to be annoyed with my vets wanting to charge me five quid for a poxy prescription for online flea drops

[moobrain]

Surely they make enough dosh already without having to charge me just for printing a bit of paper with her signature on.

I spend a fortune there

Sorry. Anyway, it lives in the DD cabinet!

Sorry Alice - I didn't mean to sound like a know-it-all
Just thinking/typing out loud!

not at all, I should have known better. But it ought to be a controlled drug! (though when you see cats hallucinating on it, I do wonder why it would be appealing to abuse it)

I don't understand why so many people complain about vets fees. It wouldnt be any different for people if we didnt have the NHS, and surely pet owners have a rough idea that verts fees dont come cheap when they get a pet?

I've recently had to take my DCat1 to the vets for a burst absess (sp?) that we never even noticed because she didn't make any fuss at all. We ended up having to take her out of hours, and it cost £96 for the vet to shave the area, give an anti inflammatory injection and an anti biotic injection. We have insurance, but I was a bit thick naive and thought the insurance would pay the vets instead of it coming out of my own pocket, and I literally had £90 in my bank. Vet was lovely and asked if we wanted her to leave it - there was no way I could do, I nicked £6 off of DP and stayed in til payday!

However, I didn't complain because the cat needed it. I raise my eyebrows when I buy the flea stuff for all 4 DCats but hey, I want them, I gotta suck it up and pay the costs.

Advocate is effective for dermodex (dermodectic mange), buy abroad on trips if you can - if you escape dermodex or lung worm you can use for regular flea control before the use by date. Cost to get in UK £36 consultation + £9 prescription fee + £15 for 3x XL treatments online. O

Just seen this and I agree. We have 4 cats and my vet wants a consultation on each of them before prescribing a cat flea treatment that works, (anything over the counter doesn't). So that's 4 x £40 plus the cost of the treatment. Of course I buy it online from abroad with no prescription! Rip-off Britain!

The consultation is a legal requirement. Animals have to be under a vet's care for them to dispense POM drugs therefore they have to physically see them every 6 months. It is not their decision. If they don't they can potentially be struck off, which means goodbye career. Buying illegally online also risks using something that is packaged as one thing but may be something else-just like your bargain "Gucci" knock offs.

*demodex btw

I have not read all the comments, but this annoys me so much.
Do you do your job for no pay?
How would you feel if you were expected to?
The individual vet doesn't take home that profit, the hourly wage works out less than the average wage There are many overheads in a veterinary practice. It's isn't as black and white as saying vets overcharge for everything.

Bloody hell , what a shock ! That somebody needs to make a profit from giving their professional opinion and writing out a prescription

What is the world coming to tsk........

I love the vets! You phone up, you get an appointment on the same day, usually at the time you want. Try doing that at the doctors
If that means I then buy my "drugs" from them then I'm happy to do so.
I don't then feel guilty because I've tried to deny them of a bit of custom by buying something online to try to save a couple of pounds

**

Yabu... Id rather pay the prescription charge than have to pay the amount to sort out any problems caused by them not having the advocate type treatment and ending up with mites/fleas whatever.

...Again.

If you needed a prescription, then it was for Advocate as frontline etc don't need a prescription? But I've found it is still cheaper to get a 5 prescription from my vet and then buy it online!
My dog/cat vet charges 5 for a paper prescription, my horse vet charges 15!

YABU

Yabu. Pets come with expenses, and the services of a highly trained professional running a business with all the associated building, admin, staff, legal costs etc. being available to you for £5 is entirely justifiable.

Do not buy frontline flea drops. We've used them religiously for years then in the last few months the dogs started to scratch all the time and one started going balled!!

Vet says frontline is becoming next to useless which is now why our dogs are covered in fleas and explains the balled patch (allergic reaction to said fleas)... Changed to some sort of tablet and are almost completely flea free again thank god.

I recently had my cat at the vet, as well as getting treatment for a bladder infection my vet diagnosed fleas. The vet told me to but Frontline online as I could get it cheaper then she could prescribe.

YABU. IF you don't like paying the vet for safe and legal treatment, don't get a pet. They're not compulsory.

I find Advantage good for my dog. Frontline appears to do nothing at all.

YABU

Even doctors now charge for sick notes and letters that aren't referrals to the another NHS department. Vets are a private practice so it goes hand in hand. I have to pay £10 for two cats in total but that £10 is much less than the sum total cost of the letters plus prescription if I buy from my vets, than the online price with admin fee. It's still a saving.

Stopped using frontline 3 years ago. Doesn't work anymore so loved to stronghold. May have to move now to advocate.

Mine charge £15 for a prescription to buy advocate elsewhere. This can be used twice though, but it is still cheaper for me to get it at the vets.

Oh my goodness, a vet wants to examine animals before prescribing prescription-only drugs for them, in accordance with the law - what a fucking outrage!

Seriously, if you went to your vet with your cat's broken leg and they said "we'll x-ray this but it'll cost you £500 per plate" you'd be on here moaning. But it's the profit from drugs which fund the massive capital needed to buy and subsidise proper equipment.

I used an ultrasound machine at work. It cost £10,000. I charge less than £40 (inc vat) each time. Factoring in my time, which I bizarrely expect to receive a wage for, how long do you think it takes to break even? Then there's the digital xray, twenty grand of laboratory equipment, autoclave, ultrasonic scaler, pulse oximetry, anaesthetic machine, endoscope, etc etc.

You want a practice with the necessary equipment to treat your pets? You want staff who have appropriate training and experience? Then you don't get it for free.

Urgh. People who are unreasonably tight about their pets drive me insane. Struggling to find hundreds of pounds to pay for treatment of an injured pet after a car accident? I have all the sympathy in the world. Resentful about paying for professional preventative care? Sorry, I'll just think you're a twat.

Yes you are right, it should just be free.

Never mind the knowledge, skill and qualification of the vet. Or their professional fees and time and money spent on keeping up to date.

Let's also forget the cost of setting up a practice and employing all the staff they need.

Of course everything should be free for the pets people are forced to get.

the frontline you buy online is often not the combo version - which is why it doesn't work so well. Frontline Combo is a product that can only be prescribed by a vet due to the ingredients. All the flea and tick products that are prescription only have the same ingredients - even the new products such as Nexguard and Broadline.

The only way to combat the flea problem this year (in our area anyway) is 4 weekly use of a prescription product. customers come in every day saying Frontline isn't working and usually they are using a pet shop bought product or are only applying it a couple of times a year.

Why in Australia can you buy advocate without a Px but here you have to have not only a Px but a consultation too? Their animals are the same as ours!