Vets demanding immediate payment

Lily-Rose_3

Undervalued wrote: »

I'm sorry but with all due respect this paragraph demonstrates that you simply have not got a clue about the costs of running any sort of professional practice, let alone one that needs large amounts of specialised and highly expensive equipment.

As I said earlier, compare it with private dentistry for one example. Most vets, despite having spent at least as much time training, earn substantially less than dentists.

Keep pedalling that if you want, but it doesn't change the fact that vet bills were way lower a few years ago, and no-one struggled to pay them. And comments like 'yeah but people just had the pet put down then,' and 'there are all sorts of new procedures and medicines that cost more now,' don't wash with me.

They don't always NEED to charge as much as they do... Same with dentists; they don't need to either. It's been proven many times that they sometimes charge more than is necessary and do more work than is necessary. But because people need to use them, they have you over a barrel.

I am not saying ALL vets and dentists over-charge by the way, but some do.........

bugslet

Undervalued wrote: »

Certainly a tactless comment but it does raise a valid question for pet owners...

With ever more sophisticated and costly treatments being possible where do you draw the line? I'm sure most (or certainly many) pet owners would forgo a holiday to pay for life saving treatment for their pet.

But what about when it goes well beyond that? Three month's salary? Or six month's? Some referral type treatments I hear about can cost well into five figures. Fine if you have plenty of savings and choose to spend it. But to what extent do you take on potentially damaging debt to finance treatment? A horrible position to be in but one that must increasingly be faced.

As a multi dog owner all my life, I've only had one that has been expensive, probably around 2.5k over the last four years of her life. I've had several that have cost around the 800 - 1k mark.

Overall I've been better off without insurance for sure, though now I have a giant breed, I've finally got insurance for her. Part of having an animal is making provision for the unexpected.

Back to the OP, I've always paid there and then apart from once when there was a bill covering two dogs and it was slow coming through and a couple of times when I've had an animal put down and they've said pay leter. But, it's been a vet practice that I've had a long term relationship with, a one off visit to a specialist I wouldn't expect. And if you do as Lily-rose suggests and leave the animal there, the bill will simply be greater.

I've only had two vets practises in my life (52) and neither of them I feel have ever overcharged me. I recently had a dog in for an op to remove three small skin tumours and a perianal adenoma that cost £358.00. As a previous poster commented, the cost of equipment, premises costs, it all comes into the equation; unless you know the actual full costings of any business, it becomes difficult to really assess if you are getting a good deal or not.

Undervalued wrote: »

I'm sorry but with all due respect this paragraph demonstrates that you simply have not got a clue about the costs of running any sort of professional practice, let alone one that needs large amounts of specialised and highly expensive equipment.

As I said earlier, compare it with private dentistry for one example. Most vets, despite having spent at least as much time training, earn substantially less than dentists.

Undervalued

bugslet wrote: »

As a multi dog owner all my life, I've only had one that has been expensive, probably around 2.5k over the last four years of her life. I've had several that have cost around the 800 - 1k mark.

Overall I've been better off without insurance for sure, though now I have a giant breed, I've finally got insurance for her. Part of having an animal is making provision for the unexpected.

Exactly.

If you have the financial resources and have statistically average "luck" then it is probably cheaper to be your own insurer over the long term.

However you also have to have the right mindset not to let the cost influence your decision as to whether to opt for a costly treatment. That works both ways as there may also be a temptation to treat when insured so as to get value for money from your premiums.

Which brings us on to the huge ethical debate about what level of treatment should be imposed on an animal that can't make its own decisions.

I have seen both extremes from only the most basics (perhaps summed up what treatment was available back at the time of the James Herriot books) right through to anything scientifically possible today if it has even a remote chance of prolonging the animal's life.

Some advocates of the latter course would argue that doing anything less than the maximum possible is playing God. Others take the opposite view.

bugslet

Well put Undervalued. I aim for pragmatism. Cost fortunately has never been an issue; on the other hand, I don't want to put one of my dogs more than what I deem necessary. It's a balance and never easy when it comes to the crunch.:(

MABLE

About 20 years ago I went to a vets in Reading with my cat who was pregnant at the time.
It was bank holiday and they had to perform an emergency operation. The bill then was about £500 and without asking they said do not worry about cost we can work something out. However I paid the full amount straight away.

So based on my experience there are some very understanding vets about .

We now use Companion Vets and find them very good.

Lily-Rose_3

MABLE wrote: »

Many years ago I worked with this girl and she had a pedigree cat that became ill. Rather than paying the bills herself she got her friend to make out it was hers and PDSA did it free for charge. Her friend was on benefits. How wrong is that.

I very much doubt that happened.

To qualify for free PDSA funded treatment, your pet needs to be registered with a vet, AND registered with the PDSA too. AND you need to prove you are eligible.

https://www.pdsa.org.uk/vet-services/eligibility

If it were as simple as getting your mate on benefits to take your pet and pretend it's theirs, everyone would be doing it.

From the website...

How can I register for PDSA-funded help for my pet for the future?

Contact your nearest PDSA Pet Practice to discuss registration. The contact information is available on the map section below.

Eligible pet owners must pre-register their pet with a PDSA Pet Practice in order to obtain PDSA-funded treatment. This service is limited to one pet.

Provided the PDSA Pet Practice can accept you as a client, you will be given an application form to complete.

What you need to be eligible is on the website.

I think your old workmate was pulling your leg!

sheramber

Lily-Rose wrote: »

I very much doubt that happened.

To qualify for free PDSA funded treatment, your pet needs to be registered with a vet, AND registered with the PDSA too. AND you need to prove you are eligible.

https://www.pdsa.org.uk/vet-services/eligibility

If it were as simple as getting your mate on benefits to take your pet and pretend it's theirs, everyone would be doing it.

From the website...


What you need to be eligible is on the website.

I think your old workmate was pulling your leg!

Not difficult at all.

I f you are in an area where the PDSA have their own surgeries then you are only registered with them. It is easy for a person to register an animal in their name and show their entitlement. The friend takes the animal to the surgery 'accompanied' by the animal owner.

If you are using your local vet practice which does PDSA treatment then again the animal is registered with vet in he friend's name and address and proof of benefits received shown.

I do know someone whose mother registered her daughter's dog as hers to get PDSA treatment.. She went to the vet with her daughter when the dog needed treatment.

Lily-Rose_3

sheramber wrote: »

Not difficult at all.

I f you are in an area where the PDSA have their own surgeries then you are only registered with them. It is easy for a person to register an animal in their name and show their entitlement. The friend takes the animal to the surgery 'accompanied' by the animal owner.

If you are using your local vet practice which does PDSA treatment then again the animal is registered with vet in he friend's name and address and proof of benefits received shown.

I do know someone whose mother registered her daughter's dog as hers to get PDSA treatment.. She went to the vet with her daughter when the dog needed treatment.

I have no idea who has told you all this, but anyone who knows anything about the PDSA and how their system works, would know that what you have posted would not happen.

lemontart

every vet I have used want payment upon collection - even when you have said goodbye to the pet - having to do this today and have already transferred the money to pay the vet from savings - so I can concentrate on making my sally's last hours good

sheramber

Lily-Rose wrote: »

I have no idea who has told you all this, but anyone who knows anything about the PDSA and how their system works, would know that what you have posted would not happen.

Why would it not happen?

When I registered for PDSA care all I did was show them the required benefit proof. Nobody wanted proof that the dog was mine.

I can assure you that the person that I knew did have her daughter's dog registered with vet practice as her dog and went to all vet appointments, with her daughter and the dog.

The dog was bought by the daughter , lived with the daughter, and her family, was fed by the daughter and trained by the daughter. It was the daughter's dog.