Vetinary Fees

Person_one

3v3 wrote: »

And, thanks to following his advice, I ended up with an enormous vets bill

His advice is given based on averages. It does not take into consideration the unexpected or exceptions to the norm.

While I have a high regard for much of his advice, on this particular issue, his advice is .... ill advised!!

I don't think you understood his advice! Of course there's the possibility of a big bill, just a different way of being prepared for it.

3v3

Person_one wrote: »

I don't think you understood his advice! Of course there's the possibility of a big bill, just a different way of being prepared for it.

I understood his advice perfectly well, thank you

Self-insurance is where, instead of paying premiums, you regularly - preferably monthly - put money into a pet fund; so if your moggie or doggie gets poorly, there's money ready to pay for it and meanwhile it's in your hands, not the insurers

I paid the bill with my "prepared" savings and topped up the difference from Christmas savings. However, as the cat was taken seriously ill at under 3 years old, with the best will in the world, it was not long enough to save the amount required for the work he needed immediately, the investigations and tests to find the root cause or, further, for the operation and treatment he would require for the rest of his life.

Not only would I never make the same mistake again, I wouldn't advocate that advice to anyone either.

I currently have a large dog, a pedigree cat and I pay around £500 per annum in insurance fees for the pair. I think they are worth it

bips86

RE Variability of prices between vets - often you do get what you pay for and there's nobody trying to "rip you off". I am soon to qualify as a vet and therefore have worked in many many different practices and seen the variability in standard of care. For example - your cat when under anaesthesia may be monitored constantly, with lots of machines and someone ready to act as soon as something changes. Or the nurse may be looking after the cat and still be expected to answer the phone, quickly check on another patient etc etc. Your cat may have an expensive and time consuming catheter (cannula in people) put into its vein so they can put fluids in immediately if blood pressure drops or worst case scenario, the cat crashes and emergency drugs can be used immediately. You can quite safely anaesthetise animals without these however, but things like this may be the reason the price is higher. Also a "dental" is a hugely variable procedure - one cat may just need a quick scale and polish, whereas there may be several teeth needing surgical extractions - which can take several hours. Its often not possible to tell until the cat is anaesthetised and can be examined properly - especially the teeth at the back!

3v3

Welcome to the forum, bips86.

Congratulations on your forthcoming qualification :T

ian103

Just had to take our little cat to the vet as she's off her food and not looking so good. Vet gave her a check over, weighed her, came up with a couple of routes of investigation if she gets no better.

The bill was £30 including a steroid injection, my initial thoughts was that's expensive but in reallity its pretty reasonable when you think surgery, reception, staff, 1/3 share of an operating theatre etc.

Deep_In_Debt

Person_one wrote: »

Um, I have two dogs and a low income.

The benefits of pets are pretty well proven, they shouldn't be something that only the well off can have access to. I have a plan for if they ever need expensive vet care but it wouldn't be easy.

Some of the poorest people are the most caring owners, look at the bond between some homeless people and their dogs.

I work in London so I see homeless people on a daily basis and many with dogs. The dogs look very healthy and very well cared for.

arbroath_lass

sheeraa wrote: »

a descale and polish for my cat has been quoted £200+

Op have you tried Plaque Off for your cat's teeth. It cleaned my boy's teeth up brilliantly. (According to the reviews it doesn't seem to work for all pets but surely worth a try)?

adonis

I paid the bill with my "prepared" savings and topped up the difference from Christmas savings. However, as the cat was taken seriously ill at under 3 years old, with the best will in the world, it was not long enough to save the amount required for the work he needed immediately, the investigations and tests to find the root cause or, further, for the operation and treatment he would require for the rest of his life.

Not only would I never make the same mistake again, I wouldn't advocate that advice to anyone either.

I currently have a large dog, a pedigree cat and I pay around £500 per annum in insurance fees for the pair. I think they are worth it [/QUOTE]




I have never had pet insurance and had to have a £1200 operation on one cat to remove something he swallowed, fortunately I had the money to pay for it.

I am still not getting insurance because the excess is £100 + 10 percent of the cost of treatment, so by the time the yearly premium is taken into account which goes up every year it would have cost me £320 not including insurance for the other cat.

How many times do you go to the vets and it is less than the £100 excess, quite a few I would imagine.
Also I noticed on older cats the 10 percent goes up to 35 percent so if you have insurance because you cannot afford vets fees you may still get hit for hundreds of pounds.

suki1964

sophieschoice wrote: »

Pets are expensive and I think when compulsory micro chipping comes in then compulsory insurance should follow.
My vet is absolutely lovely and I've seen him up ladders painting the outside of his tiny surgery to save money.
On my way to work today I noticed him hauling boxes to the premises he's moving into nearby as he needs more space.
I had to phone my pet insurance company today for a claim form and I commented that we always buy insurance in the hope we won't need it.

Why should compulsory insurance be introduced? Why should I pay for something I don't want and have no need of?

suki1964

GlynD wrote: »

I also agree witrh you Sheeraa. Vet bills on the GB mainland are shocking and are driven up by chains of companies who need to answert to investors. Since we moved to Northern Ireland our vet bills have plummetted to a quarter of what they were in GB. I've even discussed this with the pet insurance company and they are aware of it because these new style vets are ripping them off for massive costs on every claim but there's nothing can be done about it as long as people support the vets. Meanwhile traditional vets struggle along - that's the kind of vet you need to find.

Like you I too have found vet bills here to be a quarter of my London suburb bills

However I'm not so sure about vets ripping off, rather they are more likely to do all tests as matter of course, plus the costs for premises etc are so much higher

My vet now is a farm practice, the small animal surgery is also an examination room, and my hot press is bigger. I don't have to see the vet for regular flea and worm treatment, nor his usual eye/ear drops or metacam prescriptions. This past summer my lad has had a grass seed in his foot, London vet would have operated there and then, cost of between 130 and 200, here we get antibiotics and told to draw it out in a hot salt bath - £ 30 cost


I could go to the town vet and get all the mod cons, such as a waiting room and all day appointments, but that all costs money as toothsmith explains, and someone is going to pay for it, that's not going to be me