How do vets justify £50 on a bandage

[Woodward23]

Our dog cut her self today on a walk and we had to take her to vets, the bill came to £130! Consultation medicine i can understand but £50 of that bill was for it to be bandaged up just how do they justify that cost! I know no one can probably help but I just needed to vent to get it out of my system

Lots of vets I know have been bought out as @Aaron95 says to a small corporation which only really has one concern, profits.

It depends on the sort of wound your pet has, if it’s eg a rat bite on a cat and you think it could get infected then I’d take the cat to the vet for this. If it’s an infected wound, to be fair all I saw my vet do on my cat a few years ago was break the scab, squeeze out the poison a few times and then bathe and give antibiotics. To be honest I’d probably do most of that myself but see vet for antibiotics. In theory if your pet’s booster is up to date if you bathe with salt water, TCP etc you shouldn’t need antibiotics.

For a dog’s wound on the leg, clean it yourself, keep an eye on it and bandage it. If it looks bad after a few days take to vet. And as @MidnightMeltdown says if they do need medication you can order it online, much like you do here with online pharmacies.

Same. My eldest cat has possible IBD - the vets never were sure (she only has a couple of obvious IBD symptoms, main thing was she couldn't gain weight) and she had a battery of tests, xrays, scans, blood tests, eventually exploratory surgery. Yes, it cost thousands. But she's had nine years as a lively, happy, downright kittenish cat, and hopefully will have many more.

Treatment is expensive. For humans, let alone animals. There are regulations, safety standards etc that have to be met.
Of course, there is no question that humans shouldn't die for something that 'can be treated'. To this end we have the NHS, taxes etc for everyone.

The same doesn't apply to animals! Unless you're disabled pets are a luxury. As @DogInATent pointed out costs for routine treatments increase to subside these expensive things. If you believe that your pet should have the best medical care but can't afford it then don't have a pet. But you can't complain it should be cheaper.... These things cost money, why should anybody else pay?

Every thread on this turns out the same...people blame a shortage in the profession, investment companies, insurance companies , etc etc. To what extent each of these parties are involved I don't know and can't comment.

What I DO know is that in the past decade pet ownership has exploded and the standards of care demanded has come close to that of humans. It doesn't take a genius to work out that human care is expensive, and the same standards applying to pets would mean that the prices also rise!

But then again, thanks to the NHS many people in this country don't know just how expensive medic treatment is anyway. We don't need the extreme example of the U.S, look at countries like France where people do pay for treatment on a sliding scale.

If you think it's expensive but a bandage and put it on yourself, just like people used to do.

Being on the recieving end of large vet bills, and then insurance company wrangles, I'm inclined to agree that there's some profiteering going on.

However I can see the other side because a family member is training to be a VN. They are going to be thousands in student debt, and working within a practice for a year without pay as they train (and vastly reduced student finance for that year due to living at home) and when qualified will be able to earn £25-27k a year, unless they spend more money on further training to increase earning potential, or of course until they gain enough experience to move up the ladder - which doesn't happen overnight. That is the way it works in any industry, but in order to attract people, they need to be paid enough to pay that back and live.

The training for a vet is longer and more expensive, as well as the overheads involved. I do genuinely think the last people to see any money are the ones doing the actual work and giving the care, and the majority is spread between various other companies that supply different things, seeking to make more and more profit.

If these prices are necessary, why is it that some practises are able to charge much, much less and still be successful?

Also I have a cat, and like @Catsmere 's pet she has some digestive issues. Occasional blood in her poop and soft stool.
She's been in and out of the vets with a couple of blood tests , all clear.
She's very healthy apart from that. Good appetite, gaining weigh, active and glossy coat.
I see no point in subjecting her to pointless and expensive investigations or surgery. Using my common sense it looks ok, vet isn't particularly worried and she's fine.

I'm glad your girl is doing well, @Astsjakksmso ! My girl's been coasting happily for years too, just her annual (six monthly now she's officially a senior) checkups, vaccinations and she just had her first teeth cleaning this year. She's not even on medication now, she does well enough on the outrageously expensive Royal Canin Anallergenic food not to need it.

Of course, there is no question that humans shouldn't die for something that 'can be treated'. To this end we have the NHS, taxes etc for everyone.
@Astsjakksmso - I think there are limits, even for humans. There are treatments I would refuse for myself because the side effects vs. the outcome aren't worth it. My family knows my criteria for DNR.

Ironic this thread should pop up this morning. I've just now had a quote from my vet for over £450 for an AHC. ffs.

That's true, and there are 'quality of life' treatments as opposed to things that have good outcomes.
But ... Say your cat has treatable cancer, and needs chemotherapy costing thousands of pounds.
Should you not have pets, if you can't afford it?
Should it be subsidised?
We wouldn't find it acceptable for a human to be denied treatment purely on a cost basis. But, as callous as it sounds. I think it's fine for animals. So I wouldn't say not being able to afford loads of money upfront is a barrier to pet owning
You do need to pay for insurance however!

Also to add I'm in a fortunate position that I can afford to pay ( not more than 5K though).
But if we fell on hard times no, I would not sell my car, not feed my children etc for my pet's medical treatment. Absolutely not.

Exactly this

We had a lovely local small vet practice. Bit shabby, but kind and pretty reasonable. So successful they sold out to a large company, built state of the art swanky new practice, with every mod con. They up sell aggressively, and charge the earth.

Old vet now started up his old practice, low and behold everyone has decamped back to him.

Recent changes inc. insisting on prescriptions for flea treatments. So everyone now just goes online instead.

It's all so self defeating.

Its amazing what you can achieve with cotton wool, salty water, and human antiseptic cream and ointments.

There was a thread here before Christmas about pet insurance and it was just a bashing thread about people who didn’t have it. We gave up some streaming services to afford it and it’s not cheap at all so I can personally understand people not having it. Plus it could be an Ireland thing but have gotten practically nothing out of it compared to what we’ve put in and it drives me nuts (as much as health insurance does, paying that much a month and yet get pittens back for it!!)

In the past 10 years most vet practices have been bought by one of a small number of corporations which have only one concern - profits.
I doubt they're making that much profit. The issue will be servicing the debt they've used to fund the purchase of the practices that's then been loaded onto the practices they've bought. It's the Pizza Express Problem.

@Astsjakksmso What I DO know is that in the past decade pet ownership has exploded and the standards of care demanded has come close to that of humans. It doesn't take a genius to work out that human care is expensive, and the same standards applying to pets would mean that the prices also rise!

But then again, thanks to the NHS many people in this country don't know just how expensive medic treatment is anyway. We don't need the extreme example of the U.S, look at countries like France where people do pay for treatment on a sliding scale.

This is the crux of the matter.

Joe Public doesn't have a clue in hell how much it costs to run a private business in healthcare, either human or animal.

I look after dogs. One in my care got a cut out walking. Probably no longer than the length of a penny. The vets bill was almost £900. Thankfully my insurance covered it, less my excess of £50. I think you've got off lightly!

At the point we gave up on insurance we were being quoted >£500/year with £200 excess per treatment episode and 20% co-payment. Dental excluded.

To translate... for a £1,000 treatment the insurance would pay out £640. And we'd have already paid over £500 on the premium.

At the point we gave up on insurance we were being quoted >£500/year with £200 excess per treatment episode and 20% co-payment. Dental excluded.

We actually worked out we probably at least broke even despite all his claims coming when he was a senior and we had £120 excess plus 20%. Seven years ago he had a broken jaw and lost 12 teeth and had to have a few more dentals over the years. Thankfully dental costs were covered by insurance. I still have my suspicions that his jaw was broken by our previous vet but couldn't prove it. Thankfully they paid up without any issues for his jaw and his heart and various other bits and pieces in between.

The push for pet insurance always bugs me, because even before Covid sent the price of everything skyrocketing, I couldn't afford it - and since both my kits have lifelong pre-existing conditions, even the insurers that claim to cover P-EC won't cover them.

Some practices usually the big chain ones take the piss.

My vets are so reasonable that even though I've moved half hour away, I still use them.

I tried the one 5 mins from my new house once and the prices were 😱 I got a quote for some blood tests and an ultrasound scan that was £400 more than what I ended up paying at my regular vet.

Nobody is 'pushing' anything. But £50 * 12 = £650. If you can't even afford that how are you going to afford a several hundred pound vet bill?

Chosen £50 as a 'random' number as cost varies but I don't think I've seen more than that for cats.

I'm not talking about people on this thread pushing it, but generally.

I'm in Australia. The cheapest pet insurance I found when looking was $100 a month. I'm on a carer's pension and that sort of ongoing expense is too much on top of everything else. Vet bills are around $100 for a checkup, and I don't have to take the kits in too often. Dental is expensive, yes, with the anaesthetic, but that's once a year.

Well if you have been hanging out on UK based threads then your example is irrelevant. Pet insurance for a cat with no issues is between £10-£15. You can get the same, where it just doesn't cover pre-existing conditions or if you want some input it goes up to £50.

Surely you see the logic in wondering how people can afford pets but not £10 extra a month?

Pets are a luxury. People seem to have forgotten that. There's been a massive increase in pet ownership but sadly so many don't neuter, train dogs properly etc.

We need less pets in the world. Not more.

We need less pets in the world. Not more.

No, we need less people not getting their pets neutered, less people who don't bother to get their animals treated when they are ill.

I'm between cats at the moment but when the time is right I will get another one, possibly 2. A pet isn't a luxury to many people, for my elderly DM her cat was company, someone in the house to talk to.

A pet isn't a luxury to many people, for my elderly DM her cat was company, someone in the house to talk to

I agree. Pets used to be "just" pets. Another sentient being around to keep you company. Human gets companionship, pet gets love and food. Everyone used to have a pet, and no-one had insurance.