Vets' Fees

[Katie]

I do grimace on occassion when I am paying out vet's fees but as I am very happy with my vets and trust them 100% I would certainly not change to either of the local alternatives, both of which are cheaper and both of which I have had bad experiences with.

 

My vet has 4 local practices including a well equipped hospital which I always visit for the more serious problems (still only 15 mins away) as oppossed to the more local branch where I go for vaccs etc. They always allowed me to charge treatemtn for foster dogs direct to the rescue and reduced the fees for neutering rescue dogs. The receptionists are always polite and knowledgable (so unlike the ones at my doctors) and they are excellent at letting you pay bills in a couple of installments if you are struggling. I also love the fact the vet calls you back when he says he will and that they do not give out unnecessary drugs, don't charge for repeat consultations for the same problem and never try to push expensive 'special' diets at me.

 

So all in all I would rather pay a little extra for the excellent service.

[mum24dog]

I've read lots of posts recently (on here and other forums) where there is a criticism of vets' fees. I am a simple minded individual who believes that if you don't like the fees your vet is charging, you move to another vet who offers cheaper treatment. It may not be the same level of service i.e. maybe you don't get your blood results same day, or some such other thing, or they may not be able to offer you some other services without referral, but if that's what you want, that's ok.

 

I am a little peeved (and I'm not a vet nurse, or vet, or someone associated with a vet, who could have any interest). Nor are most of my animals insured!! I am, however, pretty upset that people on here and other forums are criticising vets who do a 5 or 6 year training period, work their way through an apprenticeship at a vet or vets (plural) and maybe then start their own practice. At this point, they wiill have a fair few debts . So to actually try to charge a 'fair' fee per hour, plus for their expertise, they are criticised. Plus, if it's their own practice, the costs of their premises, staff. drugs, taxation etc. I think we shoud have a level of insurance where we're not that worried about each and every bill (or the means to pay for it).

 

I am very confused - how are vets supposed to earn a living then? In general I think that vets fees reflect the level of service the practice can offer and the areas which they operate in. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm interested to know what others think?

 

I couldn't agree more.

Of course there must be vets who think only about making as much money as possible, but I'm willing to bet that most vets are just out to try and make a reasonable living from doing a job they take pride in and have worked extremely hard to qualify for.

If there's one thing I hate it's injustice. There is a regrettable tendency nowadays for people to look for someone else to blame for things that go wrong in their lives. In this case, if they can't afford the vet's fees, it must be the vet's fault.

I go to a cheaper vet and my dogs aren't insured (except 1) - but I go there because I like the personal and friendly touch, not because it's cheaper. However, I do accept that if anything tricky crops up, I may well have to be referred to somewhere more expensive.

I'm lucky that I could afford to pay. If I couldn't, they'd all be insured.

Either way, it's my decision and if it went belly up, I wouldn't be blaming the vets.

 

Pam

[Kats inc]

I've had good and bad experiences with vets.My current vets have,thus far,been great.I do think that vets fees are expensive though.I know drug costs because of what I do and believe me they do overcharge quite a fair bit for many drugs.Out of hours costs are usually too high I think.I was in for literally 10 minutes with Bert recently and the bill was almost £120,it was 10.30pm so not particularly late and I had taken him to their surgery,it wasn't a home visit.I do think that's pretty damn steep.

I am also highly trained but don't earn anywhere near as much as a vet.I incurred debts during my training...those are poor excuses to charge higher fees.I'm sure the same applies to many other people in many other professions.

I'm afraid some professions such as doctors,vets,lawyers etc see themselves as a tad elite and charge as such.However I recognise we do need their services,sadly they know that too.I do have loads of respect for many vets don't get me wrong but in reality the costs are high for pet owners in my view in many cases.

[cycas]

I don't mind paying for the service, the facilities and the training. We had a superb vet who I trusted completely when we lived in Cheshire, and if he had doubled his prices we might have moaned and groaned a bit, but we'd have stuck with him.

 

However, with the vet practice I have been using till recently, you always see a different vet, they never seem to read the notes before you go in, and particularly with my rabbits I've often felt that I knew more about the issues than they did. Sometimes they would try to administer a drug without telling me what it cost or exactly why they were using it: particularly with antibiotics, that strikes me as a rather cavalier attitude.

 

As you say, the thing to do in that situation is switch, but as we are in a rural area our choice is somewhat limited. I've swapped our animals to another practice.

 

I don' t know if it will be more expensive or not: it's certainly not the most important thing to me, but there seems to be little transparency on vet pricing: it's not like you get a menu when you go in! It can be hard to know if you've chosen a cheap one, a justifiably expensive one where you are paying for extra facilities and services, or one that is charging over the odds. I'm hoping that this time I've picked the second one, but time will tell.

[Wendbert]

I've noticed in my vets that since the changes to prescriptions, they have a price list of some of the more common/standard items (wormers, ear cleaner etc) that can be purchased from the reception without a prescription. When any of mine or fosters have been in for specific treatment or operations, they have been more than happy to provide a quote

[nouggatti]

I'm in a slightly different situation as I live in Ireland and a visit to the doctor is £35 to start, then add on costs of prescriptions which we also pay for.

 

Compared to that, my vets are excellent, they have three practices, four main vets, then their associates.

I get on well with the vet nurses who also do reception and if I want to see a particular vet I do.

 

As well due to my years in rescue, they are happy to give me basic supplies so that I have a first aid kit at home that includes antibiotics and anti in flammatories.

 

What I also like about my vets is that they know that I am not a joe soap and am as likely to question their diagnosis/treatment as not, and they accept that and discuss options with me, almost as an equal.

 

They are never slow to offer a diagnosis, but equally quick to say what they think something is, and suggest treatment rather than definitive tests if the cause is clear to them (I've a cat with hormonal problems and they were happy to do the test or treat without the test, and made it clear they were happy not to do the test as they felt it was a waste of money due to the symptoms, the cat is now recovering and very well)

 

They are expensive, compared to some other vets, but given that I have ten dogs, seven cats, and a fairly constant stream of fosters, they take that into account and I am rarely charged consultation, instead I am billed for the drugs etc.

 

When I did rescue they gave a blanket 30% discount for any rescue dog procedure too.

 

I'm in a very very specialised profession and have had high levels of ongoing training, and when I look at what my company charge for me on an hourly basis, my vets charge nothing near that level.

[ziltha]

Today, I had to use the emergency service VetsNow for Sam one of our cats as our vets no longer provide emergency cover. When I rang and made an appointment one of the first things the receptionist said was "I have to tell you that the charge for a consultation will be £97+ treatment and medication." Now I think that is a bit steep particularly as there was a notice in the waiting room saying out of hours/emergency consultations were £60.

 

While we were waiting someone called and from the half of the conversation we heard their cat was having difficulty breathing. After the receptionist told the caller how much the consultation would be the caller backed off and eventually agreed to monitor the cat although they were told breathing problems needed seeing right away. It was clear the the caller had difficulty with the cost.

 

I have no problems so far with the medical side of the service. Sam is now recovering from life-saving emergency surgery for a blocked urethra. I've no way of comparing the cost for the treatment, we seem to be looking at £700 - 800 before he's transferred to our vet on Wednesday for recuperation and further surgery to remove the catheter. Luckily, we will be able to meet the cost but I'm still concerned about the cat with the breathing difficulties whose owner had problems with the £97 consultation fee.

[merledogs]

There are some vets who do it for the right reasons and are happy to make a decent living out of it, then there are vets who are greedy and see it as a licence to print money. Yes, they have overheads but some of them charge ridiculous prices. I was quite happy at my previous vets which I have recently changed from because I found out that one of the partners was married to the woman who runs Leigh 'Animal Sanctuary'.

 

The vets I have moved the animals to (who I've had a couple of animals registered with before) I am really not happy with. When I went in with a couple of mine for their boosters he was trying to push flea and worming treatments onto me until I told him that I bought them off the internet. The prices were about the same as the other vet and my previous vet has the only 24 hour animal hospital in the area so my animals would get treated there in an emergency anyway (except I would get an inflated bill because my current vets would add a mark up onto it). They also won't deal directly with my insurance company at the vet I'm with now, even though when I rang and asked them if they did before I switched to them, they said yes they did.

 

It's easy to say "change to a different vet if you're not happy" but what if there isn't another vet you would be happy with close by? I live in big city and yet I find it difficult because all the vets in my local area belong to one of the two 'groups', ie the ones I was with and the ones I am with now.

 

I have managed to find a vet who is slightly further away but who seems to be independent and will be taking a couple of mine to him for boosters in January and if I like him then I will switch them all to him but if not, then I will seriously consider going back to my other vets who I switched from on a matter of principle.

[collies r best]

My vets are marvellous and i trust them fully especially Matt who i see regulary. I'm there so often that i get discount and when i phone up the receptionists recognise my voice!They can be expensive though for things like spaying , i'm looking for a border collie and when i get one if she isnt spayed it'll be around £250 But i cant really complain about them because its an excellent place with someone there 24hrs a day so you just have to accept it. They have an 'set up' with a finance company so if treatment is very expensive you can get a loan through the vets to this company which has a low interest rate .

[lucyandmeg]

but he has offered to provide me with all the prescription drugs i'll ever need!!

Umm, i'm not certain but i think it is illegal to import prescription only medications from abroad as we have different licensing laws over here.

I personally get a bit annoyed when people insinuate all vets are trying to fleece them, most of the time their costs are high because of high overheads. In one consultation fee they will need to recover a proportion of the cost of building ad maintenance, vets time costs, receptionist and nurse time, bills and rates, and equipment running costs. Its really quite cheap when you consider all of the hidden costs, plus they do have to make some profit, but its certainly not as much as people make out. Drugs cost an awful amount of money, you only have to get private healthcare treatment and you realise that we are very lucky to have the NHS!

Mind you, i think the care you may get from the vet is ten times better than human healthcare, if i needed a vet at the weekend i know i can phone the emergency number and will be put through to one of my vets almost immediately. I know from experience that to see a doctor you may have to wait several hours!

[Kats inc]

Mind you, i think the care you may get from the vet is ten times better than human healthcare, if i needed a vet at the weekend i know i can phone the emergency number and will be put through to one of my vets almost immediately. I know from experience that to see a doctor you may have to wait several hours!

 

Some drugs are quite cheap or so my copy of the BNF tells me.I'm sure the animal versions can't be much different.Also my out of hours vets use my own vets practice as their base so have no overhead costs as such apart from their own wages but £117 for a 10 minute visit...that's £702 an hour Forgive me for thinking that is a little expensive an hourly rate.The only cost to take out of that were an analgesic injection and 6 analgesic pills.

[Ingrid]

My daughter is a vet nurse, but not at the pratcie I use, yes I could get cheaper treament by changing, but I have been with my present vet for many years and can't find fault with the service so I'm happy to pay the extra.

 

What you have to think about is that when you call a vet out of hours you are not only paying for their services, there is always a vet nurse on standby as well, you won;t get charged unless they are called in but it does mean that they have to stay around for evenings or weekends so they are close to the practice in case needed.

 

This year my daughter was on call from midnight on christmas day, her car has broken down so it meant no alcohol to celebrate and the possibilty of being dragged out of bed in the early foggy cold hours to get her to the surgery, she was also supposed to be on call new years day as well !

[Kats inc]

I've worked early/late shifts over Christmas and new year and also done nights too.I got time and a half as an NHS nurse.I suppose for most nurses that would work out at about say a maximum of £30 an hour.Still thinking overpriced I'm afraid.

Edited December 28, 2006 by Kats inc

[Wendbert]

£117 for a 10 minute visit...that's £702 an hour

 

 

 

in reality, its probably not as much as that though, is it

 

i have called the emergency vet before now, the vet calls me back, gets all the details and then arranges to meet me at the hospital 15 or twenty minutes later, so by the time the vet has got to the surgery, seen the animal and then gone home again, its far more than ten minutes.

[Kats inc]

in reality, its probably not as much as that though, is it

 

i have called the emergency vet before now, the vet calls me back, gets all the details and then arranges to meet me at the hospital 15 or twenty minutes later, so by the time the vet has got to the surgery, seen the animal and then gone home again, its far more than ten minutes.

 

No in this case it literally was 10 minutes.I drove to the larger of my vets bases where the out of hours vets are based.I went in,they examined Bert,administered the injection,dished out the pills,wrote out the bill,I paid and left.In and out in 10 minutes.I travelled to them,they were already there.They are onsite and anyone wanting help travels to them unless it is a dire emergency and requires a home visit.God alone knows how much that would be.To actually get them to agree to open the door and let me in I had to agree to the initial consultation fee of £97 which yes I find shockingly high.I had to agree to this on the phone when I actually contacted them.