To think the vet practice is in it for the money?

[QuietTiger]

Long story short, our cat had to go to the Emergency Vet last night (Sunday). His usual vet uses an "out of hours emergency service" which covers most of the various vets practices out of hours in our city. When I initially rang up on the phone, I was told by the vet nurse that "The out of hours fee is £70 before examination and treatment". Not a problem for us, the situation was urgent enough that my cat needed to see a vet and we have the money available (although my DH did mutter something about fecking cat always costing money, bastard vets ripping people off... ).

Whilst I was waiting to see the vet, a lady was there with her dog who was very sick - she'd had an emergency spay last week, spent £500 at her own vet and the dog had an infection and was bleeding internally. She was quoted £205 for treatment, the vets were also planning on keeping the dog overnight. The vet wanted a £200 deposit for treatment. BUT, because the lady only had £100 until tuesday when she got paid (and she was distraught by this time, because it was literally life or death), the vet was refusing to treat the dog apart from making it comfortable. The lady asked if she could pay the remainder this morning when she collected the dog, the vet was adamant that she had to leave a £200 deposit. He offered the PTS option (but it still would have cost £160!)

AIBU to think that the vet was being money grabbing and only had finances in the forefront of his mind? I was particularly livid because the vet insisted on discussing this in the waiting room in front of me and 2 other people, instead of giving the lady the curtosey of discussing her financial afairs and dog treatment in private. I appreciate that the vets concern was that the owner wouldn't collect the dog or pay for the cost of treatment, but surely their job is to relieve suffering and give emergency treatment? If you didn't care about your pet, you wouldn't be taking it to an emergceny vet at 9pm on a Sunday night, surely?

QT

Isn't this what pet insurance is for??

I think that's out of order and the vet shouldn't have acted in that way. That's very sad for the lady and her dog .

I only have one of my cats insured, the other one isn't because she's too old. None of the hens are insured. I save up money every week incase there's an emergency. I've had to visit the emergency vet a few times with various pets and it is very expensive.

I don't think that a vet should leave an animal suffering and in pain just because the owner doesn't have quite enough money. £100 deposit seems fair to me.

Do you know what the outcome was?

It's so expensive but as a friend who is a vet told me - some practices have huge overheads and tag it onto the price.

My own vet is in a small shabby building which keeps his prices down and will see my cat once but charge me for a "third consultation" as it's cheaper. He is absolutely brilliant - will not do anything unnecessary and loves animals.

Other vets - if they are part of a big practice are paying for the building, the glossy waiting room as well as all their staff.

If you or your friend are in essex I can recommend mine - he's on Canvey Island and I'll never go anywhere else.

Yes, but many people are not insured. In our situation, if my DH I and insured our pets we'd be insuring 3 dogs and 9 cats at a cost of £200 a month, plus 5 of the animals are uninsurable (previous conditions, age etc). It's easier to put that money in a savings account.

Many people can't afford vet insurance and don't qualify for free vet care via the PDSA. And TBH, I've been at the same emergency vet in the past and have seen them refusing to make a direct insurance claim because (and this is a direct quote) "we can't be sure your policy is valid, you'll have to pay and claim it back".

If you have 3 dogs and 9 cats then I'm sorry if you can't afford to insure them why on earth do you have them?

Most vets you have to pay the mney and then claim it back from the insurance if you have it. This vet sounds very heartless.

Ilovehens - I believe that the dog was given palliative treatment and transfered to it's own vet today, but the lady had to collect it and pay in full before they would release the dog.

Hopelesslydisorganised - thanks for the offer, but we're in Wales. We do actually have a fabulous vet, he's brilliant, it's just that 90% of the vets in this area use this particular emergency vet service including him. Or cat will be sent back to his usual vet today, thank goodness.

I use Petplan with my cat because they're the only ones that my vets will deal with due to the others being so unreliable.

The chickens aren't really insurable due to birds being so fragile when they do get sick and neither are the fish.

ohhh Hopeless im in shoebury-where on canvey is it as i really dislike my vet

People I know don't have insurance as they consider it to be a rip off. I pay £15 a month for my dog, have done for 3 years since I had the dog. I must admit I'm thinking of cancelling nad putting the £15 aside each month in a "vet fund".

Insurance has never paid out. Excess is £60, vet bills always seem to be £60 max so not work claiming. The one time I had a bill of over £200 they wouldn't pay as they don't cover dental work. Even though it was emergency extractions due to gum disease.

BooBooGlass - it's not about whether or not I can afford to insure my animals, I CAN afford to pay for them. And quite apart from the fact I don't see why I should justify my pet animals, my beef is not about me paying the vet, my beef is about the way someone else was treated.

As it happens, I work in rescue, I'm married to a farmer and we also have 3 ferrets, 4 horses, 600 sheep and 280 cows. They're not insured either.

I feel really lucky with my vet now - they have their own out of hours service, and they know I'm insured, so if we can't afford to pay up front for treatment, they know they'll get the money from petplan, and would never, ever leave an animal without the treatment they need!
They also let me buy single injections so I can treat my own chickens - an appointment to the vet, and any treatment ends up costing nearly £30, but I can end up paying just 70p for an injection, and do the job myself.

what is PTS option?

Vets run a business and have huge overheads inc staff they have to pay - and the two I know while they love animals (hence becoming vets!) and one covers the local cat sanctuary for free. They both insist on payment upfront as so many people expect immediate treatment but expect to pay at their leisure or never!

Was rude to speak to her like that in in public though ;(

Put To Sleep

BooBooGlass, even if you have insurance, most vets expect you to pay upfront for treatment and then you can claim it back from your insurance, so that wouldn't have helped in this case.

The vet is disgusting. They are required by law to make the pet comfortable, so they weren't doing the woman any favours, just covering their own backs. If she wasn'tbbothered about the dog she would just have gone for the PTS option. I appreciate they have to cover their costs and ensure people pay, but plenty of businesses (ones that can't hold your pet 'at ransom' until you can pay) provide a service and invoice for payment at a later date.

The vet sound heartless and although the majority of vets are decent, like with everything else, you get good and bad.

Seems our experience is similar.
We cant get insurance once the dog is over 10.
Has liver tumor which vet was keen to remove. We paid 500pounds for pre tests /CT scan and clotting . Poor dog was opened up to find they couldnt cut the tumor. Stitched him back up . 5 days recovery at 100pounds a day. Home for 1 day before developing internal absesses so back to vet for 6 days.
Total cost 1600pounds to be exactly at the same point as we started.
DH was 100pounds short when he went to collect him so was not allowed to take the dog home.
Wouldnt mind but the reason the bill was high is the vet requested he stay 4 more days to ensure the infection had completely cleared.

QuietTiger IMO YANBU. One would hope vets would be able to make a judgement call with compassion.

But they are businessmen - of course ultimately they are in it for the money!!

There's a difference between being in it for the money and being heartless. The lady wasn't refusing to pay, she just didn't have enough money with her.

As for £160 to pts I had my old cat pts and then the vet arranged for individual cremation at local pet crematorium with his ashes returned in a casket. That whole thing cost £150.

I really hate those out of hours vets, have heard other similar stories before. One of the reasons I changed vets a few years ago was because they used one, it was 40 mins drive away and charged ridiculous sums. My current vet do their own out of hours cover, much better.

Some of them are utter bastards, but as midori says, they have a duty of care. :(

My mum is a vet nurse and the owner employs "fresh out of college/cheap" vets and quite often "forgets" to pay the staff - they have to call him when he's in Verbier skiing for example to get their cash!

I don't know why they UK is so expensive for vet's bills. I can get an emergency call out for colic (horse) in Belgium with an injection for 50 euros.

We are (touch wood) pretty lucky with our animals being healthy, thankfully they just see a vet once a year for vaccinations etc. But that costs an absolute fortune.... about 500 I think for the 4 animals But just last week we got a letter from the vet saying that they advise us to have a 6 monthly health check instead of 12 monthly. Frankly that made me think they were just in it for the money.

That said, I once came across some little shits children kicking and stomping a cat near where I work. I grabbed it and ran to the first vet I could see, and they put the cat to sleep straight away at no charge to me, and the vet cried while doing it.

from the other point of view, vets do not make as much money as you may think. They do have to give emergency treatment to any animal , whether or not it is a client, and are therefore very susceptible to bad debtors. It is extremely hard to get paid in retrospect, even by taking it to the small claims court. With out -of -hours services, unless they take a rigid stance , they are in a vulnerable position, as they don't have 'regular' clients. It is possible that this vet was just following orders, and had no choice but to take this stance.

that said, he should have been more discrete and maybe could have been more sympathetic.

It is possibly different for big city vets, but most vet practices i know charge similar prices to emergency plumbers/elctricians/garage services, yet people never seem to complain about their prices in the same way. Vet assistants are really not well paid considering the length of training and hours worked.

Midori is absolutely right.

It's the bloody vet who deserves PTS, not the poor dog. :(

Last night I received a bill for plumbing work. I'd had that work carried out over a week ago but only now am I being asked to pay for it despite the company being a small family one and no doubt in need of payment more than a group of vets.

DD1 is, all being well, going to start a vet nurse course next year. She already knows that if she goes on to work for that type of vet - who will also doubtless be the type who will PTS a healthy dog at the request of an uncaring owner - she will not be welcome in this house.

YAsoNBU and I hope to goodness that poor dog recovres. Wish I'd been there, I'd have offered to pay the bill... then told the vet exactly what he was.