To think vet fees are taking advantage?

[Catlady332]

There is making a financial commitment to a pet, and then there is paying extortionate fees.
I pay monthly for a vet healthcare plan for my cat who is older, and this is supposed to cover certain things and include discounts.
They suspect he has a thyroid issue and needs a blood test, and I've been quoted £250 for the blood test.
I think these fees are extortionate and taking advantage. This is in the north West, as I said I know pet ownership is a financial commitment but I'm worried about having to pay these sorts of costs regularly.

Please don't give the cat back to the previous owner, it's already been neglected, find someone who wants and will take care of him

Please check as most insurance company's if not all say you are not covered for the first 14 days from start of policy. Some may be longer.

They always have

I think that the emergency vet fees are nothing short of extortionate. Here they charge £300 for an appointment.

Once again, you are being ripped off in the UK. Here it is $200, around £100

What do you think would be a reasonable charge then?

Bearing in mind, you will have 2 qualified people (vet and vet nurse) attending to you and your pet, at probably an unsociable time of day/night.

This is capitalism, everybody is out to get as much for themselves as possible. Dentists who only want private patient etc. etc.

Truthfully, finding someone prepared to take this cat on, are unlikely

To this and all posters using language like ‘extortionate/rip off/taking the puss’…

Modern veterinary care is expensive to provide, so it is expensive to the consumer. It has undoubtedly increased in cost in recent years; so has my food shop, but I don’t go round berating Sophie who works in Tesco about the fact I can’t afford branded coffee anymore.

Veterinary prices have gone up with corporate buyouts, but corporatisation happened partly driven by consumer demand (convenience, standardisation, care plans, insurance claims - there are loads of extra auxiliary tasks and staff now, not just a vet in a room) and partly because the old kind of veterinary businesses weren’t hugely appealing/viable for individuals anymore. In the days that vet fees were £20 a consult, you’d frequently have a vet working all week in the day and on call several nights a week, for an effective hourly rate of very very little - which isn’t legal/acceptable any more!

The kind of inflammatory language kind of directed at vets is not helpful, and is destroying the morale of a great many people who went into their profession to help animals, to the extent that is it a struggle to fill jobs because so many leave the profession. Yes, we get paid to do our jobs, as do teachers, nurses, doctors, charity workers, paramedics - nobody seems to imply these professionals are rip off merchants unless they are working for free!

@Calmestofallthechickens vet treatment usually costs more than the same treatment for humans in the UK under private medicine

I’m not sure where you are getting this data? I think some things might cost more in veterinary but most cost less - for instance:

An appointment at my practice is £53 (first appointment) and £42 for a follow up - private consultant appointments are far more than this.

Let’s take a common surgical procedure - a quick google tells me an inguinal hernia repair is ‘from £3084’ in a private hospital. For a dog this would cost about £1200.

Google also puts the cost of a chemotherapy course for a human at £30,000; this is hard to compare as there are many different forms of chemo but our most common protocol tends to cost £5-7k.

In addition, being both a vet and a human who has received medical treatment, I assure you that the service offered to animals is, in a lot of ways, much better than that available to humans!

Mine had their primary vaccines when they were young but I've never bothered with boosters...and I work in a vets and get them dirt cheap too.

No, because you first presented the animal at the vets with the issue before the 14 days.

They do pay out for unvaccinated animals.

They only don't pay out if the illness could have been prevented by a vaccine.

They don't pay out for pyometras either unless there's a medical reason for not being spayed.

Just had our dogs booster, had to laugh at the reminder that if it wasn’t given within a narrow timeframe the whole course would need doing again, but during covid it didn’t matter in the slightest that they were three or four months past the due date

I'd love another cat, I haven't been without one (or three) since 1977. Last one PTS last September and I really miss the company at times.

I've decided I won't be getting another though due to the vets costs. Where I am, it's difficult getting onto the books of a vet as several are only taking on kittens or puppies. There is an excellent independent about a mile from me but people seem to be queuing up to get with them whenever they have room to take any pet on.

The vet I was using was part of a franchise, they seemed very good and last cat was on their health plan at £12 a month but that's more than likely gone up now. He did have some teeth removed about six years ago and that was £430. Heaven only knows what that would cost today.

Untrue about pyometras. I have a breed that is very prone to them, and have never had an issue with insurance companies paying out for treatment.

I can beat myself up thinking 'If I'd waited 5 more days, I'd have got the bills covered'- but I wasn't to know, and it's surely not in the cat's best interests to wait.
Also, since he hasn't been to a vet in so long I might have issues with insurers who might want full medical history.
I'm still looking at insurance options and seeing if there's anything I can do.

I've just rang a university vets that offers lower fees but they're not taking on new patients atm

Not sure if I mentioned this but the vet said he has dental disease too, which presumably won't be covered, and that'll be in the several hundreds.

Because dental requires anasthetic it often costs loads. My cats was £450 about 6 years ago.

Vets aren't that well paid. The prices are high but not sure how much it costs to run a practice - the median income for a vet in the UK is £52k. That's not a huge amount for the training it requires.

I’d love to know where you’re getting private healthcare! I used it extensively in the past. It is certainly cheaper for an animal than a human. I have often said I’d rather see my vet, it’s £60 for a vet consultation rather than £100 for private GPs around here and I’d get a biscuit.

Private GP appointment for £59 here. I just realised that my vet is one of the more pricey ones who do not publish their costs on the website. Our vet consultation is £69.

Our vets have always said up to 3 months extra isn’t a problem. We deliberately delayed some of ours a couple of months, twice, so that they can all go together as they seem to be more at ease when they have each other there. The vet was the one that advised us to do it.