To just share this...

[Baddayatwork]

Had an absolute shocker of a day at work yesterday, being accused of not caring, money grabbing, taking advantage of people. On a day where the veterinary profession has lost some members to depression please just remember your vets do care.

vetrealitycheck.com/2020/10/25/no-doggy-nhs-a-response-to-vet-bashing/?fbclid=IwAR10QjQ7Ggg9pEHK814DAZyqgJ6-ZujgmhDO1E3yuTeq1sCtbR5-NTUvb4o

I love our vets, I can't believe people are rude to them. I watched a situation where the owner didn't have insurance and couldn't understand why the vets couldn't just treat the animal for free, they really were not nice about it, understandably they were distressed but the situation wasn't the vets fault and they were doing all they could in the circumstances.

I will correct a post above though, the highest suicide rate profession is actually construction according to nursing.org. I run building sites and we are advised to include mental health support access from the day of induction (spoken about in the induction to site), with an open door policy and support links on hand, regular check ins with any workers who seem to be having a hard time. It wasn't usual to do this as part of a site induction and was introduced by our advisor last year.

I have a lot of respect for and appreciation of our vets.

As a family we have a long history of keeping rodents (guinea pigs, rats, hamsters). This year one of our brothers (rat) and our Syrian hamster both got sick. Quite suddenly. Our usual vet referred us to another practice in the city where they have a rodent specialist just joined the staff (we are going to stay with that one now for our small furries and keep with our original vet for our cat). We, and more importantly our pets, were treated with such care and consideration. Sadly our boy died (peacefully at home with us after trying some medication), but our hamster recovered after 2 different courses of antibiotics (from what turned out to be an abscess). I have to say that at every step of the treatment we were told what the cost would be. In the end we paid about £300 for consultations, blood tests and medication for the 2 of them. Over a period of about 6 weeks in total. The vet said that many people cannot afford or do not wish to meet those sort of costs for small animals. But of course the treatment, especially the diagnostic process, is no less complicated with tiny animals as it is with larger ones. It is sad if a person cannot afford the vet fees. And worse if they just won’t pay them. But this is not the fault of the vet.

I am sorry you had a bad day OP. I hope today is better.

Don't think vets take the piss. I think they charge a fair price. Because we have the NHS people aren't aware of how much health care actually costs.

I do think people take their pets to the vets to reason though. Would you take your child to the GP for the same thing? Often, probably not. But once your there the vet tries to do their best so will take bloods etc. Owners can refuse if they don't think a test is necessary or they don't want to pay for it.

@dontdisturbmenow

Abuse is incall for but yes I do think vets take the piss.

I took my puppy recently as he had a sudden bad turn. By the time I got there he was much better. The vet checked it's heart, ears, temp and then just said that he could do blood tests or we could monitor. We opted for the latter.

In and out in 10mns, was charged almost £80 and not in London. That's more than it would cost for an A&E attendance and I would have got more checks than this.

To make it worse, Google and talking to other owners revealed that it was a case of low glucose common with small breads and advice us to watch how much puppy eats, something the vet didn't even mention.

So yeah, no impressed at all, but I smiled all the way through!

The vet couldn't tell you whether puppy's glucose was low because you declined bloods

Most vets are absolutely wonderful, but there are some that without doubt try and get you to have work done on your pet that isn’t needed, when they know you have insurance. There is one chain in particular that I have had experience with where they are (a) very expensive compared to others for equivalent work; and (b) encourage expensive work that isn’t needed (based on us learning and always making sure we got second opinions before proceeding). We moved after a while to a local vets who are fantastic - our pet costs a lot as she has some recurring health issues, and I have no issue paying (plus we have insurance) so this isn’t me being tight or unrealistic.

That said, people should never be horrible or rude, and I’m sorry for your experiences OP.

@dontdisturbmenow

Abuse is incall for but yes I do think vets take the piss.

I took my puppy recently as he had a sudden bad turn. By the time I got there he was much better. The vet checked it's heart, ears, temp and then just said that he could do blood tests or we could monitor. We opted for the latter.

In and out in 10mns, was charged almost £80 and not in London. That's more than it would cost for an A&E attendance and I would have got more checks than this.

To make it worse, Google and talking to other owners revealed that it was a case of low glucose common with small breads and advice us to watch how much puppy eats, something the vet didn't even mention.

So yeah, no impressed at all, but I smiled all the way through!

Why didn't you take your dog to Asda?

I'm sure a shop assistant could have googled for you and they only get £8 an hour. They could have examined your dog for 10 hours for the same price!!

I have nothing but gratitude for vets. They have looked after my dogs, and me, with such care and attention and are worth every penny.

Those who think the vets charge too much should be aware they they actually don’t earn that much, especially when you consider that they train longer than doctors. If they wanted a high salary, they would have become human doctors, not animal doctors.

I think one of the problems is that because we have a free NHS service, people don’t realise how expensive medical care actually is. My American friend had to call an ambulance to take her to hospital the other day (in the States) and it cost her nearly $1000 and that was before she’d even seen a doctor. Healthcare, for animals and people, is expensive. This is why good pet insurance is essential.

I don't mind paying for treatment, but I don't see why they were in lock down for so long. My area has had an explosion of kittens because of no neutering. Most people qualify for low cost treatment (via the cat's protection league). Like dentists, I think they took advantage of the situation.

While I do think vet fees are a lot (I understand why they are with the training / rent / equipment etc) I think people would be a lot more understanding if we had to pay for our own healthcare in a similar way. I think we have been spoilt in the UK with the NHS and so it’s clouds people’s perceptions

I took my cat to the vets last night with a burst abscess. Got charged £174.
You know what? I'm bloody grateful. It was out of hours and what I paid for was the years of training to diagnose and make him better. I would have paid double or triple because he is my Lucius Meowfoy and whatever he needs its my responsibility to sort and pay for. Thank you Vets everywhere.

But you’re not paying £80 for the ten minutes. You’re paying for the 7 years of full time training, and the premises, and the equipment, and the ongoing professional training and registration fees
Well except in this case, I didn't even get the appropriate medical advice. The vet didn't ask about their eating habits, or how much exercise they did and failed to mention hypoglycemia and make recommendations to avoid it again.

No, it's really really not
You mean not more expensive than an A&E visit? You're wrong. An A&E visit with no investigation and no significant treatment as was the case with that visit cost £73. That is where doctors are trained even longer, premises are more expensive etc....

£80 is high for a consult fee, was it out of hours?
It was at 1pm, maybe their lunch time but in that case, they could have suggested to come 1/2h later.

People can be very unrealistic re. treatment costs for animals. Also, most will treat wildlife and work with animal rescues and not charge for it.

@dontdisturbmenow have you had to call in tradespeople recently?
I think a comparaison with A&E is bit more accurate than an electrician.

In and out in 10mns, was charged almost £80 and not in London.

Not sure I believe that. Have had dogs and cats for years - in London and elsewhere. Have never been charged that much just for a consult. Normally around £40. Are you sure it didn't include any meds or injections?

And just to add, your electrician and plumber actually did something, the vet in my case did nothing but what I had done myself before visiting because checking heart rate and temperature doesn't require a medical degree.

Yanbu OP - people get pets without thinking seriously about the cost - medical care for animals costs - hence why we have a vet plan AND insurance for all of our cats - our vets are brilliant and the emergency animal hospital that treated my lovely cat who sadly died if cancer where amazing

Not sure I believe that
Haha, maybe I'll retrieve the invoice! Sadly it is real. We were very shocked. We've been with this practice for many years, registered our cat before and they have been great, prices reasonable. It's the past years they have turned very business and money minded.

Another example. We paid the annual fee to have flee and worming tablets, as well as 2 health checks and bail clipping. Made an appointment, and the whole appointment lasted under 4 minutes. Nails clipped and that's that. No health check at all. I asked about weighing him, was done with a sigh.

It's a bit disheartening and yes it feels like money is their priority ( they were very quick to put the leaflet in our hands when registering our puppy telling us what a great service it was).

We're staying because they are the closest and the service before was very good but another disappointing experience and we'll look elsewhere making more enquiries.

Are you sure it didn't include any meds or injections?
Definitely not but as said, it was at 1pm so I expect they considered their lunchtime out of hours.

Yeah I'm afraid some vets take the absolute piss. About 2 years my dog spent 6 months going back and forward, getting bloods taken, on antibiotics etc, and they still couldn't tell me what was wrong, even although I had a pretty strong suspicion about what caused his condition the vets poo pooed it and came up with all sorts of ludicrous suggestions. They told us he would have to be on 3 different eye medications and another oral medication for the rest of his life which would cost a fortune. I told them no, started using cheap human eye drops on him, bathing his eyes twice a day, and guess what, he's absolutely fine now. Everything cleared up.
They also put it through to the insurance company as 3 different conditions, and inhad to pay 3 excesses! Even although everything was linked and it all appeared and disappeared together.

I think we have been spoilt in the UK with the NHS and so it’s clouds people’s perceptions
That's the thing, it's the other way around, the nhs is cheaper! A burst abscess treated in A&E would have been £106!

The vet couldn't tell you whether puppy's glucose was low because you declined bloods
He should have suggested it as it turned out to be obvious. Typical symptoms, common in small puppies, told him it happened as we were on a walk, but you're right what he wanted was to do blood tests, totally unnecessary in this instance.

@DrGachet
Vets do not work with rescues for free 🤣
They often will give a discount, many small rescues are crippled with vet costs as many pets are dumped in rescue after a health problem is discovered 😕 there are many small rescues who do amazing work yet ppl still hand over cash to DT and RSPCA who pay 6 figure salaries out, support small rescues and your local vet not the big names/chains.

@dontdisturbmenow I'm curious where you're getting your NHS costs from. The whole point is the NHS is free at the point of delivery so who is giving you cost breakdowns?

You mean not more expensive than an A&E visit?

Yea, I do.

You're wrong.

No, I'm not.

An A&E visit with no investigation and no significant treatment as was the case with that visit cost £73. That is where doctors are trained even longer, premises are more expensive etc....

Bollocks to all of this.

@Baddayatwork just to say, I have a HUGE appreciation for all vets, vet nurses and support staff (admin, cleaners etc)

One of my girls (cats!) has just had to have her second malignant lump removed in what is a very very rare type of cancer in cats. The vet who I saw and who operated on her has been amazing-She was lovely to me through my tears and quite simply made me feel as ok as I can be during this time.

Same practice, different vet today. Diagnosed our other girl with potential swelling/damage to a disc in her back and she has anti inflammatories and two weeks bed rest. So yes I now have two cats cozied up in separate rooms that I’m nursing 😄

The vet today was again awesome-he was kind, explained everything thoroughly and again put me at ease.

You’re not just doing your (very hard) job, you’re dealing with the human aspect and are also counselling us! I really, really value vets and I hope you see from this thread that most others do too.

Look after yourself 💚🌸

Just to add, we don’t have insurance-that was our decision as they are indoor cats. Would we for any future pets? I think so.

But we’ve always had money put aside for our cats and it’s money well spent. I know I couldn’t be removing lumps and doing ‘knuckle checks’ on my cat! 😺