Cheap Vets?

Sharra

I was a vet nurse years ago - I still gulp when I pay the bill at the vets (my insurance excess is £90) but when you stop and think about it - we are effectively paying for private healthcare for our pets. If we didn't have the NHS here, we would be stung in the same way everytime we went to the doctors. The technology in vets is often just of a smaller scale than you would find in hospitals.
Also - someone up above said about some of the cheaper insurance policies only covering a condition for 12 months - I think its really worth making sure you check that - if you can find the extra few pounds, make sure you go for one of those that cover you indefinitely.

Clowance

British vets are a rip off compared to other countries - eg Germany. My sister in law is a German vet who now lives here and is horrified by the prices for both treatment and medication.

loopylass

yes sorry the PDSA my friend got her form from the vets joined and was told if her dog needs any ops through accidents injuries etc all she had to do was pay a donation and take him to her registered vets where they will treat him

hope this helps

loopylass

if you go to your vets sometimes ours have days when they do it for nothing and a stray cats place maybe able to help because the vets said they would rather have owners coming in and we pay for the treatment than having loads of unwanted kittens that will produce more and it just goes on so in that respect they are right so its worth checking them out first


hope this helps

purplegirluk1 wrote:

Can anyone tell me roughly how much it costs to have a cat neutered?

loopylass

hi i have my dog insured with petprotect and the excess is £40 and i pay £20 a month for their highest policy and its a lifetime insurance because some are not the vets told me the best one is a lifetime insurance because some dont pay when the dog is over 8 years and as my breed of dog is prone to heart conditions(cavalier king charles) i wanted to make sure he was covered if he ever did have problems

Sharra wrote:

I was a vet nurse years ago - I still gulp when I pay the bill at the vets (my insurance excess is £90) but when you stop and think about it - we are effectively paying for private healthcare for our pets. If we didn't have the NHS here, we would be stung in the same way everytime we went to the doctors. The technology in vets is often just of a smaller scale than you would find in hospitals.
Also - someone up above said about some of the cheaper insurance policies only covering a condition for 12 months - I think its really worth making sure you check that - if you can find the extra few pounds, make sure you go for one of those that cover you indefinitely.

Addy

I took out pet insurance 6 weeks ago for both my cats, costs £10 a month and has almost paid for itself this year already - one was kept at the vets overnight last night for blood tests, because he was dehydrated and no appetite - the estimate was £175 (and is likely to be more than this as there will be some extra medication sent home with him).

Not helpful to the original question, but really just to say that if your pets are precious to you, good insurance is a must if you won't be able to afford hefty bills.

loopylass

yes you are right all my pets are insured as im not on any benefit i make sure they have a good insurance because they mean the world to me and i wouldnt want them to suffer if i had to delay treatment to save up my excess is nothing compared to how much the treatment could be without it for instance when my dog was a pup (his 4 now) but he got hold of a conker and swalled half of it i didnt realise it was a conker until we rushed him to the vets because he was swaying and staggering about when we got home anyway it would have been nearly a £400 bill if we hadnt had insurance and most of all its peace of mind knowing what ever accidents or injuries my animals have i know they will get the best treatment straight away as they are covered :j

bootman

What are the best plans to take out and who is the cheapest provider?
I will post this under the insurance section as well I think.

emujuice

Marks and Spencer's pet insurance is considered to be the best. There is no excess and the charges are as low as elsewhere. Also they cover treatment for the lenght on the illness (eg diabetes) not just 12 months.
My friend's pedigree cat died of a heart attack at 2 years old. M and S payed her the vets costs, cremation and the £250 she paid for the cat. all for around £5 a month!
Can't argue with that.
She now has a lovely silver tabby.

Alison_B

A couple of years ago at Christmas, my sons hampster was really ill - shaking uncontrollably and couldn't stand. Needless to say, my son was hysterical and we thought the hampster was going to die. It was Boxing Day night and nowhere was open except the PDSA hospital about 40 miles away. My husband drove there with the hampster and my sobbing son and they turned them away when they discovered that we weren't on benefits. We weren't expecting the treatment for free and would have gladly paid but instead we had to bring the hampster home and we sat up with him all night until our vets opened the next morning.

I have always contributed to the PDSA but since then I refuse. How can someone do that to a poor hampster and a sobbing child.:( They obviously don't care about the health of the animals, or they wouldn't have done what they did.