£84 to see vet about hamster

[Hamsterloversrme]

Still reeling now. My hamster had sticky eyes, was gently wiping with cotton bud but thought I should get her checked out with a vet.

Was in and out of vet consultation room in under 5 minutes. She listened to his heart, looked at his eye and prescribed an ointment for his eye.

Almost reeled I’m shock when receptionist told me the cost. I like to think I’m a responsible pet owner but can see why some people just wouldn’t bother taking a hamster to the vet when the cost is extortionate.

I was £175 for dpup to see the emergency vet when he wasn't well and that was just the consultation fee alone not including treatment

That seems really high. A consultation at our vets is less than 30 quid I think, unless it was an emergency. Are the prices on their website?

Sorry missed the ointment bit, did you get a breakdown?

It wasn’t an emergency appointment. I now understand why when I rang up this morning I got an appointment straight away, no one can afford to go to the vets!

How much was the ointment? I think we gets used to NHS prescription costs.

I feel your pain OP our hamster had started losing his fur and we had to take him to the vet twice at £55 each time! The cream that was prescribed at the second visit did the trick ...thankfully. I'd been used to expensive vet bills for our cats but was shocked at having to spend that amount on a hamster!

I only paid £45 6 months ago for anti bionics for my cat!

That seems high but it’s a mystery how vets fees are worked out. For comparison, our hamster went to the specialist exotics vet with a scabby patch, was put under anaesthetic, had some skin scraped and looked at under a microscope, was given two different kinds of medication, and that cost £90something. We’re north of England if that makes a difference. However have also paid nearly £30 before for a couple of pills for the dog due to the ‘dispensing fees’, so who knows!

Guinea-pigs are ££ at the Vet.
Our last piggie (old lady) had an eye infection most likely from a hay poke .
Treatment was over £80 , including follow up . She had drops and gel that we had to apply several times a day .

If she'd still had cagemates they'd have washed her eye with their Magic Guinea-Pig Spit ( warning - they eat their first passing droppings so their spit is very rich in probiotics) and it would have healed . We had many hay-pokes to deal with, bathe in salted water and the power of nature did the rest .

Even sadder was after our applying the drops/gel and her eye healing she had the All Clear ......and died in her sleep 72 hours later !

My dog threw up green bile last summer and to get him checked over and anti sickness jab I had to pay £364 .
I was shocked 😮

I suppose whether it's a hamster or a great dane the consultation fee is going to be the same. So if a dog needed ointment for its eye it would be the same cost as a hamster. Both take up the same time and the cost of the ointment is the same.

I bet the ointment cost more than the consultation

Our dog got Sepsis last year. It cost us...are you ready for this....19k.
She was intensive care for 2 weeks at an animal hospital. We decided not to have insurance. Instead we saved £150 a month into her own account. It had 7k in, but clearly we never imagined this. Plus insurance wouldn't have covered hardly any because she went private.
We are just a regular couple by the way - certainly not wealthy by any means!! We love her so much though. Fully aware most people on here will think we are beyond bonkers tho!!

I like to think I’m a responsible pet owner but can see why some people just wouldn’t bother taking a hamster to the vet when the cost is extortionate.

It’s never understandable that people wouldn’t take a pet to get the care they need. Never.

As far as I can see the issue is that Private Equity has been buying up most vets' practices (in the same way as with dentists) and they need to make their (huge) profit. It is pricing 'normal' people out of the possibility of having a pet.

We had 2 vet bills for 2 dogs within a year totalling almost £25k. We did have insurance for a lot but it cost us £10k.

How do you mean private? Are you in the U.K. Both our dogs went to specialist vets and the insurances covered it.

Our dog got Sepsis last year. It cost us...are you ready for this....19k.
She was intensive care for 2 weeks at an animal hospital. We decided not to have insurance. Instead we saved £150 a month into her own account. It had 7k in, but clearly we never imagined this. Plus insurance wouldn't have covered hardly any because she went private.

I’m not sure what you mean about going private? There isn’t an Animal NHS unfortunately so surely any treatment you have is private?

£250 for a dog that needed a fart!
This was a few years ago, dog obviously in pain, of course out of hours and phoned vet to be told we must take him or he would die! DH gets him in the car and on the way over smells the worst fart ever. Jumps out to see the vet and perfectly bloody fine 🙄 (which of course I was glad about but that must be one of the most expensive farts ever!!)

Ooooh does your Dcat now have super powers from those antibionics? 😆

Op, think it should be cheaper for a small rodent. My vet never charged much for my guineas so that does seem a lot.

Basically we had a choice to send her to a well known animal hospital 50 miles from where we live. The local vets wanted to put her to sleep. It was very extensive medical treatments that didn't have a great prognosis. We wouldn't have got hardly any of this covered on insurance- we spoke to quite a few Senior Vets. But she's home and doing amazing 🥰 that's what matters.

What I meant about some people not taking their hamster to the vets is because a lot of people could not afford to pay the extortionate vets fees. They just couldn’t.

The vet fees are 10 times the cost of the hamster. Not saying it’s right but families who want a pet but can’t afford vet fees may buy a pet like a hamster thinking they’ll live to the grand old age of 2 (if they’re lucky) and probably wouldn’t ever need to go to the vets.

Sounds similar to us. But our insurances covered the specialists. The animal hospital we used was one of the worlds leading ones apparently, so I don’t know why insurance wouldn’t cover yours, there was no issue with ours.

Vets costs have gone up, like everyone else's though- and as a business, they aren't covered by the price cap. They have high energy costs- if they have inpatients, then they'll have electricity, heating etc on 24/7 and some of their equipment uses a lot of electricity to run. Plus a lot of consumables will have gone up in price, too.

The money you pay obviously doesn't just go towards the cost of the vet, but to paying the receptionist, nurses, any other staff (e.g. cleaning/maintenance etc).

If the £85 includes the ointment, then I think it's pretty reasonable, actually. And although you were 5 minutes in and out, if the actual length of the booked appointment is longer, then you're being charged for that time as well.

I get that it's not cheap, and it does feel like a bit of a rip off, but you have to consider all the costs involved for that vet actually to be available for you to see!

Totally agree

Either have a pet and commit to what that means, or dont have a pet

Vets are expensive, everyone knows that. I just thank my lucky stars that my own health care doesnt cost this much!

Ours is £75 for a consultation.

Our guinea pigs are nearly 5 so presume they might start needing care soon.