To not pay the whole vet's bill

[Member869894]

Hello. Honest opinions please. I took my dog to the vet today as he has breathing difficulties. The vet listened to his heart and lungs, pronounced them fine and then said he'd do a couple of blood tests and call me with the results. The whole thing took15-20 minutes.
On leaving I was presented with a bill for £188!!!!! I said that I would pay for the consultation fee (£56) but that I hadn't been told that the blood tests would be extra or that they would be so expensive

I'm kicking myself I didn't ask more about if the cost of the blood tests and if they were included in the consultation as Iif I had known how much they cost I would have said no. Equally, I think I should have been very carefully advised of the cost before they went ahead. What do you think?

Reasonable expectation if this is the 3rd visit to the vet in all these years.
Average just to say hello/check up nearing £60 by now. Any extras for basic tests and medicine for a one off I'd be prepared (but nit happy about it!) for a £200 bill.
Quite insane and never ever know how much it is going to cost until I go to pay. And (the absolutely lovely receptionists who I love) don't bat an eyelid.
No idea how much neutering costs until after the event.
Or even cremation until afterwards- at least you're not asked to pay when the dog is put to sleep.

However, the entire team at our vets are absolutely amazing and work unbelievable hours. Although it's probably the owner of business making the biggest earnings. And I trust all the staff are on decent wages. I certainly hope the main vet gets a very high salary as he is absolutely brilliant.

To be honest I was expecting a higher bill from the title. Vets are expensive

Having a dog (or cat, rabbit etc.) is expensive. You should.not have one if you can't afford.big bills at the drop of a hat. Hard lesson most pet owners learn! But well done for taking your dog to be investigated, I hope you get answers and have insurance

calm down @LosingMyPancakes
be terrified over real fears

I do think there is probably an assumption that you’ll be covered by insurance. That’s what it’s usually like with private (human) healthcare anyway.

To be fair my vet always explains the costs even though we have insurance.

PetPlan, aged cat with arthritis (he has had a lot of lives and it's been worth it). About £800 per year. £135 excess and due to age I have to pay the first 20% of everything. Over 14 years I reckon we have broken even.

PPP about £2400 per annum £200 excess pays £1250 max for out patients.

The cost of full blood screening privately is £320.00.

For those who have said how grateful we should be for a free NHS. It is not free, it is free at the point of delivery and elivers too frequently sub-optimal standards. I'd have more faith in my vet tbh and they create far less waste and are significantly more polite and helpful than NHS staff.

If you can afford it why have you arranged a payment plan?

I don't know about your Vets, OP, but at mine there is a notice in the waiting room that says that anyone who has problems with payments should mention this to the reception staff before treatment.

Sorry, if you are referring to my comment I did not mean to imply that you were agressive, rather that anger over this issue can cause some clients to act in a confrontational manner. Apologies

Thanks @NamelessNancy

YABU - there is no NHS for animals. Of course the charges will be high for blood tests or, in fact, any other medical procedure. This is why we need pet insurance.

Its not sneaky , if you went for basic routine surgery you would very likely have a general health profile to check that you were a suitable candidate for a general anaesthetic, unless you went private you wouldn't pay a penny for either bloods or the surgery.
In practice we offer a pre anaesthetic profile for every single animal pre ga , when its a young animal in for ie spay the majority decline , that's fine we don't mind , we don't judge you for it ,but we would probably strongly encourage it for an elderly animal .
Believe it or not we really do want the best for your pet and we want to lessen the chance of a medical emergency whilst in our care , why shouldn't we offer it to all ? every pet in our care deserves the best we can give.
If this blood was offered free of charge i bet you wouldn't think twice about having it , decline it if you choose but please don't accuse us of being sneaky .
Ask your vets for a behind the scenes tour , lots will oblige ,you may have a shock at what we do, at the obscenely expensive equipment we have no choice to buy because we need it , the pharmacy stock etc etc .

Vet's bills can ramp up fast.
Blood tests aren't cheap.
That's the way the cookie crumbles.

Even with insurance .
One can try do one's best by taking care to to buy a ''Healthy'' breed, without severe issues and to do routine care oneself {Teeth cleaning, nails}, but if you can't afford adequate vet care, don't get a pet!

Some people can use Charities, which must be a relief, but they are unlikely to do advanced treatments like a specialist practice would [?].

Vets salaries are on a par with teachers. The most experienced are looking at about £60k so similar to a head teacher. New grads are around £30-35k . I’m nearly 30 years qualified and my FTE is just over £50k
For proof of that have a look at the vacancies page on the IVC Evidensia website for example.

Qualified RVNs are poorly paid and there is currently a campaign to raise their salaries to £30k minimum.

YANBU
They should have warned you first.

A cousin of mine is a vet and he regularly tells us stories of pet owners trying to get out of paying for treatment for their pets. He says many pet owners expect a vet just to treat an animal for free because “surely they became a vet because of their love of animals!” It’s a service like any other. It’s not like there’s an NHS for animals.

Everything at the vet always costs extra. Blood tests are always expensive.
Your ignorance on the matter or failure to ask doesn't make the bill go away or you less obliged to pay it.
Your responsibility to pay.

From the title I half expected this to be someone else's animal you or your pet injured and you didn't feel you needed to pay the whole bill due to reasons the vet found that weren't your responsibility. But no this is you not wanting to take responsibility for costs incurred by you for your animal..... Definitely being unreasonable.

YANBU my vet tells me of the cost of all treatment including blood tests before commencing with them. You should have been informed of the costs.

I too am shocked at the massive leap in vet's fees between dogs {I had a gap of a few years between owning them}

Agree that owning a dog is expensive, just the routine wormers &c. Vaccines, Spaying, never mind the insurance... and all the things not covered

I too love the nose boops, and consider my dog a furry friend and an 'Essential'
It's crazy how many people go to expensive trainers/behaviourists these days, rather than training the dog themselves.

You are being unreasonable. I think you have to pay the bill in full, it's not the NHS. Probably best for you to always, from now on ask how much things are going to cost before agreeing but I doubt, because, it's not the NHS, the vet thought you would this spelling out to you.

Vets are expensive. Despite having a big bill for DBoycat I paid extra for other bits. You have to pay it.

Sounds like a fair bill to me. Surely you didn't expect free blood tests?!!

If the blood tests were done in the last 6 months they will be good for the castration. You can refuse them of course, but it helps the vets understand liver and kidney function and if the cat or dog has any issues before they go under a GA. Some pets die under GA, very unexpectedly and sadly, so it can pre warn of any issues. Some give us no clue and then they die, leaving everyone from owners vets and nurses in a dreadful state. Its a dreadful feeling to lose a pet in surgery, the very worst thing that can happen. My own cat had a dental last year with one of the very trusted vets and nurses I work with and he tried to die, even after bloods were done, took forever to wake up, like forever, stopped breathing and turned blue. The poor vet, as I was there working that day too and she was omg your cat is trying to die on us, as I said to her, we had done the bloods, they showed nothing at all, there is no reason he would die at all, apart from hey, he is a staff members cat and they are always prone to causing a fuss and scaring the life out of us all. Be kind to your vets and nurses folks, we only earn a wage at the end of a day, we dont get paid extra on bloods and the other 101 charges that may apply. Thats goes to the company. A lot of the time we empathise and do our best to keep the prices low, but kicking off at us wont help at all

They'd be negligent to prescribe medication without seeing the animal!!

Exactly this