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?

@steff13 Heartworm {Lungworm} sadly IS now in UK since all the relaxation about importing foreign dogs, especially puppy farmed and ''Street'' dogs from certain parts of Europe.
I was horrified that a woman I knew of had two ''Prague ratters'' imported at 8 weeks old..Far too young for rabies shots, so these dogs are being smuggled in.

Yes I think they should have said before, mine usually does. However I think that you need to put it behind you rather than start creating a fuss. They’re trying to help your dog. Concentrate on that. That’s most important. Rule out some serious things with those blood tests hopefully..

Well, clearly she doesn’t or she wouldn’t be posting.

Blood tests done privately for humans are eye watering. A number of years back when I had comprehensive blood testing done, the costs of those alone were c.£1k (thank you, BUPA). And that’s before you get into the cost of MRI scans etc. I was stunned

We have just left our vets and moved to another one as they were absolutely horrendous at informing you of costs and I am sure they just made prices up sometimes as they varied so much!

The final straw was us verbally being told a invoice would be £300 only for them to present us with an invoice of nearly £1,000 a week later because they "forgot" to add some things on and demanded we paid them.

Whilst I think you should have known that the consultation fee doesn't cover anything other than the actual consultation, vets should be far clearer and transparent about how much things cost. Many people have no idea how expensive blood tests are and vets need to make this clear to people, not just go off and do them so they can add them to the invoice!

"My cat is going in to be castrated soon and the cost is quite reasonable at £68. They didn't mention blood tests so I bet they try and sneak the question in when I drop him off."

I'm sure you'd be very very angry and upset if your cat had complications or even passed away under general anaesthetic due to an underlying kidney or liver problem, and then you found out we hadn't carried out a quick simple blood test to check their blood parameters which might have saved the cats life.
It's not "sneaky" to ask if you want the voluntary blood check. It's called a Pre Anaesthetic Blood Screen and it's offered to all animals undergoing GA or heavy sedation to check for underlying problems before we anaesthetise them.
If you don't want the bloods, that's also fine - but we give people the option and leave it up to you. It's up to you to make informed consent and informed choices about the treatment for your pet, and that is why we tell you this blood test exists, and how we can use the information to give your pet a safer anaesthetic.

Honestly, it's a no win situation for us sometimes. GIVE the information and you're a money grabbing sneaky git, DON'T give the information and you are potentially putting the life of an animal at risk and would incur the owner's fury if anything happened to their pet that was avoidable all for a quick blood test.

Wouldn't you rather be OFFERED the choice, even if you ultimately decline it?

Sorry tsmainsqueeze but it is sneaky. It's like the small print on contracts. I asked for the price and they told me but I bet it doesn't include blood tests. Why don't they say upfront, 'it costs £68 for the procedure and an extra £.... for the bloods, which are optional but we do recommend etc'. I really appreciate the great work vets do but a bit more transparency over costs is needed. We all want what's best for our pets ultimately. Maybe there wouldn't be so many abandoned pets if the full cost of treating a pet was advertised better.

Yawn, BoredofthisCrap7 - they haven't asked. I asked the price of the castration and they told me. No mention of bloods. It will be interesting next week if they do offer and indeed, mention the cost.

YABU purely for the fact that you would have said no if you’d have known about the cost. Why have a pet then?

Yawn?
How odd.

My issue is that the extra costs should have been mentioned before being incurred.

That doesn’t explain why you thought a consultation fee also covers all tests and investigations. Surely it’s obvious the consultation fee is just that, for the vet to physically examine the animal and discuss thoughts with you? Do you think the fee also covers any medications required?

If you think about how humans are treated, it’s no different. Pathology and things like x-rays are ‘billed’ separately under relevant item codes, you may not have to pay but when it’s all ‘paid on the books’ behind the scenes so to speak these are seperate items, they are not covered under your consult item. Why would it be different for vet services?

My ds1 is training to be a vet. He gets a full student loan to pay for his education which means that at the end of 5 years he will owe around £120,000 before interest.
He will need to be paid enough to have a decent wage to live on after the student loan payment is taken, so that he feels better off than a minimum wage employee with less responsibilities otherwise he may become one of the vets leaving the profession. Unlikely in his case bit not in many others.

Blood tests aren't just a case of taking the blood, they have to be processed in a similar way to humans in the NHS which means paying for the equipment and tech staff to use it, transport if an external lab is needed for more extensive tests. This is what you are paying for.

A consult fee is exactly that, paying the vet for their time, for the expertise gained during 5+ years of study, for the blood, sweat and tears thats gone into learning every part of the anatomy for every animal, what and how things work, how to tell if they're not and how to fix it.
They can work to gold standard where money is no object and the animal can receive every test needed and the best treatment options for a great prognosis, more often though they have to be realistic in their approach.
They will tell you what needs doing, ideally to gold standard and if you are happy, get that moving. If there are concerns about payment, then start the conversation, they will have options available, just different ones. They want the best for your animal and don't know your finances but will happily tell you the price if you ask.

God some of the comments on here are bloody depressing.

One PP suggesting their vet offering a blood test as being "sneaky"? Really?

As a vet who worked in a very low income area for several years the amount of verbal abuse I got for offering medical investigations and suggesting the gold standard of treatment was ridiculous.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Agree with PPs that the crux of the issue is that the NHS is free and people are completely ignorant about the cost of medical care.

OP, if you walked away without paying for the blood test, who exactly would be funding the cost of the needle, syringe, blood vials and the time it took the vet or nurses to take the bloods? Even without the blood test ever being run the clinic would be at a loss. Obviously not the biggest issue here, but something to consider. A vet clinic is a business trying to stay afloat just like any other.

I agree costs need to be discussed before procedures are carried out but surely when the vet starts suggesting a blood test, if they don't mention cost, you ask?

As an aside, I'm no longer working in clinics. Life is too short to put up with the level of stress you experience on a daily basis (thanks to the clients of course, not the animals).

Goodness.
I would imagine OP meant the dog had only been with illness 3 times, not 3 times in its lifetime.

As for insurance. Once my westie hit 8 that rose to over £60 a month with a high excess and critically, condition limits of about £2k, despite him never seeing a vet for illness either (outside his yearly visits). We decided to put that money to one side rather than insurance and if we did need more we’d pay from savings. It was a gamble that more than paid off given he died at 14 when his heart gave out.

you can be a responsible pet owner and not have insurance. For an older animal some people just take different approaches.

I asked the price of the castration and they told me. No mention of bloods. It will be interesting next week if they do offer and indeed, mention the cost.

I’m not a vet, but why would castration involve bloodwork? I can’t imagine ………. In any op things could go wrong and necessitate further intervention but castration, I imagine that risk would be exceedingly rare and any immediate supportive measures should Fido have some hypersensitivity reaction to anaesthetic for example would not involve bloodwork???

Castration is still done under full GA.
It's a five minute procedure, all being well, but full GA nevertheless, with all the risks of a full GA.

I've just had a similar thing but on a smaller scale. Dogs went for their six month check up and I'm not allowed in because I don't wear a face muzzle.

I mentioned that one had slightly gunky eyes in the morning. I wasn't too worried as his eyes weren't sore and dog was unaware but I thought it was worth mentioning.

She came out with the last dog and promptly handed me a tube of eyedrops which already had the printed sticker on with mine and dogs name etc.

That will be £18.00 please she said. She handed me dog and cream and got the payment machine in a matter of seconds.

I paid it because my three dogs were restless and not used to being outside a busy parade of shops where the vet is situated.

Upon getting home eye drops were in a teeny tiny tube and only a weeks worth.

I googled it and the average price was around £8.

What a rip off to be charged £18!

I complained and they apologised and have now agreed to never dispense any medication without asking me if I want it or not.

Your vet should have told you the cost beforehand.

The bloodwork pre castration is to check that they are fit enough to undergo anaesthesia without dying on the table due to an unknown illness or underlying condition.
This is gold standard care.
The operation can be done without but is riskier as they don't know about potential problems in advance.

*this is my basic understanding of the purpose as a non medically trained person.

There are a number of comments on here that have annoyed me, but am picking this one!

As others have said, there are detain medications that cannot be prescribed if your pet hadn’t been seen/examined by a vet for a certain amount of time.

And the various references to being money-grabbing etc really get my goat. Vets train longer than bloody doctors, they are there to help our beloved pets who can’t speak to say what’s wrong with them.

If you get a pet, get bloody insurance. It’s the most responsible thing you can do. Can’t believe the OP said if they’d known the cost then they wouldn’t have gone ahead with tests.

And, sorry, but how the fuck do you only take a dog to the vet 3 times in 13 years? What about worming/flea treatment, annual check-ups and immunisations?

This will probably get lost in a sea of comments, but for those with pets/considering pets - check with your vets if they offer a health plan (this is separate to insuring your pet with an insurance company).

My vets offer a plan at a monthly cost - this covers flea/worming/bi-annual checks and vaccines. It works out cheaper than paying for each treatment separately. It’s a win-win for both. The vets get a regular payment, the owner gets a discount and, most importantly, it usually ensures that the pet will receive continued good care - rather than feckless owners who quibble about cost rather than doing right by their pet.

Pisses me off some of the attitudes displayed. As an owner, you are responsible for the health and well-being of a sentient creature that can’t advocate nor seek treatment for itself. If you can’t/won’t step up to that responsibility then shame on (general) you.

How the hell did you think they were going to dx anything without doing more than look at your dog?

Surely the point to ask 'and how much will that be' would have been when they said 'we'll need to do some blood tests'...

There will have been a gap between the comment and the bloods being drawn as no vet on the planet can draw blood in a nano second.

This is PRIVATE health care people - if you want it at your local veterinary surgery, with a vet who remembers your pet and treats them from the day you get them to the day they die, you pay.

If you want to drive all the vets to big chain brands where you will still pay, but it will be before the vet claps eyes on your animal and twice the price - do carry on bitching and moaning about the price of veterinary care.

And on the point of “they’re trying to recoup costs after covid”, that’s just plain mean.

My vets did EVERYTHING possible to ensure that animals were seen and owners were reassured during the pandemic. They worked tirelessly to try to make sure that animals got the treatment they needed. Am fairly sure a few of the nurses were feeling pretty broken when some pets had to be PTS and owners couldn’t be with them.

My vets are thrilled that owners and pets are now seen together for consultations - and I will always be grateful for all they did to keep things running smoothly during the pandemic.

Vet should have explained costs more clearly/got informed consent, but you do need to pay bill. No heartworm in UK due to rescues as it’s spread by mosquitoes not dog to dog

Google Westie Lung Disease OP, does that sound like your dog? That's what took my old Westie in the end, quite common in older Westies apparently.

True. I think because human health is predominantly pretty much conducted/diagnosed solely by blood testing (erroneously IMO that’s for another thread!) we assume they’re straightforward (& mainly on the NHS therefore) free - to us.

I use medichecks (& others) home blood testing. It’s much cheaper than going privately. You can ensure you get the full tests that are actually needed (like for Thyroid testing) rather than relying on the ones only allowed by the GP. Plus you physically get to see your results & get an explanation of what they mean.

Personally I love vets & wish human health could be as kind, compassionate & efficient as the way our animals are treated.

We don't really have any losses to re coup due to the endless supply of cockapoo's and frenchies that we have been seeing since lockdown.
Read up about POM products , we have no choice but to adhere to the law around these products .
Yet another vet bashing thread , thanks to all you lovely clients ,of which we see very many , who appreciate the work we do , we really do care about your beloved pet , we want to do the best for them because we know how much they are loved , we are human and we're as much of a pushover with our own pets.