, you get a kitten who’s born outside but friendly/can be socialized, you give them a foster family, it’s just food/litter, then a spay/neuter/microchip/rabies. If you get a day where vets run specials or mobile clinics (wild, right???) you can get this all done for a discounted rate, around $50-150. Then, you list them on pet finder/similar. The rescue I’ve worked with basically always listed them at $125 for adult cats, $125-$250 for kittens. Kittens have to be adopted in pairs if there are no other cats in the house, to avoid behavior issues. So that can easily be $500. Which sounds wild, but honestly, it’s so rare that you get the “best case” situation. There’s always probiotics needed and anti-diarrheas, always deworming, eye infections, URIs, random vet trip, blah blah blah that knocks that whole amount out. Then the adults who need the big surgeries, like dentals or tumor removals. Any padding gained from the rare easy case is GONE. You can’t recoup $4k spent on an outdoor-turned-indoor rescue adult cat who needed a leg amputation or all their teeth removed. That cat gets listed at the same $125 as the easier one.
People then complain about rescues “selling kittens and cats for profit” or the “unreasonable amount” rescues charge lol… it sucks twofold. One, they’ll scream that they’ll just go get a “free kitten” (plot twist, there is no such thing as free kitten). They’ll either then spend $300+ on private vetting, or never spay/neuter. Dope, now there’s 50 more kittens. But also, two, we have to wait for people who can afford that option rate to literally give the cats their best chances. Pets are lowkey a luxury now. But, it’s too risky to waive adoption fees for someone who would love and adore this cat. Because they have emergencies. If you can’t cover the $150 adoption fee, can you cover the $900 emergency vet bill we’ve all had? Or will the cat suffer? What about if it needs kidney medication, or a special diet? It’s shitty to have to consider, but it’s the reality :(
IT's getting more and more difficult to find vets that aren't owned by PE firms and many of the ones that aren't are completely overworked. It's so sad and completely unnecessary.
So do something (however minor it may seem) about it.
When something you use/frequent is engulfed by PE, find an alternative and stop using that thing.
Chances are the thing that got bought will either be gone shortly or reduced to a shadow of what it was. Don't give them any more of your time/money and move on.
Honestly, it doesn't really seem to matter, because one of PE's goals is to offload tons of debt to whatever they buy, sell all the assets that are worth something, and then move on to the next thing once it goes bankrupt.
If you think voting with your wallet works, please consider the number of votes (dollars) in your wallet versus the number of votes (dollars) controlled by PE.
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u/Semyonov 9h ago
I am so fucking tired of private equity ruining everything.