. . . to be cheesed off at vet prices?

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I had a premolar extracted last week in preparation for having braces fitted. Total cost of the x-ray and extraction was £145.

Had our cat at the vet today and she needs a tooth removed. They've quoted £950 for the x-ray and tooth extraction.

AIBU to feel a bit ripped-off? The vet said we can phone around but we're unlikely to find a vet who will do it for less than £800! Is this really a reasonable cost? Absolutely prepared to listen and learn why it's so expensive, but it just seems excessive!

Every time I go to the vet I am so silently thankful for the NHS. Warts and all.

Jesus that seems extortionate. My cat is having an eye removed on Monday (he was blind in it when we rescued him and now its sinking into his head and keeps getting infected) and I've been quoted less than £500 including his first follow up appointment. Where abouts do you live?!

You're definitely being ripped off! We pay a quarter of that

I just paid £110 for a vet consult and 24 hours painkillers to get my dog to his euthanasia appointment the next day. Which was £300, with an extra £195 for cremation or £285 if we wanted the ashes. It didn’t make a horrendous day any easier. I still owe for the cremation.

My vet charged £16 for 2 x 60mg paracetamol tablets….
It’s this kind of excessive charging that has led to the Competition and Markets Authority launching a review into the vet services market.

Removing cats' teeth can be fiddly and painstaking, I do know that. Is your vet one of a large chain? They charge a lot more.

General anesthesia surely needs to be done in hospital, not a private dentist practice.

Therefore it could be done for free in hospital in the NHS. I needed general for wisdom teeth and it was free

Your dentist is very very cheap.

Does your pet weigh 40kgs? I think the drugs cost quite a lot and it's weight dependent. They've had a lot of treatment over the last few years from various clinics and the GA costs seems pretty consistent.

As there is no NHS for pets, then the price comparison would be the costs at somewhere like a BUPA hospital, which carries the overheads (like vets do) of having staff, equipment etc for procedures under general anaesthesia.

I was quoted £1,100 for a CT scan for a Guinea pig this week. Having not had any pets for many years I nearly fell off my chair when they told me.

@79andnotout also a greyhound owner and never paid more than £500 for extractions.

My friend's cat has just had a tooth extraction - £800 (rural Wales). I was shocked as a few years ago my dog had two teeth out at the same practice and it came to under £300. However I believe the practice recently changed hands, so it does sound like the new owners/partners have hiked up their prices.

I think the advice to shop around is right - I'll be doing that myself.

That sounds very expensive.
My dog injured his tooth about 2 months back and he had to have it removed.

It was £365. And he's a big dog. Costs more to operate on big dogs as they charge on weight for anaesthetic.

Is it usually one at a time? Mine have usually needed three or four out in one go, one had nine out once. They're insured so I've never questioned it, and we've had way more expensive vet bills in the past so never really thought about it.

That's really expensive. Ridiculously so.

We had the same 2 months ago and it was £300.

Of course your dentist will be cheaper than a vets as you don't have to go under a general anaesthetic to have the procedure done.

But £900 does sound expensive, so definite shop around. I had my dogs teeth cleaned whilst he was under for another procedure and it cost £250.

My dog had to have laser eye treatment of some sort as he had eyelashes going into his eyes causing infections and was put under GA
he was there all day at the vets ( vets 4 pets ) and it was £1100
prior to that operation the initial consultation and 4 different eye drops came to £280
and a follow up came to £180

They were fab though as they dealt direct with my insurers - many pets and I just paid my excess

Everything costs a fortune - independent vets are making very little money.

The big corporate chains are - charging £350 for you walking through the door, without the huge overheads in most cases as they hire their premises from independents which is far cheaper than buying and maintaining your own...

But again it isn't the vets making the big bucks, its the fat-cats at the top of the chain, as ever.

Avoid the corporates, use your independent vets - if not, you will lose them completely!

Is it just the one tooth?!
I'd see if you can get it done cheaper elsewhere. My dog had 27 teeth removed last month. It's not a cheap vet that I use either, and it cost £1050. A friend of mine was shocked because her dog had 18 teeth removed at a different vet and she was charged nearly £3000. It's definitely worth asking around to see if it can be done cheaper.

if it helps, my cat got rushed into the emergency vets a couple of nights ago, we are looking at at £2k bill probably more

@79andnotout one was 6 extractions, the other 9. Both times didn't exceed £500, most recent was last year.

I would say it's worth shopping around as vets are privately owned businesses which seem to price up randomly.

I guess if you feel ripped off, then there’s no harm in shopping around, however, it always makes me uncomfortable people complaining about bills for their animals. They are a luxury, not a necessity or a given right.
We have three dogs- two have wracked up probably enough for a good house deposit. The third (fortunately) hasn't got the memo yet. But we were aware that they can cost a small fortune before we got them, and were happy that we could cover any eventualities not covered by insurance. We don’t lament a single cost of them, be it food/ vet bills/ insurance because it was our choice to have them and they are worth every penny and more.

YANBU the cost of worming my tortoises has doubled in two years. I am now expected to pay over £200 to put 28p of medicine down their resentful little gullets.

Next year I am getting the vet to prescribe and administering it myself.

My old dog had 5 teeth removed and a full descale and polish £116 (I was quoted £160).
On a separate occasion sedation, examination and X-ray £56.