Pet insurance for older dogs

pineapple

That's interesting Hillybilly. Though I am still convinced it happens at some vets. As indeed is a friend who worked at a vets for many years.
Plus she is insured and just recently had some eye popping bills for fairly routine care for her older dogs. The itemisation/breakdown was astonishing - and I have kept dogs most of my life.
Of course for the customer to prove it you would need to return in some parallel reality with the same dogs
I still suspect that's it's similar to the situation at some car body repair shops. If you say it's an insurance claim the bill is adjusted upwards :huh:

hethmar

Just to mention, my dog is on life time Optimmune for dry eye. It went up to £51 for a tiny tube that lasted one month. On one occasion, my vet had none in stock. I came home and googled for supplies and found it being sold for about £19 a tube at a veterinary suppliers in London.

I rang vet and asked receptionist to tell him that this place had stocks and at a much lower price. He rang me back and was a bit shirty saying what did I expect him to do. I said order some Optimmune for those of us who need it and change your supplier.

Well, that pm the reception rang and said that they had got some Optimmune from another vet locally - and I went down and paid for it.

The next month I had to get the optimmune and the girl charged me £29. I asked if she had made a mistake as it was normally £51. A bit sheepishly she said no, after my last complaint the vets had spoken to the suppliers and got it much reduced.

NOW, how can the suppliers condone such a huge amount of profit on this ointment which some of us will have to use for a decade or more. The tube is absolutely tiny and of course every three months we have to take the dog for a check up before the vet will prescribe more and of course, that check up also costs about £25.

rising_from_the_ashes

Hethmar sounds similar to the Metacam being £68 at my vets and me being able to buy for £17 online .....

Re the check up / prescription - for a long term condition (and obviously once the pet is stable and well managed) - the vet can make the prescriptions / check up intervals 6 monthly (thereby saving 2 consult charges / year).

Hillbilly1

It is difficult for vets to compete with online sales, and I would encourage anyone to use a reliable online retailer.

So, you have a product producer, a wholesaler, and then the vet. The vet is always last in the supply chain, therefore the drugs are more expensive. Also most vets buy stock on a daily basis, especially for drugs and so buy 1 or 2 at a time, again more expensive, but cheaper than rarely used drugs going out of date.

Internet suppliers are usually the wholesaler, don't employ trained professionals or have to offer 24 hour services., and so are cheaper. I regularly saw online retailers selling stock at 1% mark up, cheaper than we could buy it from our wholesaler. We couldn't swap as they can't do the 1 day delivery the big vet wholesalers offer.

This also starts to border on how vets charge. Most people would not pay £50 for a consult if another vets was charging £25. However the real cost of professional time is more than both of these, so the cost is made up through charges for drugs and other services. Therefore you may end up paying more at the cheaper consult vets as the drug charges are higher.

Its a complicated world!!! Always ask for a quote and how much a prescription is.

Yet even with all this still only 3-4% of clients get aprescription and shop online. Usually these are clients with patients with chronic disease where you can see long term savings.

hethmar

I didnt expect to get the gel at the same price that it was being sold by the supplier on line but I didnt think more than double the price was reasonable.

At £29 a tube (every month), Im satisfied it is reasonable. But how the h*** can people on a low income or pension (which I will be shortly) pay that much. There is no cheap alternative for this condition - I also have to buy gel and drops to keep his eyes moist on top of the optimmune AND anti biotic drops very often because his dry eyes get infected. And this is for my boy's lifetime. The 3 monthly check up is basically a two minute job, so I cant believe a vet's time is worth £100 per 8 minutes!

I feel so sorry for the people/dogs that just cant afford all these treatments.

Hillbilly1

I know, it is really expensive. Our cat gets regular eye problems - not cheap and drops 4 times a day!

The NHS worked out it is about £100 for a 10 minute consult, so vets in the right ball park. If they have further qualifications it is more!