To not pay the vet?

[Arachnophobic]

Booked my cat into the vets today for a Program flea jab. Originally I was booked in to see the veterinary nurse who would perform the jab. A few days later vets call me and say that basically, because the cat hasn't been seen by the vets since January and the cat is getting on a bit a vet needs to see him. So I query whether I will be charged more, for seeing a vet not a nurse. I was told "no, you wouldn't be charged anymore just because the vet is doing the injection and not the nurse".

So we go to the vets, vet does an examination, couple of issues found. One is a weight problem the second is a tooth problem. Vet gives me the choice of blood test now for the weight issue or bring cat back in a month and weigh again. I opt for blood test. Done there and then. Discussions had re tooth extraction which will cost between £150-250.

Leave and get the bill for £105. For the flea jab, the blood test and a bloody consultation. when I queried it they tried to get me to pay, I refused, and said if there was an issue I would like to take it up with the Practice Manager. I paid the rest of the bill.

Awaiting a call from the vets regarding this.

WIBU to not pay?

At my vets ( well it used to be ) he slapped a £20 'consultation fee' on a flea treatment.

He wasn't bloody consulting me on anything, the cat had fleas and i'd asked for a jab. I refused to pay the fee and go elsewhere now where the charge is much fairer.

It should have been made clear that as soon as other issues were found it would cost more. The vet assumed that was OK with you, the receptionist mistakenly though you were asking about the cost of the jab only, you got caught in the confusion in the middle.

It is all so expensive isn't it?

It's £25 here for a consultation, east midlands so can't even blame London prices.

I raced my dog to the vet a few months ago as her back legs collapsed out on a walk only to have a 2 min max consultation and to be told it was cramp. Cost me £25. I now avoid the vet like the plague.

I took a rabbit once that had a poorly eye and it cost £180 for surgery to have the eyelid made smaller and the rabbit dropped dead three days later.

So now if the dog is limping, has a bad cut, etc it gets better on it's own.

YABU

You have to pay your bill, why has your cat not been seen since January?
Do you not have regular check up's seeing as the cat is older?

It's not the vets fault your cat had additional issue's to sort out.

I've given you old prices sorry. They now vary between £10 and £20 but follow up consultations are still generally free, depends on how much work is required. Check up would be free but further treatment would be charged at £10 plus drugs/materials

Unfortunately you won't get a standard price as practice overheads vary so wildly and they do have to run as a business. You can always vote with your feet as ApocalypseCheeseToastie did

Why would you take an animal for check-ups if it wasn't ill? Especially if it's going in for flea jabs once a month. Would you go to the doctor if you weren't ill?

It does sound like miscommunication - they told you there wouldn't be an additional fee for seeing the vet, you've paid for the extra work that was done; I'd try to resist paying the consultation fee.

I pay £22 for a consultation and £10 per follow up, that is cheap for my area.

OP - You have to remember if you don't pay the bill the vets will refuse to see you again in future (as well as send debt collectors after you) and should your elderly cat suddenly get sick what would you do?

This is part of the deal when you have animals, especially older one's. You choose the blood test when given an option, you were also advised on the tooth extraction.

The free check up would have been a 2 minute thing as part of giving the injection, not a more lenghty and detailed check-up involving the issues found.

If you think about it, really your cat should have had these things checked anyway, and that would have cost a consultation fee no matter when you went.

I do suggets you start having 6 monthly check up's as a precaution for your cat also. My younger one's have yearly check up's and the oldies 6 monthly.

These issues could have then been picked up much earlier and sorted out and today would have just been a quick jab as you originally wanted.

Nearly a year of not seeing a older cat is a long time, I am surprised your bill was not a lot more.

Llamatatto I can tell if I am ill and ask to see my doctor, an animal cannot do that. The ONLY way of knowing they are healthy is to have a vet check up, hence it should be done as a precaution.

Flea injections are once a YEAR not once a month, most people have the yearly check up at the same time as the vaccinations so it is no more hassle and no more cost.

The OP does not say if her cat is indeed vaccinated and health checked yearly, although I would always check an older animal twice yearly anyway.

A cat cannot tell you it's tooth is hurting, or it's struggling to walk with the extra weight it has etc. They cannot ask to see a vet when they are ill. Me and you can hence the difference.

I actually think YANBU. You should pay for the jabs, you should pay for the blood test and you will pay for the tooth issue in due course. However you were told there would be no extra charge for seeing the vet yet this is what they have done. To say it's not an extra charge it's a consultation fee is a low trick. I think you are right not to pay and they are very silly if they lose a good customer over this.

"no, you wouldn't be charged anymore just because the vet is doing
the injection and not the nurse". But you weren't told there was no consultation charge were you? just that it wouldn't cost more to see the vet than the nurse. so the consultation charge would still have applied.

I am not related to girlwith, by the way, although can see we think along the same lines re vet's bills as well as nicknames.

Waves to Girlwith!

It cost me £31.75 for the consultation yesterday. The vet told me my cat had a flea allergy. Fair enough, but he doesn't have fleas, hasn't had them for years. Vet couldn't find any evidence of fleas. I forked out £85 for consultation, flea drops, antibiotic jab, and 6 tablets for the skin condition.

I'm in the midlands, can somebody point me toward the vet that charges £10-£20 per consultation??

(YANBU by the way, i'd have refused too!)

A quick check of a healthy animal and a program jab=free

A lengthly consultation, including blood tests, diagnostics and discussion of conditions and treatments = charge.

It should have been made clearer to you, but it should also have been obvious.

I also don't get how someone like Viva can proudly state you leave you animal with a cut or in pain untreated just because you think your vet is ripping you off. Change vets, but don't let your animal suffer because of it.

Well i just checked. constultation is 30 here and follow up 18.

Why would you have to take an older cat to the vet all the time?

I had a cat who had his knackers off at 6 months, was fit and healthy, no jabs or anything for the next 16 years. Then one day his back legs gave way. All tests etc and nothing specific showed up, the vet thought possible stroke, but he died peacefullly the following day. So one 2 vet trips in 16 years was pretty good going. If he had any signs of being unwell, he would have gone though, but only if.

Mint You are lucky to have had a healthy cat, although saying that if the cat had of seen a vet earlier they may have been able to prevent the stroke, depending on what caused it of course, no way of knowing for sure.

Some cats, such as mine, suffer from Diabetes, this was picked up on a routine health check and if it had not of been my cat could have suffered kidney failure and many more health problems due to the diabetes being left untreated, so it has saved me money and my cat a lot of pain due to having regular health checks.

On top of that not vaccinating an animal, especially a cat that goes outdoors as many do, is putting them at huge risk. I have seen so many cats suffer and die through my work (Rescue Centre) from not being vaccinated. Things such as cat flu and FELV and so easily prevented and yet a serious and sometimes deadly illness if caught.

It's not worth taking the risk in my opinion.

YABU. If the cat had only needed the flea jab presumably they would have honoured the original statement of no extra charge. However, other issues were found which required a consultation and subsequent treatment. 'Discussion re: tooth extraction' and the blood test all come under the heading of a consultation.

If you'd taken him to the nurse she might not have done an examination at all or have missed that the cat had these issues, potentially costing you more money later on when he has a full blown tooth abscess or something.

Consultation charge here (midlands/Welsh border) is £27.

Haven't had my cat vaccinated since I learnt about the herd effect re MMR. if everyone else vaccinates their cat, mine is v v unlikely to be exposed to infection:)
I think vets fees are a rip off. I was charged £20 to have a sick hamster killed, while my son was saying "but mum, it only costs £5 to buy a new one"

Mrspeterdoherty-the herd effect requires a threshold percentage of vaccine uptake to reduce the risk of infection in the unvaccinated individuals. The percentage of vaccinated cats is much lower that this figure.

The herd effect is breaking down due to poor uptake of the mmr due to health scares, subsequently incidence of disease on the rise.

As SeaShells explained the 'herd effect' does not apply to cats as there are MANY MANY more un-vaccinated cats than vaccinated, especially when you consider the feral cats in this country.

I work in a rescue centre, the amount of times I have been called by people who have been evicted / marriage broke down / death in family etc. and need cats taking in immediately is shocking.

They are always very surprised when I tell them I cannot take their cat until it has been fully vaccinated, and this takes 3 weeks, but I cannot put out other cats at risk.

Having a cat vaccinated means you are safe for this situation.

One elderly gentleman sadly had his cat put to sleep when it was PERFECTLY healthy! He was admitted to hospital for a couple of weeks and had no family willing to care for his cat, as it was not vaccinated it could not go into any cattery and so was put to sleep.

You never know when you may need a cattery etc.

Vet fee's are expensive yes but it is a specialised skill requiring LOTS of training and they deserve to be well paid, this is why I always tell people to INSURE THEIR ANIMALS and prevent the huge vet bills.

Peter The purchase price means nothing, it will have cost more than £5 for the vet's time / equipment / medications in order to put the hamster to sleep, why charge less because the hamster was only £5?

That's like saying my moggy cat was free so it shouldn't cost me money to put to sleep / treat her but my pedigree Birman cat was £400 so vet bills for her are fine??

Vet bills are part of owning an animal, if you can't pay them or are not willing to pay them you should not have an animal.

UPDATE

Interesting contributions sacre anyone would think you were a vet not a rescue worker . And if you read all my posts you would have seen that my cat is vaccinated annually and has a senior health check once a year. The latter is of course optional but involves the cat having a thorough check and a blood test to check for cancer, kidney problems etc. The vet has never advised me to take the cat in bi-annually and as he is the professional I will be guided by him.

To update everyone, the senior vet has left a message on the answer machine saying that the vet we saw today was unaware of my conversation with the receptionist and as I have been a good client over the years he would waive on this occasion.

For the record people - the cat is next to me purring away. He gets prescription diet food at £15 a month, £27 a month on insurance, annual vaccinations at £56 a year senior health check at £25 a year, monthly flea treatments at £15 a quarter. Plus worming tablets. I don't begrudge a penny as I love my cat but please people don't suggest that I am not willing to spend or that I haven't done enough for him.

Definately not a vet, I wish I made money like that!
Just have a lot of experiance working alongside vets due to the work I do.

Glad to hear you got it sorted in the end, very nice of the vet. Vet fee's are hugely expensive I agree but is one of them things. Always best to clarify what will be charged etc. as many sneaky fee's can pop up.

I would also like to point I NEVER ONCE said your cat went without treatment, and never said your cat was not vaccinated or health checked - that response was to another poster who asked why would you take a healthy animal to the vets.

I did actually say ' the OP does not say if her cat is vaccinated' so clearly missed where you said she is.

How old is your cat?
Your idea or older may be different to mine hence the 6 monthly health checks.

I started this with mine when he turned 10 years old, he has one health check at his vaccination date and another when he has his flea injection which is also yearly so dosn't cost me anymore than normal.

He does have health issues that need monitoring however.

Your cat sounds very well cared for, the simple fact your cat has vet flea treatment and not the supermarket bob martin stuff shows you know what you are doing straight away!