Lower the cost of vets bills......

UKTigerlily

Talking about Vets, if they were so unethical why did mine give me a free sample bag of Hill's Prescription Diet (28 days worth) when I could've bought a bag costing £19-55 from them? Yes, they may have included it in the cost, but they would've made almost £20 more if they'd not given me that bag. Vets have huge overheads, if you went to any other professional (Dentist/Dr/lawyer/teacher for private tuition) you'd pay much more i'm sure. A consultation with a private Dr here is about £120, a Consultation with the Vet for my Mutt is £26

suki1964

PawsPup wrote: »

But what I'm trying to stress here is the price of Veterinary food. They charge alot more then what the pay.

They can go ahead and charge what they like for their specialist abilities which they have taken time to learn, but its not like they made the cat/dog food themselves. What im saying is why charge so much for Veterinary specialist foods?

If this was your intention then why start this thread with comments like

On a program I saw the other night, vets put a very large mark up on all their medications and the costs involved can push pet owners to get rid of their animals or even opt out of lifesaving treatment purely because they cannot afford to pay for the medications.

?

Did you also know it is a criminal offence to not to seek veterinary treatment when its obvious that treatment is needed? Advising people to seek treatment/advice on-line is pure stupidity and dangerous.

Now unless a Vet is running a sting of practices the size of tesco there is no way on earth they can charge lower prices. Try yourself popping into the local cash and carry and see if you can buy food any cheaper then tescos or sainsburys is selling- you cant.

Myself - very happy with my vets. They dont rip me off and Im more then happy to pay the prices for the expertise they have

lowis

my vet used to give my cat free check ups when she was having the chemo treatment, he also worked at keeping costs within my annual insurance limit as he knew i could not afford to pay anything more on top of the 20% excess for which i was liable (this meant discounting some treatments or not charging me for some aspects of a treatment), he also came to my home and put my cat to sleep free of charge (shoudl have cost £120) because he had grown so attached to her...he then sent me a bunch of gorgeous flowers costing £50 the day before my cat was cremated...

for every 'bad' vet, i bet there are 10 brilliant vets out there. the practice i use is expensive (has a lot of the latest technology and is in london) but every single vet is lovely and i trust them implicitly.

Rebel

I needed to take one of our dogs to our vet today, tbh it wasn't really needed we had already taken advice from the breeder we got our dogs from (The vet confirmed everything we had been told word for word) but we were concerned about him and decided "better safe than sorry" so I was more than prepared to pay for a professional to examine him and put my mind at rest.

Anyway at the same time I chose to have our dogs vaccination booster (It was a couple of weeks overdue anyway), so he did that at the same time ater he finished I had to go to reception to pay the bill.

That was when I realised/I was certain the vet had made a mistake! There was NO charge for the examination/consultation!!! I asked whether he had forgotten to add it to the bill and was told when they give vaccinations or boosters they automatically do an examination so there was no charge. That was a vet who I expected to charge me and yet refused my money, trust me some vets might be con merchants, others are absolutely brilliant!

If you are unhappy with your vet find a different one, there are some things I buy online for my dogs BUT when I want healthcare for my pets I go to the person qualified to provide that care and that means my vets.

DKLS

PawsPup wrote: »

Thats fair enough, but it seems a little unfair when they raise their price so much. They basically know they can con people out of their money because of who they are.


Paws

You make out that Vets are something like Author Daleys, itching to get at your cash and rubbing their hands with evil glee at the next animal lover coming through the door.

Not in my experience, My kitt is going for the snip this week, and will cost the grand sum of £39 which includes a follow up trip appointment, Hardly a rip off, in fact I cant see much profit margin in that £39.

I want my vet to be well paid, For what the average vet get paid and the sheer amount of initial studying and on-going studying they have to do, I wouldnt do it, Would you?

simontheiceman

PawsPup wrote: »

I know Vets can charge more but is it really ethically correct when they are supposed to be helping animal lovers? How they are unable to charge cheaper prices is beyond me. Surely they make enough money through operations and such. Anyway rant over.....

I mentioned elsewhere about how much "profit" I actually make from my main business - I suggest you try making a "profit" and then you will see just how hard it is.

I dont make anything like the income of a GP or dentist or (god-forbid) laywer. I have a friend who is a consultant surgeon who wanted to be a vet when he was younger - he now earns TRIPLE my income.

I have another business interest in a cafe-restaurant abroad and you ought to see the mark-ups on burgers! No-one ever complains about that though. In fact my profitability on that business is quite good. You are welcome to my income if you think you want all the responsibility which goes with it.

orlao

I'm probably one of the harshest critics of vet pricing on here:o but as customers, we do have the option of buying our pet supplies elsewhere if they are available at a better price. Vote with your cash;)

In saying that I have no problem paying for a vets expertise....I do think that people are often naive as to the real cost of medical treatment as we don't have to pay directly due to having the NHS (yes I know we pay through taxes but it's not the same as having to pay after seeing the GP!) But I do feel that some vets, similar to any business owner I suppose, are greedy and the only way to combat that is to find another vet that you feel is value for money. For instance, if I take an animal to the Royal Vet College the consultation fee was £125 IIRC and that was 2 years ago! Eyewateringly expensive but you are seeing a specialist in their field but there is no way that kind of fee would be good value when you're popping down to your local vets for a vaccination so for basic stuff like that I will shop around......just like any other service I require.....and price isn't the only measure of good service btw:D

snowman2_2

orlao wrote: »

Vote with your cash;)

Exactly! No-one deserves to be ripped off but it is an expensive business. Last year I earned roughly the same as an assistant vet so I suppose that makes my profit margin zero on over half million pounds investment. Hopefully this year just finishing will be better but average profit margins are between 6 & 10%.

suki1964

snowman2 wrote: »

Exactly! No-one deserves to be ripped off but it is an expensive business. Last year I earned roughly the same as an assistant vet so I suppose that makes my profit margin zero on over half million pounds investment. Hopefully this year just finishing will be better but average profit margins are between 6 & 10%.

You want to stick to catering - I know how much mark up we have :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

GonzoAston

My old vet was great. When getting mine innoculated I asked about the dog shampoos he had, which were about £12 a bottle if I remember correctly. He told me to use baby shampoo on mine as they dont have sensitive skin. He could of just sold me his stuff, but he didnt.

Also had loads of freebies over the years off him from dental chews, free micro-chipping, toys etc. He was a real lovely vet. I only changed vets as I moved down South. Plus he had 4 assistants and 2 trainee's and a partner inthe business, so I never begrudged paying him anything really. He really looked out for his customers and took the time with them and made a fuss over the animals.

Im tempted just to move back home, just for that surgery