Vet fees!

[Doggydoggydoggy]

More of a rant really.

Doggy had her appointment today for her poorly nail.

Antibiotics and pain relief, has to have an x Ray if no better in a week.

I was charged £117, £32 of that was consultation fee.

The thing is though, when I googled the medicine she has been given, it comes to less than £15!

The pain relief is listed online as £3.87 and the antibiotic tablets (I have 7) about 50p each!

I am absolutely livid!

I am quite happy to pay a little bit more than their value because wages, insurance, rent etc.
People have to make a living but come on, this is beyond greedy!

I want to go back and demand some money back but they are the only vet accessible to me because I don’t drive or have anyone willing to do I can’t be falling out with them.

[italiancortado]

Ever paid for a prescription from the NHS? Many of the items come in under the actual price.

[Doggydoggydoggy]

By more than £70?!

I am afraid I remain to be convinced that it is anything other than sheer bloody greed.

[italiancortado]

Crack on then.....

[lpchill]

Have you checked out other vets in your area? We had the same issue with our cat. They charged over £100 to check an abscess and give a antibiotic jab (I had all the pain meds and antibiotic tabs from a recent previous visit) went to another vets and they charge £60 for the same thing and they are much nicer and I can always get my pets seen same day.

[BiteyShark]

Vet care is private health care and compared to what you would have to pay for a human private consultation and private prescription it's relatively cheap.

It's not just the vets time and expertise you are paying for, it's all the overheads AND profit. Without profit vets can't improve and expand with new technique ands equipment.

Thank god vet care isn't like the NHS as I can get an appointment the same day and routine operations and investigations very quickly, usually the next day.

I know you think it's expensive OP but it really isn't. Shop around. Go to a cheaper vets via a taxi if it costs less. I am happy to pay my vets whatever it costs as they have operating theatres, an ITU section and have enough equipment that only a few things are sent out for specialist analysis. If I have to pay a price on top of medication to have that available then so be it.

[Doggydoggydoggy]

Unfortunately I am pretty much stuck with this vet.
I don’t drive and I don’t have anyone willing to drive and because she is a fairly large dog I can’t sneak her into a taxi..
The only other option is a professional pet taxi company.

There isn’t anything I can do really, I am just really annoyed that they can get away with this.

[AnotherOriginalUsername]

Buying drugs online is only appropriate for long term conditions. You're quite within your rights to ask your vet for a written prescription to buy drugs online (there will be a £10-20 fee depending on area) but a vet will only write one (for up to 6 months) once your pet is on a stable dose.

Your presenting complaint is an acute problem that required treatment there and then, not in 3+ days time once the drugs get ordered and delivered.

Pets are a luxury, not a right, and their medical treatment comes at a cost. People rarely realise how much human medication/treatment costs, because of the NHS

[AnotherOriginalUsername]

Just seen your comment re: large dog. The bigger they are, the more they cost unfortunately. Do you have insurance?

[Doggydoggydoggy]

But over £70!
£70 !!!!
For less than £15 worth of meds 🙄

I appreciate overheads, wages, insurance, time etc but am I really alone in thinking that it is well out of order to charge that amount when the drugs cost less than £15?

The mark up is absolutely huge!

[BiteyShark]

I suspect some things will be marked up and others more subsided like all businesses. It would be worse if they decided it wasn't economic to stay open and closed.

[BiteyShark]

Another way to look at it is that your closest other vet is a drive away so it clearly isn't lucrative as a vet practice in your area as I have three I can walk to.

Perhaps they have a low footfall that really they need to charge more like £50-60 consultation to cover costs per patient. However, people wouldn't like that in case there was nothing that needed treatment and it would put them off so pets may not get the care and diagnosis they require. Therefore lower consultation fee but higher meds fee still brings people in but only those that actually require care pay more. What if they dropped their fees and found it just wasn't sustainable and closed. You would then have no vet to visit.

But no instead of thinking of all the market forces that affect businesses and profit they are clearly just being greedy.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

A conversation with an acquaintance who works in the profession revealed that vets mostly make a loss on the consultation and have to make it back on the drugs.

Interestingly, vet wages are stagnating and declining veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/182/3/62.1 and vets don't earn nearly what GPs do despite spending longer at university and performing surgery.

[threemilesupthreemilesdown]

"I am quite happy to pay a little bit more than their value because wages, insurance, rent etc."

I am not sure you quite understand the value of those etceteras - take it from someone who works in practice management and sees the bills! Practices often cannot even buy in the medication for the price it's sold by online pharmacies. If the vet worked for free it would only reduce your bill by about 20%. Which other bits are they meant to reduce?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

The actual figures if vets charged the as the online pharmacies for drugs are that consult fees will have to rise to between £70-90 per consult.

[tabulahrasa]

“The mark up is absolutely huge!“

It’s not as big as you think it is, vets usually get charged more to start with than the online companies charge to customers...

[AnotherOriginalUsername]

It’s not as big as you think it is, vets usually get charged more to start with than the online companies charge to customers

This is very true. I get drugs at cost price + VAT (very generous staff discount scheme) and I can still buy drugs considerably cheaper online

[Eifla]

Ah, vet school is free? Who knew!

Get a grip. Or don’t have a dog.