Cheap veterinary care?

Bettyspag

I've been looking around for cheap vet care as I don't qualify for pdsa.
So far the cheapest I have found is vets4pets chain

At the moment they are doing booster vaccinations for £10 (usually £28 dogs and £30.50 cats) which also includes a free health check (they also said that they are doing starter pup and cat vacs for £20 usually £49.50 dogs £50.50 cats)

They also do plans for vaccinations
Vac4life pay £99 and vacs free for rest of life
Care4pets u pay a £29 start up fee and then pay £9.99 a month which then includes vaccines, but also no vet consult fees, free access to nurse clinics, microchip, blood test urine test, (10% off neutering but mine have already been done)

I'm so confused about what to do i dont know whether to sign up to the plan,are there any other cheap deals ???

rising_from_the_ashes

If your cat / dog is really young then the "vacs for life" packages are good BUT a couple of things to think about before signing up:

- make sure it's a well established chain (don't want to sign up for this and then discover a year later the co's gone bust)
- are you likely to move to a new area - if so, is it a nationwide chain

The start up and monthly fee one ... mmmm personally I don't think I'd be "into" that as it adds up to nearly £120/year which, if your pet only needs jabs & no other treatment, is a lot to pay for boosters! If you do need to take your pet for treatment, then the cost of the vet consults will be covered by your insurance anyway (and generally aren't that much - around £15 here - so even a couple of trips / year would still be cheaper than this).

PixieDust

No idea about vaccs etc, but just to respond with a positive recommendation for Vets4Pets. We have one of these very close to us and we always take our pets there, no question. I trust this vet implicitly with our animals. They obviously need to turn a buck, but they really do care about the animal and don't throw meds (and therefore your money) at a problem if it doesn't need it.

Obviously this may not apply for every branch, but they do for ours

Fosterdog

You may also want to consider that the cheapest aren't always the best.

The cheap vets tend to have more customers so can be harder to get an appointment, the consult gets rushed so they can move on to the next. I'm not saying that that is for all of them but something to be aware of.

I've just found out that my current foster dog needs £6000 of surgery that the cheap vets missed but a more expensive and more experienced vet knew straight away. The cheap vets even said not to bother with an x-ray but thats the first thing the better vet wanted to do to find out just how bad things are. I've been back and fore to the cheaper vet for four months and seen two different vets and they both missed what the other guy found first time.

The cheaper vets are fine for routine things but it's worth being registered with a back up vet in case you need better service.

chris_n_tj

Can you give us an idea on where abouts you are looking? Maybe someone here might be able to point you in the direction of a good Vets. x

penny_pincha

Bettyspag wrote: »

I've been looking around for cheap vet care as I don't qualify for pdsa.
So far the cheapest I have found is vets4pets chain

At the moment they are doing booster vaccinations for £10 (usually £28 dogs and £30.50 cats) which also includes a free health check (they also said that they are doing starter pup and cat vacs for £20 usually £49.50 dogs £50.50 cats)

They also do plans for vaccinations
Vac4life pay £99 and vacs free for rest of life
Care4pets u pay a £29 start up fee and then pay £9.99 a month which then includes vaccines, but also no vet consult fees, free access to nurse clinics, microchip, blood test urine test, (10% off neutering but mine have already been done)

I'm so confused about what to do i dont know whether to sign up to the plan,are there any other cheap deals ???

I live in North West Kent, Dartford area, so I have to pay London prices. I don't know where in the country you live but that seems very cheap to me!!!!

A couple of years ago when the credit crunch first hit, I rang around to find out what prices vets offered to do booster vaccinations. I contacted about 12 different vets in my immediate area (ones which I could get to easily) and found that the most expensive were twice that of the cheapest. (Varying between around £41.50 to £23 for enteritis, flu & leukaemia boosters.) You don't say whether the boosters are for flu, enteritis and leukaemia or just flu & enteritis.

However, although my existing vet was one of the most expensive, I stuck with them.
The reasons were as follows -

• Their opening hours were very long - opening at 8am until 8pm & at weekends (Sat & Sun)
• They did their own out of hours emergency calls - most vets seem to sub out this service, so you could get anyone or have to travel some distance so increasing the time it took to get treatment. Also, I had heard of vets in these circumstances charging extortionate prices as keeping you as a long term client is not of interest to them.
• My existing vets know me and my animals, I have been with them over 20 years & want to keep me as a client. (I put a lot of business their way.) Often I go in with something minor and don't get charged.

I told my vet my findings, saying that if I was ringing around doing price comparisons then other would probably be doing it too. The result was, they restructured their charging system and the cost of inoculations was reduced & the cost of operations was increased.


Different vet surgeries probably also have a pricing structure where they charge a higher mark up for some services than others, depending how they want to market their business. Also, not all vet offer the same services, having to pay staff if they open longer or do their own emergency cover must affect their prices.

From your point of view, microchipping is a one off cost & blood / urine teats are unlikely. Consultation fees aren't included anyway you say.

I think rising from the ashes has a good point in that £120 a year is a lot to pay for what will probably amount to boosters. !!

I am very envious of your cheap vet costs, here even consulation fees are £31 !! before you pay for any medication.

rising_from_the_ashes

penny_pincha wrote: »

I contacted about 12 different vets in my immediate area (ones which I could get to easily) and found that the most expensive were twice that of the cheapest. (Varying between around £41.50 to £23 for enteritis, flu & leukaemia boosters.) You don't say whether the boosters are for flu, enteritis and leukaemia or just flu & enteritis.

penny_pincha wrote: »

I think rising from the ashes has a good point in that £120 a year is a lot to pay for what will probably amount to boosters. !!

I am very envious of your cheap vet costs, here even consulation fees are £31 !! before you pay for any medication.

Consultations are OK BUT Archie had his booster in November and it was ..... £49.85 :eek: AND I'm in a rural part of Scotland! (and that is the average price around here*) so I guess it evens out!

* However, we have had a new discount vets open nearby which I took Mia to in Feb (they were doing 1/2 price introductory offer on the boosters) and it was only ..... wait for it ..... £13.25:) - even at full price, it's still nearly 1/2 the price of my usual vets.

TBH if I was really happy with my vet, I wouldn't even consider it - however, I've had "concerns" since an incident last year so have been looking to move anyway - and, the new vets were absolutely fantastic with Mia :T (who's not the easiest cat to handle & is unwell travelling so arrives stressed before anyone even gets near her).

Another big problem we have here is that hardly any of the vets have their own out of hours cover (very rural) and if you do need to go, it's usually a trip to town (30+ miles) which is a worry with a sick/injured cat ..... still to find a solution to that one!

penny_pincha

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

they were doing 1/2 price introductory offer on the boosters) and it was only ..... wait for it ..... £13.25:)

WHAT,:eek: just goes to show what profit they are making,:mad: that they are probably making a profit on that cut price offer too. I can only assume that the price of medication is the same nationally but then other costs are probably higher too.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Mia arrives stressed before anyone even gets near her.

Another big problem we have here is that hardly any of the vets have their own out of hours cover (very rural) and if you do need to go, it's usually a trip to town (30+ miles) which is a worry with a sick/injured cat ..... still to find a solution to that one!

I am grateful that my vet does offer their own out of hours cover. Also it is only 10 mins drive away, but it has seemed a lot further than that in the past, when I have had an emergency.

Still you sound like you live in a beautiful peaceful place.