Grrrr...just had a set to at the vets

bestpud

While I fully accept everyone has bad days, it is not professional to be rude to a customer at all, but especially in front of other customers. Especially as you'd mentioned the problem and said when you would pay the money.

We've got a £400 bill at the moment as our dog has needed two ops in the last three weeks and I have to admit we are worried about it! He has to go back next week to have his stitches out and I want to ask if we can pay half now and half mid September but I feel very embarrassed about doing so and also, I am afraid I will get a reaction like the above!

We had no idea it would be this expensive though. He had the same op last year (mast cell tumours) and it was £140 all in. So this year we expected it to be around the £300, as although he had two ops, one of them was very small and it was only one set of lab fees iyswim.

Stupidly, we didn't ask! But then, he'd still have had the op - but we'd have been less shocked!

I don't think it comes down to being a responsible owner, or not - it's more about there being certain times when a large bill hits people for six. And it's not that people want to get it free, but that they may not have the money to hand over there and then. Plus, for people who don't go to the vets very often, it can be quite a shock how quickly the fees can rise.

Personally, I feel the rise in pet insurance is actually at the root of vet costs now. Eventually it will come to a point where the average person will not have the money to access a vet unless they have suitable insurance. Great news for insurance companies I guess!

Anyway, if I'd been spoken to like that, I would certainly contact them and say, because there is no need for that at all. I hope you manage to sort out a way of paying too.

Mrs_pbradley936

The financial aspect of keeping pets has changed dramatically over the years. Vets used to routinely advise you to put pets to sleep and buy a new puppy or kitten I suppose that the advances in drugs and surgery mean they can do more than they used to be able to. Plus those of us from large animal backgrounds (as opposed to small animal aka pets) seem quite hard hearted because we are used to putting animals down that are too costly to keep. There is an adage which says "you cannot have livestock without having dead-stock".

snowman2_2

1. Vets and farmers have for many years both been at the top of the suicide charts, mainly because both groups have the means to do a proper job of it. There are other stressful jobs but none with such easy access to the means of death
2. Vets earn less than dentists, doctors, pharmacists, opticians and solicitors - similar professions. The average full time vet earns £36000. Decent wage yes, but I could have spent my 5 years at uni in a more profitable way. As a GP doing an equivalent job for no on-call, more holidays and fewer hours I could earn 3 times the average vet wage
3. The financial study in which vets came top was in terms of return on investment, not profit and it only covered vets as limited companies. Most vets practices are sole traders or partnerships. This study was therefore based on a small sample and a very restricted view of looking at profitability. A larger study showed vets made returns of 6 - 8% not the 37% of the study.

lowis

snowman2 - i am aware that vet's are not paid that great a wage considering the amount of studying they have done, and the ongoing career development thy must undertake throughout their professional career.

having gotten to know my vet very well over the past 18 months whilst he treated and cared for my cat who had lymphoma, i have nothing but admiration for those in the profession. my vet has since become a friend, he was so kind to me and my cat and never put pressure on me about finances (which I am now paying off in monthly installments).

a good vet is one who obviously understands the animals and treats them with care and respect...but who also understands the human, and treats them with care and respect too, whilst carrying on with quite a stressful job. i would imagine that is quite a skill.