Vets Bills

[LadyThumb]

Just taken my little dog to vets. £50 consultation and antibiotics! Has to have a couple of teeth out Tuesday - £370 !!!! Think this is the last pet I am going to have!

Don't you have insurance?

Dental treatment is expensive. Have you rang around different vets? I had a falling out with our family vet recently so when Whippy dog hurt her leg we rang around all the vets in town. Prices varied from £245 to £90 for the same thing.

We pay around £20 for the consultation fee - depending on where you are, you might want to shop around, but to be honest if you are otherwise happy with your vet, grit your teeth. Would also agree - insurance is essential.

Most insurance policies don't cover dental work, curlymama.

Good point from Dooin, there is often a big difference in price according to which vet you use.

Bloody pets, who'd have 'em! (says she who paid out well over £200 this week on a spay, a neuter and a tooth extraction... and the spayed cat isn't even mine but a rescue babe!).

I know - it's amazing how much they can cost! I had to pay similar for dental work on my cat last year. Fortunately my insurance covered most of it.

He's 13 - rarely had any other treatment, so if I had had insurance for 13 years at, say, £15 per month that would have come to £2,340! Just gobsmacked at the cost, really.

If you live in London Celia Hammond are amazing!
One of our cats had a horrible accident (ripped his leg up until you could see the bone, he needed surgery) and (after soul destroying visits to three vets) they did everything, were kind and caring and we could still afford to make a generous donation!

Price List

we pay £25 per month but that covers all treatmets including dental, each yearly booster, all regular worming and fleaing treatments which is three monthly I think . It may be 6 monthly cant remember .If the dog gets poorly the initial appointment is £20 but any continuing meds /treatment etc come out the insurance.

Very happy with that and when we inherited our dogs father because his owner died he was 6 yr old. we expected the insurance to be more expensive as he came as a dog with several ongoing problems, but the vet was brilliant and charged exactly what he charges for our first dog.
2nd dog has monthly meds for joint and ear problems .So imediately we are getting meds that would cost £100 a month for the £25 per month insurance. My friends dog is on the same joint meds as my dog and she is paying almost 70 pound a month for the meds and she is insured..(not sure who with , i think its vets4pets)but the insurrance does not cover ongoing meds.

Its a bloody rip off with some vets.
I guess from what I know of others , ....that we have been very lucky

My cat got a black mark on her nose, which I (naturally!) thought was a carcinoma. Took her to the vets - he hmmed and haaaed for a considerable amount of time - then he got a tissue and wiped it off. Charged me £30 for getting rid of a scab!

Over the years, having had a series of 'interesting' expereinces, I have become very sceptical about vets. Several have tried to prey on my guilt, whilst raking in the pounds and pennies.

Fit2drop, what meds does your dog get

My dog gets Metacam and it's "only" 40pounds for a 100ml bottle which will last, hopefully around 3 momths or so (going on the fact that his first bottle was 30ml and lasted a month)

I thought 40pounds was expensive (but worth it)

I really think every dog owner shoulkd have insurance- my dog would not be here without it.

M+S have paid out about 13k over 2 years for him....

MrsPresley
My older dog is on Meloxidyl(which is Metacam)
100ml, we go up to the 35 mark on the syringe syringed daily into his food
he is also on Glyco-flex x 1 daily

and for his ears something called otimax drops

My friend got 100ml bottle and it cost her just under £70 so either she is being really ripped off or you are getting yours very cheap, though online it can be bought for twenty something pounds....but I dont trust online meds

The metacam dosage is dependant on the size of the dog usually.... I have labs so the 30-35kg is akin to his weight which is 35kilo (now , though he was 40kilo when we got him which was overweight)and he was put on up to 40 on the syringe at that time,. The dosage has gone down accordingly with his weight.

Our darling cat ate a slug pellet last month. IV, HDU, antibiotics, antacids, in for four nights, and a full scan to check for damage. Bill came to almost 2,000. Thank goodness for insurance. He's fine now!

You'd pay a lot more for a plumber or electrician, but a vet is far more qualified!

Believe me, vets themselves are not particularly well paid - look online for professional average wages.

Oh, and if the NHS charged the patient directly thier prices would look quite shocking!

My staffie has joint stiffness problems, and we have metacam from the vet for bad days, but the vet also advised us to get him glucosamine. We used the pedigree chum sticks but they are a bit pricy, and yesterday I discovered sainsburys have brought out their own brand, which actually has a higher glucosamine content than the pedigree ones, for half the price.

The vet also said though, that once he had prescribed metacam, we would be able to buy it over the counter when we need it.

He has been a lot better since he has one of these sticks every day though.

As for the vets bills, dental work means a full anaesthetic, so high costs are unavoidable. Our dog has a tooth that the vet is keeping an eye on, as it is discoloured, and if it shows any sign of gum infection around it, needs to be removed, but so far it has been ok for the last 3 years.

www.vetuk.co.uk/pet-meds-petmeds-metacam-c-21_744/metacam-metacam-for-dogs-oral-suspension-p-148

this is a reputable site, I have used it before, and metacam is £22 for 180mls, with free postage. The 100ml bottle is £16, so Fit2Drop, your friend really is getting ripped off.

Agree with regard to pet insurance. My cocker got autoimmune encephalitis (immune system attacking the brain). The bill over 4 yrs treatment was well in excess of £30k with treatment by canine neurologist and ongiong meds.

He had a pretty good quality of life and wasn't "ready" to go before then. He let us know when he'd had enough. There's no way we could have funded his treatment ourselves though, so we'd have had to put him down long before otherwise.

Like car insurance, it could be viewed as a waste of money most years but the year you need to claim its absolutely essential. I think an animal's quality of life is worth insuring.

You can get decent pet insurance for £5 a month. And it goes without saying that it's more likely you'll have to fork out for vet bills as you rpet gets older.

So you saved money in the early days and you'll be paying for it now.

Pointy Dog - the cheap insurance policies though have to be reviewed when the pet is 8 and then become extortionate. Far better to start with a better policy and be assured your pet will be covered for life regardless of any conditions he/she develops along the way.

squeakyThanks for that info, cheers

What is the best (most cost effective) pet insurance to get? Dental? Had never thought of it. Also - does anyone know of a book that answers really stupid questions - like - is there dog toothpaste? I feel stupid asking.

I want a pet insurance that basically covers something massive like a broken leg and I will pay for all the Vaccs, anything regular, myself.

Whatever17Go to your local petsathome store, all staff are trained to answer queries and they have large selection of information books,They sell pet oral hygiene products too.

or google any questions you have

All insurance varies

The one we went with is done through the vet. Its a local vet, not national (I think) they do various deals bronze silver and gold each offering more cover depending on needs
We went for the gold one (£25 per month)which means everything is covered apart from the initial consultation,which is £20.
all booster vacs, wormers, flea control etc come out of this. However 18m mthhs ago we had to take our older dog to a specialist vet 50 miles away and although the treatment he gave came under the insurance his time didnt and we had to pay just over £100.

The Gold insurance also covers us for accidents too. ie if the dog ran out onto a road and caused an accident, we could be sued, the insurance covers us. I can't remeber exactly how much without dragging out the paperwork but I do know its at least up to a 6 figure sum.

Also an advantage of the insurance we use is we dont have to pay for treatment and claim a refund back which is how the vets for pets ins. seems to work. well thats how my friends works anyway...

fit2drop

thank you for your advice - I am looking for the cheapest possible (more or less 3rd party fire and theft) and hoping to keep the dog healthy myself. Whilst insuring against something massive, like a broken leg.

He was coming down the stairs the other night and fell the last couple of stairs and whimpered. He was fine, but I thought how easily it could have been worse.

Have you tried the bigger supermarket ones ie Tesco or Sainsbury
Go online to see who offers he best options. though I do think if you do it this way you still have to pay all costs initially and then have to sort it out with paperwork/receipts etc which can take time and eat into money you may not have spare at that time.

I guess we went for the less stressful option but I appreciate we are lucky enough to be in a position (at this time ) to do that.