To think out of hours vets fees are outrageous?!

[sensuallettuce]

Have arrived home from lunch to find cat in pain and passing blood.

Phoned PSDA out of hours line. It's £135 for a consultation BEFORE any treatment. It's normally £30 (so more than 4 times the normal cost!!) Snooty woman on phone informed me if I am on housing or council tax benefit I would be elegible for help but as I am not on any of those I need to pay the fee or not be seen, and the well being of my cat is my responsibility which I agree is true and I can normally afford the £30.

It's the end of the month and I don't have a spare £135 + in the bank so my cat will have to wait until tomorrow.

AIBU to think this inflated "out of hours" price is outrageous?!

to be a pet owner you have expect the occasional big vet bill

Or basically be rich, that's what it comes down to, pets should only be for the wealthy. We should all be means-tested before being allowed to own a pet. And have regular financial checks thereafter just in case our circumstances have changed. I know it's a luxury, having a pet, and personally I can afford nasty vet bills, but I hate the logical conclusion of some of the statements on this thread. I wouldn't like pet-owning to become only for the elite.

Just checked our vets too and they do their own OOH. They have a surgery on Saturday morning from 9-12 and generally organise mini surgeries on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. So I guess common sense would say that if you have a problem it's best to ring early in the morning if it's urgent but routine

Cheesy - My comments were rather tongue in cheek

Seriously - does the pet insurance not cover the appointment costs?

Hope all beasties well.

Most insurances carry an excess. We pay £70 each month for our two dogs (10yr old Westie, 5 month old Staff/x) and have to pay an excess of £90 for each and every condition each year.

So, say we have lifetime cover. And we are sooo unfortunate that our dog has 4 conditions diagnosed which require ongoing treatment. That's £420 for the insurance for that one dog, plus £360 for the excesses each year. So the true cost of the insurance for that dog would be £65 per month.

It seems like a lot lougie until you need to use it- then it saves you thousands-especially if using your example of 4 life time conditions. Although with 4 life time conditions dog would probably be PTS!

I reckon it would be a more useful illustration to calculate true cost considering 1 lifetime condition

Oh I know, willikillhim - our Westie had major skin allergies. Cue bloods to Texas and a desensitisation regime costing £600 per month (he was highly allergic to lots of things so had to have a serum injected daily with different concentrations to gradually build up the allergens and desensitise him).

The vet said that if he hadn't been insured they would have just had to pump him full of steroids and anti-histamines to minimise his symptoms, because it's unusual to find owners who can afford to spend £600 per month on treatments.

When I read things like this I always think - how much did you think it would be? To get anyone out of bed in the middle of the night / sunday / bankholiday is relatively expensive, be it a plumber, locksmith or vet. So yes I think YABU - I don't think it is outrageous. You can ring and get free advice over the phone from pretty much any vet - if they don't think it is necessary to see you animal immediately then they will book you an appointment for normal consulting times and if it is an emergency sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay. And most vets will also let you pay the resulting bill in installments which is pretty much unheard of in any other profession.

I am a vet and I can assure you we do not all earn fortunes at all. I earn less than a third of what an similarly qualified GP does and no one complains about their wages and pensions that we are all paying. Staffing and running an out of hours vet service costs a fortune - we charge similar costs to above and make no profit whatsoever on out of hours treatment.

Perhaps there is a gap in the market for a 24/7 vets?

Yes, that's what VetsNow is, Sparkling. They provide the cover for out of hours times.

Mmmm. I will stick with paying insurance and hoping Sparkling Cat needs care within the hours that Companion Care work. They are open all day Saturday and Sunday.

My cat was found shot and I took him to my local vet. She didn't operate but 'stabilised' him for 4 hrs, from 3.30pm to 7.30pm. She said he had to go for an overnight stay at Vets-now and that the overnight stay would be £300, to which I agreed. I got to the hospital at 7.40pm and the vet there said that the cat should be operated on straightaway.
Somehow, my local vets notes hadn't arrived and the cat had to undergo duplicate tests! (Later on, after complaining, they said that their internet was down - but that's not what they said on the night).
I gave authorisation for the op and went home. The estimated cost for the op and an overnight stay was £800.But by 10.30pm, it still hadn't been done and they advised the cat be put down.
Vets-now sent me a bill for £535, that's from 7.40pm to 10.30pm.
My combined bill was around £760 and that's without the op being done + a dead cat.
I've complained but they won't budge and want payment in full. I've paid 50% of each vet's bill.
How can vets get away with this? I've looked online and there are many pet owners who feel vets have overcharged them.

Well my vets are amazing and I love them. They are kind, compassionate, caring and all adore animals. They work ridiculously long hours with cheerfulness and good grace and always have time for us and animals (for various reasons to do with rescuing we are there once or twice a week at least).

They offer advice at ridiculous times of the day/night if we need it and they will come out of hours for a fee much less than has been quoted by others on here. People do not become vets to get rich quick or even get rich and I am sad to see some of the comments posted on this thread.

Maybe, just maybe, people should consider that vets have lives too and that calling them out of hours is going to cost money. Money that you should factor in to the cost of pet ownership and not moan about paying.

Just adding an interesting point to this post. Our newfoundland is now 8 and is insurance is now £166 a month!!!! It does make me gasp a little every time i think about it!!!!
I knew what to expect getting a large dog, but my goodness it seems a lot! The insurance company have been excellent though as he does have eye and skin problems!!

Pet City or Pets At Home often have vets in store up till 8 -9 pm depending on the stores and on weekends as well

They are a lot cheaper than the emergency vet

So let me get this straight OP, you start a thread moaning about PSDA's fees for out of hours care being too high. Then it turns out that you are actually moaning about a different organisation entirely?

When anyone points out that providing 24 hour vet care is expensive, that vets don't actually earn a fortune or that it's actually your responsibility to be able to look after your pet and cover the costs of their care, you just carry on moaning.

YABVVU.

has anyone noticed that this post is from last year Hope the cat is ok though

I've been zombied, D'oh.

Some vets start their weekend call out charges on a Friday lunchtime. Now THAT pisses me off.

I was told by my vet (PDSA) the cat weeing blood IS life threatening if not treated asap.I took mine when he had that problem. Had anti Bs and was told to ring any time of the day if it started again.

Ah bollocks...is this a zombie thread?

I think it's quite fair actually. You are asking to disturb their family/personal time by getting them to come in if they would otherwise not be there.

it's a lot, YANBU. I had to pay £100.10p to have my rat put down on a Sunday. £100 to see vet and 10p for the gas to put her down. Had to put it on my credit card but I couldn't leave her suffering. They can charge what they like unfortunately.