Vetinary Fees

s1lv3rdal5

OP.
Would you buy a car, if you couldn't afford the insurance, repairs, petrol etc?

NO?

Then why buy a pet, if you cannot afford Insurance?

Wellyboots6

My vets is pretty pricey, but they do a good job.
The vets seem to care about the animals and don't put them through unnecessary treatment just for the money.
When the vet suggested glucosamine supplements for my dogs joints, they wrote down the name of them and told me to get them online as they would be half the price the vet would have to charge me.

The thing I did object to was their emergency vet service being quite insensitive regarding money. The emergency service is run by a different company from the same premises and so when my dog got rushed in for emergency surgery the emergency vets did the immediate care and then handed him over to the main vets during the day. I was getting regular phone updates from the vets regarding his condition, but come evening the vets said they would not ring me again until morning unless he deteriorated. At 7pm I got a call from the emergency vets, which panicked me! Turned out they were calling about the insurance, which I spoke to them about. However, when I asked how my dog was doing the nurse told me she had only just come on shift and hadn't even checked on him yet. I was not impressed!

That is the only issue I have had with them so far though, and a lot of people I know have praise for the surgery.

Shop around

the_devil_made_me_do_it

analyst wrote: »

I agree with you too Sheeraa and I think you are posting in the right place. I don't see why your opinion warrants any harsh bitterness - is this thread only populated by money-grabbing vets?

Just because a person is a vet doesn't give them the right to rip off animal owners with extortionate fees and charges.

But as Sosdon said, shop around. A high price vet is a sure sign they are only in it for the money. In my experience the lower cost vets are the ones who show more care and give better service.I ended up switching to the practice used by our nearest animal rescue centre and never looked back, much lower costs and really excellent service.

My only contention has been that they charged over £58 for prescription drugs I could buy online for £22. So I asked them to issue me a prescription to use for online purchases - for which they charged £12, but this is a long term condition.

I started a thread in a similar vein to this & it ended up being a place to vent at me for having my opinion.

As for people not having a pet because of the high cost of vet bills is a shocking attitude. Regardless of whether people can afford a pet or not, there are many animals living in rescue centers who just need a loving home & there are many people out there who live on the poverty line who can offer one of these animals a very loving home, which is just as important as being able to afford, in some cases, over priced vet treatments.

Takeaway_Addict

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I started a thread in a similar vein to this & it ended up being a place to vent at me for having my opinion.

As for people not having a pet because of the high cost of vet bills is a shocking attitude. Regardless of whether people can afford a pet or not, there are many animals living in rescue centers who just need a loving home & there are many people out there who live on the poverty line who can offer one of these animals a very loving home, which is just as important as being able to afford, in some cases, over priced vet treatments.

Really? You're living on the poverty line so decide to add to your costs by getting an animal....

Brilliant budgeting

moggymutt

Having been a teacher and seen just how much work the kids who want to be vets have to do, I have nothing to complain about in my area. I get annoyed that pet owners have to subsidise the prices for farmers a lot of the time. But I find electricians and builders etc cost more than vets.
Just stop and take a look at all the equipment in the vets, not at all cheap. To maintain the operating theatre and equipment, again this is far more than most businesses have to pay for the 'upkeep' of their premises. In-house blood testing machines, digital xray machines, they all cost huge amounts.
There are a few areas where several vet practices in one particular area may all 'conspire' to keep prices high, but on the whole I think vets are very reasonable when compared to lots of other services.
GPs get paid a hell of a lot more, and I'd rather trust a vet.
People just seem to like moaning about vets bills at the same time as not moaning when they pay out for other things that genuinely are overpriced.

Toothsmith

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I started a thread in a similar vein to this & it ended up being a place to vent at me for having my opinion.

As for people not having a pet because of the high cost of vet bills is a shocking attitude. Regardless of whether people can afford a pet or not, there are many animals living in rescue centers who just need a loving home & there are many people out there who live on the poverty line who can offer one of these animals a very loving home, which is just as important as being able to afford, in some cases, over priced vet treatments.

Which is great right up to the time when they develop an expensive chronic condition, costing a fortune.

It is simply irresponsible to get a pet knowing that you couldn't afford to look after it.

At least in the rescue centre the animal will have any problems taken care of in a timely and humane manner.

harveybobbles

The RSPCA have an Animal Hospital and do a scheme for low income familes and/or people on benefits.

I think all you pay is the consultation fee.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Really? You're living on the poverty line so decide to add to your costs by getting an animal....

Brilliant budgeting

It is absolutely no-ones business whether someone is living on the poverty line and chooses to give an animal a loving home.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Toothsmith wrote: »

Which is great right up to the time when they develop an expensive chronic condition, costing a fortune.

It is simply irresponsible to get a pet knowing that you couldn't afford to look after it.

At least in the rescue centre the animal will have any problems taken care of in a timely and humane manner.

Many animals who end up in a rescue center never ever get the chance of a new home & get put to sleep, even if they are healthy. This is due to rescue centers being over run with animals needing a new home.

There are many people who give an animal a new home & were, at that time, capable of affording to care for it's needs. However, life changes & peoples' financial circumstances change. So, it is very unfair to make assumptions.

Toothsmith

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Many animals who end up in a rescue center never ever get the chance of a new home & get put to sleep, even if they are healthy. This is due to rescue centers being over run with animals needing a new home.

There are many people who give an animal a new home & were, at that time, capable of affording to care for it's needs. However, life changes & peoples' financial circumstances change. So, it is very unfair to make assumptions.

Circumstances can indeed change, which is really why the charities like PDSA are around. To help owners who have been unlucky.

Unfortunately they also get dragged in to helping people who have been downright irresponsible in taking on something that with any reasonable amount of forethought they should have avoided.

It's lucky that there are people who donate to such charities.

Its also good that the staff in many of the vet practices that you call overpriced give their time and efforts to frequently organize fund raising for these charities. And also the vets that are accused of 'lining their own pockets' volunteer their time to work sessions in these places .

The demands on these services would be so much less if more people looked honestly at their situation and said "No we can't afford it".