Country Vets vs. City Vets

Our dog Moe has been sick for a while now. I've been taking him to a veterinarian for the past year and a half. This vet is from my home town, a small country tourist-trap type of town. This vet is like no other. He charges very little for his services and people wait hours, yes hours, just to see him. Even though he is great, he doesn't have all of the stuff other vets have, like an x-ray machine. I had to take Moe to a vet here in the "city" to get an x-ray, and I thought I might as well get a second opinion from him as well. He confirmed that he does have a bladder-urinary stone and a constant infection from the stone that is causing Moe so much trouble. He sent us home with 2 weeks worth of antibiotics and a huge bill.
So now it is 2 1/2 weeks later and Moe has been in so much pain. I called this "city" vet back to see if there is another type of medicine we can try. No there isn't and the only other advice to us would be surgery or to have him put down. They won't do the surgery but would refer us to a specialist. This specialist charges around $2000 or more for a surgery. $2000! As much as we love Moe there is no way in this world we could afford to pay that much. So I scheduled an appointment to have him put to sleep on Monday. My heart was broken. Yes he's old, 13 yrs old, but he still has a lot of life left in him. How could this be it?
So in a moment of panic, I called the country vet. They told me to bring down his x-ray and they would see what they could do. I grab Moe and we race down there and wait for 3 1/2 hours before we were seen. I'm shaking, Moe is shaking, we are both so nervous either of us could barely stand. The vet takes a look at the x-ray, looks at me and says he could do the surgery, there is no guarantee that this will work but it's worth the try. Oh, and it would be $50.00 for the surgery. $50 vs. $2000. Why is there such a big difference? This difference almost cost Moe his life.
Moe spent the night in my home town with a vet that calls him sweetheart and baby. I called to check on him this morning and he made it through surgery and is resting comfortably. My dad is going to pick him up for me and bring our fuzzy four legged baby back home.
My country vet may not have all the fancy equipment that these city vets do, but he has more heart and compassion. And in the end that's what saved my Moe's life.