Vets4Pets

emlou2009

£12-14 for nail clippings??

it cost me £7 for a professional nail clipper which will (hopefully) last for life

Unity

snowman2 wrote: »

What do they charge extra if you get your dog's anal glands emptied at the same time or nails clipped? Someone told me they charged an extra £14 for their cat's nails clipped but I haven't been able to confirm that. Be interesting to know

I took both my cats yesterday, both were vaccinated - £20 total and I didn't get the hard sell for anything extra. The female has a slight bald patch on her stomach, but the vet said it isn't red or scabbed at all and it obviously isn't bothering her - so to leave it alone, unless it changes.

The funny thing was I recognised the vet and when he came to fill in her vaccination record he realised he'd seen her before, five years ago - at my regular vet's surgery!

The surgery itself was large, clean and had parking right outside - all plus points for me.

mum26

Vets4pets is my local vets, the nearest is a good drive away so it mae sense for us to sign up with them. Went for the first time yesterday to have our kitten vaccinated and checked over, the vet and receptionist were both very nice and friendly, Paid for both his initial jabs (next one in 3 weeks) and worming with panacur (vet gave first dose and gave me two loaded oral syringes for today and tommorow) for £22.18 total. I intend to sign up for the vac for life scheme as I have a month from the second vacc date to pay for that and it will save us loads, important when on a budget! They were also the cheapest for neutering when I emailed around.

emlou2009

i've booked up to take my kitten to be vaccinated with them on thursday, and they told me that its actually £20 because its £10 per jab, which is different to what they advertise :rolleyes: still cheaper than my usual vets though i guess. humph

mum26

well it's two seperate vaccinations in the course for kittens but each year will just be one booster?

andy12_2

It is interesting reading seeing how a lot of people see this company.

I can confirm for you that whilst Vets4Pets is a national company, they are part of a Joint Venture scheme which means that they are just as local as your local vet down the road.

Joint Venture means that the partner, which can be the vet or nurse, buys a share of the practice and the other half is owned by Vets4Pets Ltd. This gives the vet freedom to do what he or she wants. They are not dictated to by the head office as that is against the Joint Venture set up. Its the same kind of thing as companies like Specsavers.

The advantage of a system like this, is the partner does not need to worry about any form of admin as this is done for them at head office, giving them extra time to concentrate on what they are trained to do. Look after and treat sick animals.

Another advantage comes in the form of marketing. Being such a big brand (they have a turnover in excess of £30million through the group), they can negotiate better deals with the major suppliers than perhaps a small solo practice can get which allows them to be able to offer the promotions like the £10 vacc. I can assure you its not making them any losses and they do not need to put prices up elsewhere to recoup the finds they are losing. Each practice pays a fee for this kind of scheme but the suppliers supply the entire group in bulk hence the huge discounts.

All the staff are put through a stringent training programme and are fully aware of what they are signing up to before doing it, but if you speak to any vet working in the group, they would tell you that they are not working for a chain but working for themselves. Each partner is a director of their own company. Each practice is an individual company that has its own budgets, bank account, targets etc and whilst they have the backup of head office, it is purely a back up option should they need it.

If you dont like large brands you dont need to worry as they are not a large brand. Try visiting the website to get more information on how it works and you will see this for yourselves. Each practice is an individual company that has support from an expert group of staff who assist in day to day running.

Vets are not business men or women. They are doctors for animals. They want to look after animals and not worry about doing paperwork when they get home.

I hope this clarifies a few points that have been raised. Again, I would point out that they are just as local as the small practices in town centres, the difference being they have the support of a national group but they are still individual brands.

snowman2_2

Hi Andy T,

I am sorry but at £10 a vaccine you can't possibly be making a profit. Taking a 50% discount of the list price of the vaccines (I am sure you can get a much better discount than me) only leaves £2 left after VAT to pay for rent, business rates, gas, electric, telephone, computers, other equipment, paying for the billboard adverts, let alone staff wages. I don't believe you when you say that you don't lose money on the deal. You may get the vaccine for less than £10 but you can't pay your fixed costs based on £2 margin.

I am also able to make my own decisions as a partner in my own practice, my admin is done by a very excellent colleague however (unlike vets4pets) I am not working for myself. I am working for myself, my partner, my staff who's livelihoods depend on my practice and finally my patients.

stumpy-polecat

I have just looked up some stuff and found the following

Mayhew animal centre
Telephone: 0208 969 0178
Fax: 0208 964 3221
Email: info@mayhewanimalhome.org

£22 regular cat vax or £32 inc leukaemia
lukaema vax on its own £17
£44 for 2 kitten vax
spay £25
microchip £20
between Euston and Kensal Green, and Gospel Oak and Willesden Junction stations.

you are seen by a vet nurse and consultation is free:D

Wed10-11.45
Sat 12-1

snowman2_2

There must be a vet somewhere and not just a nurse as the vaccines are prescription only medications and have to be vet prescribed. Nothing to stop a qualified nurse giving a second vaccination on an initial course but a vet should be doing any booster vaccines.

moomin5

I've been twice to vets4pets for vaccinations (on the £10 rate & full cost) and i was very pleased with the service, both vets took their time with the check up & were chatty, totally the opposite to my 1st experience with my local vet practice. I am one of the guilty ones who goes vets4pets for the vacs and another local practice for other things, mainly because it has parking & large waiting room which makes it more convenient than just price. In my case i wouldn't switch to the vets4pets one fully because it doesn't have its own out of hours, i'd have to go to the Vets-now clinic which is a 8miles away.