Negotiating vet fees

LizD_2

One of my GPs needs a large mammary lump removing.

I took her to the vet a few months ago to see what it was, but they didn't know. With the vet's advice I decided to leave it and see if it grew and how she went. She seems perfectly fine healthwise (apart from the lump) and her personality hasn't changed.

The vet told me the op to remove it would be about £100 - £150, the same as a cat or dog.

I'm looking for tips to negotiate this down:
- she's smaller than cat or dog therefore less anaethesia, smaller lump, dressings etc.
- I could do with paying in installments.

It might seem excessive to spend that much, but she means as much to me as a larger pet, so I'd appreciate it if the 'It's just a Guinea Pig, get another one' type comments were kept to a minimum.

kylieM_2

Usually the vets will allow you to pay in instalments. Not many mind you.

Unfortunatly I hadn't got round to insuring one of my cats, he came home one day with a shattered shoulder.

This cost me £900, I was allowed to pay this in 5 instalments. You may be allowed to do this in two lump sums.

You could try to haggle down the price, but I doubt you will get anywhere.

Good Luck

purpleprincess

That's probably about right.

It cost just over £150 to have 3 cancerous tumours removed from ds' G.P. 3yrs ago.

To us, there was no question about going ahead, she was such a special little piggy....and it was worth every penny as she lived for 1 1/2yrs after the op.

We still miss her now.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, I remember the day she had her op. I was a bunch of nerves....and when the vet phoned half way through the op to tell me what he'd removed I was sure it was to say she hadn't made it!

snowman2_2

LizD wrote: »

I'm looking for tips to negotiate this down:
- she's smaller than cat or dog therefore less anaethesia, smaller lump, dressings etc.
- I could do with paying in installments.

Unfortunately you still need the same equipment, surgical instruments, vet and nurses time, possible lab fees to identify the mass and it takes the same time to remove as a lump on a cat or dog. The cost of the actual anaesthetic drugs for a cat is not much, it is time and equipment that costs. Most vets do reduce the costs for G-Pigs and other "children's pets" but that is probably a fair price for Bristol, cheaper further north. For anybody wanting to pay in installments, we ask for 50% at the time and then a set plan to pay the rest, usually within 3 months but we want to know how much and when.

cupid_s

They usually charge for the actual volume of drugs used anyway, so they will be cheaper than if she was a much larger pet.

Unfortunately as I've recently found the main cost is the consultations and vet examinations time. My lizard has been on antibiotics for 4 months now. That has cost me £4 so far as he's tiny, but for them to anaesthetise him and take a scraping from his mouth, that was about £100.

If the lump isn't bothering her and you think it's not serious, could you leave it a short time while you save up some money for the operation? It might be a bit of a risk though as you never know what the lump could be.

MoneySavingStudent_2

Hi there,
Sorry to hear about your guinea pig! Im sure it'll be fine.

If that happened to me with my rabbits or any of my smaller animals i wouldnt be able to pay for it in full either. When our rabbits needed there injections it was £33 each and i have 3 of them! £99 in total and i could pay that all together but i knew i could do it in installments but unfortunatly my vet didnt offer anything like that so i had to think fast!

The way i got around it was, i had a 0% credit card for 6 months. I used the credit card to pay the bill with and set my self a monthly installment so that it would be paid off way before the 0% term was up. So i set a target of paying it off in 5 installments (5 monthly bills). It was just under £20 a month which i could afford and because my credit card bill is usually low anyway it was very easy to manage.

Maybe that could be a good idea? If you have a good credit rating or maybe if you already have one?

Just a thought cause its what i did Hope it all goes ok!
x

emmaroids

LizD wrote: »

but she means as much to me as a larger pet.

so why quibble about the price?

LizD_2

Don't get me wrong, I'll pay it if that's what it costs!

Just seemed high, but would appear to be about right from the other posters.

cluuuuur

Unfortunately this seems to be standard price for such a procedure. Most of my pigs, as they are rescued from being mistreated, have had a variety of health problems, and I think I've spent more on them than I have my dogs or cats. It's unfair that nowhere seems to offer insurance on smaller animals since they're susceptible to so much.

How old is your pig? Unfortunately, the older the pig the higher the risk of problems from anaesthesia, according to my vet. I recently took the decision to not have one of my older (6 years) females spayed after she developed cysts for this very reason - with these risks, risks of infection post-operation, plus the fact that she had no problems relating to the cysts, we made the decision to leave her be. I felt awful about it in a way, but I think I made the right choice.

One thing that you could maybe suggest as a negotiation would be that, if the vet is stumped to exactly what it is, could the lump be analysed for research purposes - particularly if your vets is one where research and teaching is done?

Hope everything goes well for you.