Vets Fees

[Saddlesoap]

I was loathed to comment on this, but as a Veterinary Nurse, my thoughts.

Prescriptions. A 15 minute vet appointment (at my practice) is £40. So effectively 1min of vet time = £2.60. Our £23 prescription charge equates to about 9 minutes. Which I think is fair. How much does a solicitor charge for a letter?
Online Pharmacies can sell drugs for less than veterinary practices can buy them for from our wholesalers.
If you are against the corporates such as IVC, CVS, Medivet, Vets4Pets, Linnaeus, consider what else they own and what else they are profiteering from.
(Pssst, IVC own Pet Drugs Online)

Regarding using human drugs. You realise that's just how much they cost? @Mamacita, I'm intrigued, how much are you buying them for from your doctor?

@ranchdistressing . I'm really confused about your insurance saying that's a separate claim, pretty sure that's not at all right. £900 for an overnight stay does sound extortionate, depending on what's wrong with your pet and the care required. When I work nights, I doing a lot more than just taking your animals temperature!

Clients expectationsband demands of vet practices has grown exponentially in the past 6 years. The phones calls we get at 2/3/4am are insane and it takes its toll.

The main thing I would like the public to remember is. The vets, nurses, receptionist you are seeing daily are (mostly) not in charge of setting prices, and we certainly aren't taking in £100k's a year. New graduate vets earn between 35k-40k. Usually working 40 hour week, nights and weekends on call. As a 16yr experienced RVN, working 37hrs /week, with management responsibilities I'm on £30k.

My profession has one of the highest suicide rates of all. Please be kind to us.

 

[ranchdistressing]

This news has been pretty prominent on TV today and I'm just wondering what people's thoughts are on it?

Vet prices: Investigation over concerns pet owners are being overcharged

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says it has identified "multiple concerns" in the UK vet market, including over pricing information and the buying up of practices by big chains.

news.sky.com

Personally, I welcome it. Cannot be investigated/changed quick enough for my liking. Vets undoubtedly do a wonderful job, and it must be very emotionally challenging. I also understand they have massive overheads to cover, but my God! They know how to charge!

A few examples from my experience in the last few years....

Just today I've requested a repeat prescription for pain meds for my dog. A paper prescription so I can buy online and save quite a significant amount of money. Do you know how much the vet wants just to print/sign and email me the script?

£25!!!!

That is nothing to do with overheads like equipment or staffing. It'd take less than 10 minutes to do with only two people and a printer involved. I don't mind paying a fair fee, but this is borderline racketeering if you ask me.

Another experience that's similar....My other dog needed a course of antibiotics for over a month. The first two weeks worth I got from the vet at the cost of £175.00!!! For 28 tablets. Do you know how much the same course costs to buy online? Less than £7!!!! The markup on that is absolutely insane. Even with the cost of the prescription (which two years ago was only £8!) it was still outrageously cheaper to buy online that through the vet.

Worst still are companies like Vets Now. Who literally have pet owners over a barrel in emergency situations. Especially as they're buying out all the independent vets offering overnight/emergency care, meaning most folks have nowhere left to turn.

About five years ago, my youngest dog came down with a horrible internal infection (that was acquired while at the vets in their hydrotherapy tank!) and was rushed to our usual vets. Because of the state she was in, she needed monitoring and fluids overnight before they could operate in the morning. The usual vet doesn't offer any overnight care, so we had to take her to the nearest Vets Now. Our vet supplied the fluids and meds, so all VN needed to do was monitor her temp and condition and be there to operate should she take a turn for the worse.

She was with them for less than 8 hours.....and it cost me £900!!!! £900 just to take her temperature and make sure she wasn't actively dying! Over £100 an hour!

The pet insurance also charged me an additional excess because taking her to VN was considered a separate claim. So I was out of pocket even after paying extortionate monthly insurance fees.

The whole veterinary system needs looking at because why they do provide a valued and essential service, I do think many (especially these franchises) are taking the absolute piss out of people.

Also, it's a very clear picture of what life would be like in this country without the NHS.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

Why shouldn’t they charge for a consult fee as well as the medications? They are spending their time looking at your pet, examining them, possibly doing tests - deciding what medication is needed. You’re paying for their time and knowledge, so imo you should have to pay for that. Without that time and knowledge you wouldn’t be getting any drugs.
I just had a quick google because I wasn’t sure but if a human went to a private doctor they’d pay a consult fee, prescription fee and then pay for the medication, so why should vets be any different as they are providing the same service just for animals. I think maybe the only time they don’t charge for consult fees are vaccinations from what I’ve seen.

I’d say reason most practices don’t do their own out of hours anymore is due to staffing issues plus probably the extra cost to the practices. Theres a shortage of vets and nurses in the UK, which brexit made worse as a lot of vets were from the EU.
Probably easier to find staff for full time night shifts than doing a mix of days/nights but a lot of practices that would do their own out of hours would use on call staff so they wouldn’t always be at the practice. This will also possibly effect the running of the day time practice if staff who have been there all night for an emergency then cannot work the next day. Also if a practice does out of hours with on call staff then animals may possibly be left in the practice alone at night with check ups throughout as the staff won’t likely stay the whole night, which a lot of owners wouldn’t like.

 

[ranchdistressing]

I understand why vet services are expensive but the medication costs are a piss take. It costs me about 60 quid for a 10 day course of antibiotics for my cat. These are the exact same antibiotics that I would get if I had an infection, even need to sign a waiver saying I understand this is human medication.

Had the same issue with Omeprazol. One of my dogs can't take painkillers because they make him vomit but Omperazol prevents it. The Vet wanted to charge me £75 for a 10 day prescription. I nearly died!

I get it for less than a tenner on a pre-paid prescription certificate. Fortunately, I had a surplus too so managed to dodge that one, but the mark up is absolutely criminal.

I get that we pay a reduced price for NHS prescriptions due to the arrangement with pharma and what not, but holy shit! That is a major and unnecessary mark up!

For years our Vet was a small practice ran by 2 guys & their other staff, you never made an appointment, just turned up first come first served style.
Sometimes they never even charged for things like nail clipping, one of the Vets even came to our house to put our old greyhound to sleep.

Sadly, this is what seems to be missing in veterinary medicine. Another horrid tale is our vet charging £9.40 to tie a piece of dental floss around a skin growth, which I could have done at home for free. It took less than 20 seconds to do.

I understand their time is valuable, but when you get charged that price for things like this it really does leave a bad taste in one's mouth.

Prescriptions. A 15 minute vet appointment (at my practice) is £40. So effectively 1min of vet time = £2.60. Our £23 prescription charge equates to about 9 minutes. Which I think is fair. How much does a solicitor charge for a letter?

A solicitor's letter is not a fair comparison. That takes a lot of effort and understanding of a case to provide the correct written response. I cannot see how that in any way equates to processing a prescription, especially for an established/longterm condition.

Also, when I've been charged just under a tenner for a vet to tie dental floss around a skin growth, which took less than 20seconds - I struggle to find sympathy for those who decide these prices. It's extortion.

Another example, my youngest dog suffered a spinal injury and temporarily lost the use of her bladder. 24 hours after she came home we were having a hell of a time expressing her bladder. We knew if she didn't pee she'd be in real trouble, so we took her to the vet, in office hours....with our own puppy pads.

Nurse came out to the car, within less than thirty seconds she'd expressed the bladder and we were off home. We didn't even step foot in the practice. Yet the bill came in at £10.20. For using our pee pads, in the back of our car, simply to help a paralyzed dog pee to prevent serious medical complications?

I legitimately don't know how they sleep at night by charging these kinds of fees. I appreciate that the vets and VN's are not always the decision makers in pricing, but something has to be done because these kinds of costs are profiteering.

Online Pharmacies can sell drugs for less than veterinary practices can buy them for from our wholesalers.

Of course, but there is no way a 0.25p (to the public) per dose drug works out to be £6 at wholesale to vets. Not even including delivery charges or membership fees does it justify that percentage of a markup.

@ranchdistressing . I'm really confused about your insurance saying that's a separate claim, pretty sure that's not at all right. £900 for an overnight stay does sound extortionate, depending on what's wrong with your pet and the care required. When I work nights, I doing a lot more than just taking your animals temperature!

We disputed it, even with the financial ombudsman, but they ruled in the insurance's favour. (Surprise surprise!) I've no doubt you're doing more in most cases, but when our vet had provided the fluids and our dog was nil-by-mouth due to needing surgery first thing in the AM, other than taking her out to pee there wasn't much else to do. They admitted as much, so I really struggle to see how they can justify over £100 an hour.

My profession has one of the highest suicide rates of all. Please be kind to us.

I understand that to be true, and I would never take my displeasure with the pricing out on the actual vet or VN.

However, I know two close friends who have actually committed suicide due to the loss of their pets in direct relation to veterinary failings/charges and another family member who was found with literally seconds to spare. Who is still, four years later, battling mental health due to the loss of her dog and the horrendous experience she had with the vet she'd trusted to help him.

So while I do respect how difficult and demanding the job must be, I've also seen how badly the charges and behaviour/choices made can impact on everyday people who are literally at the mercy of these professionals to save a creature they love more than their own lives, in some cases.

A better balance needs to be found with pricing because if it continues to rise, animals will suffer and I'm sure we can agree, none of us want that.

 

[Saddlesoap]

At absolutely no point have I said that? I have in fact said to the contrary. So either you're trying to make me the bad guy, or your reading comprehension could use some work.

I have absolutely NO issue with a vet charging for overheads (which include decent wages for staff etc) I understand they run a business, I understand it's a difficult job.

What I have an issue with, and anyone with a half way functional moral compass should too, is people (be that the vets directly or whoever owns the business) making profit off illness and vulnerability.

It's abhorrent.

I think my reading comprehension must need some work.
If a veterinary business isn't making profit from sick or healthy animals, then where is the pay coming from? How are we investing in new equipment, resources. Surely no profit = no money for salaries. I'm honestly baffled at this point.

Quite frankly you've insulted me enough in this thread.
I've tried to be balanced.
I've tried to explain that we have to pay a wholesaler, not get drugs direct.
I've tried to show the practice mark up on drugs is less than 30% in most cases.
There's no conspiracy on my part, I have access to information at work. I can see what we buy it for and sell it for I'm sure other people could access that information if they wanted to. I can't comment on that.

But as you say, nothings going to change your mind, I already agreed that some practices do overcharge. Practices are different.

I'll sit on my supposed morally corrupt side of the fence with all the other private sector healthcare workers all over the world.

 

[Saddlesoap]

And frankly, as far as I'm concerned, anyone making any profit off the suffering of an animal (or human) should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

Oh come on, you're just trolling now

What a ridiculous statement. Whose covering the cost of it all then?

Well, don't forget to come back once you've compared the wholesale prices to the client cost.

Can't wait to see how you justify charging 5+ times the wholesale price....or are we then going to have you listing off the cost of the practice's energy bills and what not

My thoughts exactly! It's all well and good quoting the wholesale price, the issue is the markup and what the client actually gets charged, which I guarantee is at least 50% more than the purchase price.

I had a quick look
100x 5.4mg Apoquel is £130
100x 5mg Cardisure £152
10x 250mg Noroclav (Clavaseptin) £14.10 (a box of 100 is £114)

All a very long way 5x, or even from 50% the wholesaler cost, that you guaranteed it would be. Which one is it 5x or 50%?

Those 25p Clavaseptin tablets. £1.41 each.

Again, no one has said that is even a possibility, but there's no way buying from a wholesaler workers out more expensive than the cost direct to consumer. It doesn't (or at least shouldn't) work like that.

Not at all, I just know bullshit when I smell it. I also know "we can't get it as cheap as you" is an age old pile of bollocks that's spouted by people as a justification for what their charging, when 9 times out of 10 it's complete crap! I know, because I've been in/around similar sectors that love to say that to protect their profits.

I have provided you with evidence to the contrary. I've tried to be transparent. I'm sure you still think you know better, or that i'm lying, and will come back with some sort of passive aggressive response.

Now you've decided we should all work for free, I'm pretty certain you will think a very normal mark up on goods is unacceptable profiteering.

Non profit does sound like a dream though. I'd love to not have to worry about what my clients can / can't afford. Sadly though, I can't work for free because I have a mortgage to pay.

You seem like you've had a lot of bad experiences with vets, and since you have so many experiences to quote, many ill pets on various medications or requiring treatments. Which is unfortunate and I'm sorry you have been disappointed and let down by the vets you are chosen to use.


*All prices quoted are from the practice I work at, and I cannot comment on the prices available to other practices from other wholesalers or the mark ups they add.

---

I would just like to add that I can see that some Vet practices are charging a lot. These are often corporates whose prices are dictated by higher management.

Support an independent practice if you can, owned and run wholly by people living in the local area. I know this is difficult in some parts of the country, but sadly running and staffing a practice is expensive, time consuming and emotionally taxing. Newer graduates are taught that clients will sue you (which they will), that just didn't happen 30 years ago. This is part of the reasons that 'old school vets' seem so different, the clients just didn't have those demands 30 years ago. Vets have to offer x,y,z because otherwise we get slandered all over Facebook and the wider media. Only recently a vet for physically assaulted in his practice after a dog died.

We aren't all monsters that some people would have you believe.
We do care, a lot.
We aren't in it to make money, (before a certain poster comes at me again, we are not earning that much). We are in it to look after people's beloved pets. That's why 6 of my colleagues worked late last night to try and save 2 lives. The clients won't be charged anything extra for that overtime that the team will be paid.

I'm not ashamed of myself. I'm a really good nurse and worked my arse off for 16years to be this good. I have helped save 1000s of animals. I have cried with clients. I have cried with my team.
Now I'm waiting to hear if those patients survived the night and I'm going to decompress with a long dog walk.

 

[Mamacita]

100% agree about your point about life without NHS.

I understand why vet services are expensive but the medication costs are a piss take. It costs me about 60 quid for a 10 day course of antibiotics for my cat. These are the exact same antibiotics that I would get if I had an infection, even need to sign a waiver saying I understand this is human medication

 

[Bobby Chariot]

For years our Vet was a small practice ran by 2 guys & their other staff, you never made an appointment, just turned up first come first served style.
Sometimes they never even charged for things like nail clipping, one of the Vets even came to our house to put our old greyhound to sleep.
They sold the practice around 8 years ago as one Vet retired, the other still works under the new company, it's still a decent practice but prices went through the roof.
Luckily we are still able to specifically ask to see Eddie, but we know he won't be there forever.
I read that around 6 large companies own almost all the Vet practices in the UK, there definitely needs to be more regulation regarding what they are allowed to charge people.

 

[Sunflower91]

completely disagree! Supermarkets and charities aren't directly profiting off pain and suffering.

Depends on how you define pain and suffering. Personally I’d argue that only a small portion of donations going to food banks, research into diseases, hospice management is linked with pain and suffering but we can agree to disagree.
The pharma industry as a whole profits from sickness, pain and suffering - it’s not going to change for humans any time soon let alone animals.

Where did I/anyone here say it's the vets fault?

I mean you have berated a vet nurse for the last few pages for trying to give stats and insinuated that they think it’s okay to profit of pain and suffering and have repeatedly said vets aren’t passing on cost savings - apologies for misinterpreting.

]What I have an issue with, and anyone with a half way functional moral compass should too, is people (be that the vets directly or whoever owns the business) making profit off illness and vulnerability.

Unfortunately we live in a capitalist society where money and profit come ahead of most things- in all likelihood an investigation might set some increase limits but profit will still be there.

 

[Saddlesoap]

Vets fees are definitely a massive issue in the UK. I gave examples of Brazil above, but it's the same in Spain. What costs me £140 a year in boosters for a single dog, my aunt in Spain gets for £50 for two. One of her dogs had bladder cancer, was a whole ordeal for 12 months and it cost her less than £1k in treatment. My best friend's dog of the same breed had the same condition with a better prognosis and only 6 months later, it cost her £8k. Vets charging obscene amounts seems ever more to be a British problem than standard practice for the profession. Much like most things happening in this country right now, we're being mugged off left and right for profiteering.

Sorry, this is hilarious.
1. Vet care in the UK vs Spain is incomparable. There is no way that it's like for like. Starters, they don't have veterinary nurses providing care. UK RVNs are genuinely the most skilled in the world.
2. Your friend whose dog had £8k worth of treatment. Did they have to do that, or were they offered imaging and opted to have a CT or MRI scan, or want to try chemo? Most dogs with bladder cancer are treated with meloxicam.

I'm also intrigued at what medications are being bought for 25p including VAT that you keep mentioning. I want to check who much we buy it for from our wholesalers.

Regarding buying antibiotics over the counter in Brazil or Spain, is honestly horrifying. Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to the world, and it's this ignorance, buying random antibiotics and using them to treat inappropriate things, that fuels it.
---

Like my example of spending thousands on a pup then not affording treatment when somethings happens quickly. It depends if the persons picked a breed known to have health issues then have to pay out for them then that’s their own fault for not doing enough research into the breed they got.

Lol like people who come in with a French Bulldog they've just paid >2k for, but can't afford to vaccinated it.
Happens. Every. Week.

 

[ranchdistressing]

I get what you are saying about it being ridiculous over priced, an like I said earlier mine posted a statement about shareholders which have to do with price a lot so I don't think the prices they charge are 100% coming from the vets, I think they are also having to please others which is causing it

I also see about the NHS, but we are lucky to have that, if you were to look at the costs of things that we are fortunate not to pay for because of the NHS suddenly 4k for a dogs operation is not as bad as it seems, my friend in America broke his arm, they had insurance which concerned the vast majority of it an he was still 9k in dept which he had to pay for basically less than 24 hours in the hospital, the costs of humans compared to animals is insane but we just don't see it because we are fortunate for the NHS, an I do agree that it would be terrifying to lose that

It is a shame that your vets don't have the 24/7 care but it's not the case for all, mines has 24/7 care with Nightshift staff, I could phone at 3am an either take mine to the vet or have them come to me, yes it would be double the price but I also understand 3am is outside of sociable hours

Am not trying to cause arguments, the prices do suck going up but I feel like you have maybe had bad experience with yours, I've never been to a franchise one so I don't know what it's like, I know you said some independent might be selling out to franchises but mines is run by two friends that wanted their own business so for the most part I believe it's mostly private with shareholders involved

Apart from the price I really can't fault mine, they are absolutely wonderful with my rabbit despite him being difficult for them to handle, usually a consultation should be 20mins for a rabbit but I've been in there almost 40mins at times because he just would not cooperate with them an they were totally understanding an fine about it, they even have a little joke about calling him the "lady's man" because he's smitten with the females an attacks the males lol, an at any time if I need to phone for advice they are more than happy to have a vet phone back free

Don't get me started on the cost of human healthcare, it's insane. An old school friend in the states is facing $1million in medical debt due to
needing an emergency cesarean for twins and having all kinds of complications for both her and the babies. Even with insurance she's still looking at paying back $900k. It's absolutely obscene.

I don't mind paying a fair price for emergency/out of hours care, I know it comes at a premium to get any service at unsociable hours, but there should be regulations on it so that people (and animals) aren't taken advantage of. There should be encouragement/incentives of some kind for independent vets to offer their own in-house emergency care so that people aren't forced to choose between paying extortionate fees to a profit-focused franchise and the welfare/life of their beloved pets.

Your rabbit sounds like quite a little character.

I have to agree that medical care is expensive and in general vet fees are probably justified but I'm sticking with my original comment about mark up on medication being ridiculous.

However in the end owning a pet is a privilege and is not mandatory, so people shouldn't get one if they can't afford vet fees and/or insurance.

It is criminal, really. What gets me is - I have a cousin in Brazil. She can literally go on Amazon.br and order the same medication that I have to pay £25 for a prescription for. She can walk into a pet store and buy antibiotics and painkillers too. No one there abuses the system. There is a major street dog/cat problem which is utterly heartbreaking, but the fact they can access medication so freely and so cheaply is just bizarre to me considering how tightly it's controlled here.

I agree owning a pet is a privilege and not a right, but at the same time with the state of the world/country right now, maybe people have taken on pets because they could afford them and are now finding they can't, simply because the country is circling the drain.

Pets are what literally get many people out of bed in the morning. I know folks who love their pets more than their own children! Having a bond with an animal is a wonderful and something that costs shouldn't prohibit.

It's a huge responsibility to take on a pet, but we're never going to get a grip on the crisis of so many animals needing homes and rescues being absolutely overrun unless it becomes more affordable to keep a pet.

Also, rescue centers need to get a grip with their rehoming policies because refusing adoptions because someone works full time is ridiculous. I've known so many folks go to adopt only to be rejected because they work 7-8 hours a day, only to go out and buy a puppy instead. I'm sorry but how is anyone expected to pay to maintain a pet without holding down a job? It's ludicrous. It's all a vicious circle that needs to be addressed.

 

[Sunflower91]

Last year I paid over £5k on treatment for my cat, not covered by insurance, and I’d do the same again in a heartbeat. She needs specialised care and I feel really lucky that there’s a handful of vets in this country that can help treat her. They gave me a full itemised breakdown of everything and I know to some people they thing “wow they’re really counting the pennies- £3 in dressings”. I don’t think 5k is a lot in the grand scheme of making sure my
Cat is pain free and getting to have her as a part of my life for longer - I’m just very thankful a specialist was able to take on her case and give her a better outcome.

vets are completely privatised. There’s no government pot that feeds into it and they have a lot of overheads. It’s becoming a difficult profession to recruit for, due to various reasons but one being that when you do 5 years of uni you do have a salary expectation. I work for a private company, not doing anything remotely complicated in comparison but charge 500-1k a day for my time and it’s because people are paying for the expertise, so I don’t have a problem doing the same when it comes to caring for my cats. If I didn’t think I couldn’t afford to care for them if something went wrong then I wouldn’t have adopted them.

Pharmaceutical companies have a lot to do with it too- vet wholesalers are generally charged more than for human pharmacies. And also insurance companies- they are a massive issue, there’s little to no benefit of keeping my cat insured because of the sheer amount of things they will not cover.

 

[kazizzle]

Absolutely agree with your comments about rehoming. This is why I have cats from a breeder which I do feel bad about but I couldn't rescue as I lived in a flat at a time, then when I wanted a second one, I couldn't get one as they all either had to go to a home where there are no other pets or had to be allowed to go outside. As I don't want to have an outdoor cat it's almost impossible to rescue, considering all the other requirements too

I bought my current cat from gumtree as we couldn't get one from a rehoming charity. Something about the road behind my house being "too busy"...without them ever coming to see it, and it being separated from my garden by two high fences. OK fair enough my old cat would have been capable of climbing the fence on to the main road but he could never be bothered to do that when he had much quieter residential streets to explore. They told me I'd only be able to be considered for an indoor only cat which, like you say, it's almost impossible to get.

 

[SaltandPepperChicken]

We had to take one of our cats to Vets Now as our vets didn’t have out of hours care and they thought he’d be in overnight. We got him there and said he was unlikely to make it but spent two hours running loads of tests and then called us in to say he was about to pass. It didn’t even get to out of hours time. Total bill, £1500. Luckily the insurance paid out. Plus as it was during Covid we were only allowed 5 mins to say goodbye.

 

[StephenTJackson]

The biggest problem in veterinary practices and the vets world (apart from the usual shortage of vets), is the corporatisation of the sector.

10/20/30/whatever years ago, lots of vets set up their own practices and built very good, very popular, local businesses.

Then the corporates stated to establish Vets4Pets etc. And now there's quite a few corporate groups as an earlier poster listed. And they are hoovering up the independent practices and even the independent groups from the vets who are now in their 50s/60s and quite rightly want their exit strategy and want to retire or do less etc.

The corporates are paying an awful lot of money to buy lots of practices, and leave customers with no option to use them because they own all the practices around and the prices are to get the buyout money back effectively.

Services are cut, customers are treated worse, prices soar and profits rocket because people have to pay.

 

[susan1375]

Why shouldn’t they charge for a consult fee as well as the medications? They are spending their time looking at your pet, examining them, possibly doing tests - deciding what medication is needed. You’re paying for their time and knowledge, so imo you should have to pay for that. Without that time and knowledge you wouldn’t be getting any drugs.
I just had a quick google because I wasn’t sure but if a human went to a private doctor they’d pay a consult fee, prescription fee and then pay for the medication, so why should vets be any different as they are providing the same service just for animals. I think maybe the only time they don’t charge for consult fees are vaccinations from what I’ve seen.

I’d say reason most practices don’t do their own out of hours anymore is due to staffing issues plus probably the extra cost to the practices. Theres a shortage of vets and nurses in the UK, which brexit made worse as a lot of vets were from the EU.
Probably easier to find staff for full time night shifts than doing a mix of days/nights but a lot of practices that would do their own out of hours would use on call staff so they wouldn’t always be at the practice. This will also possibly effect the running of the day time practice if staff who have been there all night for an emergency then cannot work the next day. Also if a practice does out of hours with on call staff then animals may possibly be left in the practice alone at night with check ups throughout as the staff won’t likely stay the whole night, which a lot of owners wouldn’t like.

This , my uncle retired early because he couldn’t cope with the stress of running a business of 30+ people and caring for animals, providing hr, chasing up none paying clients, being harassed by them - got a paving slab through a window at home, he couldn’t find vets willing to work nights and weekends even with a free car and accommodation and newer vets are even more demanding, wanting a vet nurse each to sew up animals , do smaller ops etc which costs more money.

 

[SaltandPepperChicken]

This

Our vets posted about why prices where going up an it mentioned shareholders, I honestly feel like vets hands are tied here an because you are seeing a vet it's easier to take it out on them as being the "bad guys" because that's who your point of contact is, but without shareholders a lot of the more private practises would suffer with funding, so vets are stuck in a loop, they need to keep shareholders happy by paying out an shareholders are only going to stay if they are happy

Totally. This is the root of it all. Gone are the days of the lovely local vets that knew us and were our friends. The people the knew and genuinely loved our pets. Now it’s hard to see a face you even know and have to pay exorbitant costs for doing so.

I just want to also say that in my personal opinion that I feel like the nurse here was treated unfairly.

 

[Snippysnips]

tbh If it came to government schemes, as much as I love animals I don’t want to pay extra taxes so people who can barely afford to care for their pet in the first place can get free/ discounted services.

I agree with you on that, as much as I love having animals, I too would not be happy paying without choice into a scheme to help others, pets are still classed as a luxury, every pet I've had I've put away money just incase anything were to happen, I've went without just to make sure I can still put something by for them, I now have insurance an if I had too I would again go without to make sure it's paid (thankfully I am in a better place now with finance an not in this situation) pets help my mental health tremendously an have always been important to me but I would never expect others to be helping me out when it was my choice to own them, I get that some may have gotten before the pandemic and are now struggling, but with how long pets live an not just dogs but others too (my oldest rabbit was 14) people really should think about the "what it's" especially now after what's happened when purchasing a animal an thinking about long term

There are so many ways to go about it if you are struggling as well or want a pet but know you aren't going to be able to pay costs long term, you can become a foster carer an take in animals until a forever home is found, you can do a home for home scheme in which you take animals (mostly dogs I believe) while owners are on holiday/in hospital, both of these the vet bills are covered for you, it's maybe depending on area/vets but we can pay monthly until the bill is covered, there are charity's out there to also help if you are struggling but again may be dependent on area

 

[prozacprincess]

My vet seems to be unique in this situation as he often forgets to send us a bill

I had to make the hard decision to have one of my rabbits PTS in early February and we just received our bill this week. £130 for euthanasia, cremation and the ashes returned in a scatter tube. I thought that was a pretty reasonable price, particularly as the euthanasia was out of hours.

He also saw the same rabbit previously out of hours in December and never charged us for the visit or the drugs. But then this is a man still working on a paper filing system. There is a lot to be said for the old fashioned touch.

 

[JodieGreen123]

Our vets is £45 per consultation which on face value feels pricey, but when I factor in the fact that I can always get a same day appointment and free parking right outside and they don’t ever try and upsell me on any treatments because they know I’m not on insurance I think it’s actually quite reasonable.