To think vets are overcharging

My niece paid over £9k with £4k insurance cover for her dog to have an eye removed and cataracts removed on the other eye. Independent vet in a northern town.
Yet we paid £7k with £4k insurance for our dog to have a big operation, he was kept in for 7 days. Multi national vet in a Midlands town.

Took my two old girls for a booster each. Used to be about £28 each. About fell over as I pinged my card for £150 !!!!

If you think it's expensive have a look at the cost of healthcare in the US.

There is no NHS for dogs

Again, I wasn’t asking why they were overcharging - I was asking why there’s an investigation into their prices if (according to PP) they’re not overcharging.

So then you price those things separately - it’s not hard. Basic dental @ X price, bloods @ y price, extractions @ z per tooth.

Some will definitely be charging more than others. How much depends on the surgery. Obviously a vet surgery with an MRI, ultrasound and other diagnostic equipment will probably be more expensive than a village vet that has to refer for all these investigations. Simply because this equipment is hugely expensive to buy, maintain and train staff to use.

Because not all treatments are 'cookie cutter'. A basic dental may cost £200 but if that animal is elderly they may needs bloods before anaesthetic, or may need teeth removing during the procedure, or antibiotics. Then owner then gets the hump because it is over the quoted £200.

I didn’t ask why they were overcharging, I know they are! PP was claiming that they’re not, which is what I was responding to.

Because there is a massive lack of staff (thank those that voted to leave the EU for that one!) and huge pressure on staff. As a result independents are selling out to corporates who charge a lot more money for the same treatment.

I really think it depends which vet you go to. We have a small independent practise and it only costs £19 for an appointment, with no extras for OOH or anything, it’s just a standard rate, but I’ve heard of people paying hundreds just to get seen at a weekend which is just blatant robbery imo.

We had an appointment a few weeks ago because our cat was refusing to eat and kept being sick. We paid £50 for an emergency visit and two injections.

Yes this is it. There was a programme on Radio 4 about this recently. Not all the vets are that happy about it either.

I think this is the major problem. It’s very well to say “care is expensive, you shouldn’t have a pet if you don’t want pay vet bills” but few vets have anything close to a comprehensive pricing list displayed in their surgery or on the website, and many people thinking of getting a pet, especially for the first time, therefore have no idea and little way of finding out until they actually need it that even a simple examination with painkillers and antibiotics can run into the hundreds.

I had to have a verbal wrestling match with the vet receptionist over the phone this week. I wanted to know how much an examination appointment would cost. Couldn’t get a straight answer, just loads of waffle and “oh, well, it depends on…”

This definitely isn’t all vets. Small independent in the countryside, midnight emergency visit - sedation and an op, and various meds inc antibiotics, a further visit the following morning and it was well under £500 in total (I believe it was under £400). I was very distressed and a family member made the call to the out of hours local vet, and asked the cost - tried to relay said cost to me and the vet will have heard me say ‘I don’t care what it costs, she needs to be seen’ - they could have absolutely fluffed up those prices and it would have been entirely my own fault for being too vocal about not caring. I was absolutely gobsmacked at how cheap it was.

Follow up local to home to remove drains, check wounds etc, £50 - and subsequent visit to have stitches removed, they didn’t even charge us.

Both of these vets were small and independent.

Then why is there an investigation into the amounts vets are charging people?

I'd say my local independent is actually pretty reasonable, still eye-wateringly expensive, but then healthcare is. That's why I always get the highest level of insurance with PetPlan, that I can.

Vet take home pay is astoundingly low compared to other professions.

As someone who knows how much human healthcare actually costs, I am always astounded at how cheap vet care is.

Well it depends how compliant the dog is, one of mine has to be sedated to have her nails clipped because she just won't tolerate it, and believe me we've tried all sorts! The other rolls on her back and presents you with her paws 🤣.
Both treated and trained in exactly the same way, I'd rather my dog were sedated than pinned down, risking injuries to her and the vet team and stressing her out even if it costs me a bit more.

So what do you think is a reasonable salary for a vet? And running a practice?

It varies massively. My dog was quoted £1000 a session for chemo at one vet, and £403 for the exact same stuff, same blood tests etc. at another.

I think what’s being discussed here is not that vets don’t do a heap of very specialised training but that they are being led to treat animals according to financial gain rather than ethics

we all know health care costs money

Hmm my DD is a newly qualified VN and she did a section on business as part of her degree because VNs are often expected to take on some of the running of the practice - which is a business - and they need to know what they're doing or it'll be chaos both for the customers and the business.

I don't think you can blame vets solely for wanting to make money by keeping animals alive - it's more to do with the owners, vets have to give all the treatment options that are viable clinically, so the client can make an informed decision, and there's a culture of keeping humans and animals alive because there's a belief that alive, in any state, is better than dead. I don't actually agree with that but I know people who do believe it, and believe so strongly.

A friend recently had a dog collapse and it ended up being really serious, I went with her and the vet explained the options, candidly with the survival rate for treatment being 10%. She seized on that, the vet can't tell you what to do, only offer the options and the treatment was an option, just with a very low survival rate, but of the 2 options, that one was the only one that had a survival rate at all as the other was euthanasia. She seized on that and time was of the essence, so she was pressed to make the decision - not because of the vet, but because with every hour that passed the dog deteriorated. She chose PTS after we had a conversation about it and I think it was the best option, as she does now, but had she taken the treatment the vet would have to do it because that's what she wanted and was a clinical option. She seized on it because it would delay what happens to every dog owner one day, they lose the dog and people don't want to face that. The vet would have to have very strong grounds for insisting euthanasia is the only option, it might be the best option, but the client needs to be aware of all the options or they stand to be misinformed and that can be malpractice on behalf of the vet.

Yes, vet bills are high. They are trained professionals, and animal medication is as expensive as human medication. I'll admit though that your bill does sound particularly high. Our 2yo cat was treated for poisoning recently and it cost £1k. We had cover up to £1k thankfully, but it's made us realise that even with younger pets, the vet bills stack up and we probably need to get higher cover when we renew. The vet was absolutely brilliant with our cat though, no complaints from me as he was returned to us in fine health when he so easily could have died.

It feels peculiar they couldn't cleanse the paw without putting him under? I don't have dogs but a cat will stay still if held down a bit to do all sorts to their paw while they are awake.

You'd think a vet plus nurse could hold an animal still for a few minutes? They said the seed was out already.
As long as they don't need to cut. But maybe that's just normal for dogs?

I think that's why the price is so high.

Welcome to a free market economy.