Is my vet fleecing me?

[Minta85]

My lovely Burmese boy was diagnosed with an ear infection at the end of January. He was given a tiny 15ml bottle of Canaural drops and told to go back to the vet about a week later. The drops ran out within 3 or 4 days, so he still had the infection at his checkup. More Canaural prescribed, another vet checkup booked, rinse and repeat until now. He is now going back for his fourth vet checkup next Monday!

I've looked online and have found that Canaural comes in larger 25ml bottles. Surely, the vet should have just given me this size of bottle at the first appointment when my boy was diagnosed, as the vet should have known how long it was likely to take to clear the infection? Then he should have had a checkup a couple of weeks later, at which time the infection would hopefully have gone.

It feels like the vet is almost deliberately not giving me enough Canuaural to last between checkups, which means I have to keep going for checkups and paying more consultation fees. It also feels like this whole saga has gone on for far too long, and I'm wondering if the vet is prolonging it on purpose to get more money out of me. My boy only has an ear infection - surely that shouldn't take longer than a couple of weeks to cure, with at most two or so vet visits?

Does anyone have any ideas/thoughts on this?

[Trustyourself2]

Hmm, this doesn't sound right. I wouldn't be surprised with 2 visits maybe, but 4 is a lot. If the vet wants to check the infection so many times, why doesn't he/she charge you once when the infection's gone and give you a discount? PMy vet doesn't charge for each consultation when it's the same problem.

[Minta85]

Hi Trust, yes this is what I thought - four checkups is far too many! It's great that your vet doesn't charge per consultation for the same condition.

[tabulahrasa]

Um... did you not phone when the drops ran out the first time?

[Minta85]

The vet told me the first bottle should be sufficient, so no I didn't think I needed more drops.

[HermioneJeanGranger]

Ours doesn't charge until treatment is over. Our Maine Coon had an eye infection last week - we got drops and will pay for the meds, for the initial consultation and the final check-up. He was seen 24 hours after his first appt as well and we weren't charged for that. Our bill currently sits at £36.

It's a small country vets though. My old city vet would have charged at least double!