Vet surgery costs - any vets honest thoughts?

[AliceM456]

Is the price of surgery via veterinary referrals much higher recently?

I am wondering if my extortionate quote given is 'normal' or if it's artificially high due to the governments regulations coming in next year to make the industry fairer in respect of vet fees?

Looking for honest opinions close to the industry if poss?

Ta :)

We tried that food but our cat wouldn't eat it so we just stuck to wet food only,never dry , not even Dreamies plus Cysytaid ever day. Never been ill since.

My local vet has been taken over by a chain and they quoted £500-£900 for a tooth extraction for my dog. I called an independent for a quote and ended up taking her there. She ultimately needed two teeth extracted and it cost £303.

Oh, same dog, a month later, developed ileus and ended up having a three day stay at the vets, not 24/7 care. A vet pops in once in the night to check on the animals. No one is on site all the time. That came to £2k, mostly covered by insurance, just for a GA for an xray then antibiotics, rehydration and pain relief via drips.

My service dog had surgery before Christmas. His vet (small, independent but with state of the art equipment and a team of experienced vets) quoted / cost £1700. Two other vets (part of the big chains) quoted £6k+ for the same procedure.

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing. We have not been offered an A/B/C and have dealt with someone who felt like they were pitching a sale which made us feel uneasy and distrustful. We were told if we wanted any more info or to speak to a surgeon we would have to pay hundreds just to speak to someone. We are looking now for a second opinion, but we won't even know his prognosis without committing to great expense and so we're trying to make a decision with barely any information.

In terms of standards, I can see that I think people put a lot of value into their pets these days. Ours growing up were semi-feral and I don't think my parents really knew what kind of care they needed but the internet now celebrates pets and a great place to get knowledge. I think it's probably a good thing that the sector has heightened standards as if you're going do something it may as well be right, and for the sake of learning and progression in a specialism it may as well be made in a measured way rather than a make do-type approach.

The other side to this which we're also wrestling with to some extent is a moral one to which is what right do us humans have over this kind of very invasive and risky procedure especially if a cat can live a short while with it, and survival isn't guaranteed. In short it would be easier in a way if the situation wasn't operable but in giving us the choice at great expense, we hold a great burden. All the while the little mite has no idea either way, which is probably just as well really!

So you mean giving the animal to a charity as you can afford the vet fees? Charities have rules about whether they treat conditions or not when they take on animals. Sometimes it’s pts. So I wouldn’t do that. If you mean see if you qualify for assistance with costs from PDSA or the likes that’s ok though.

Id still phone round other places to try and find more options before I paid so much money for anything. Do you have a vet training hospital near you? There’s one in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Perhaps they couod quote you. Don’t know about similar facilities in England.

I hope you find somewhere cheaper.

I think one issue is that having the NHS, we are completely disconnected from the price of healthcare. There are frequently threads such as this bemoaning the cost of veterinary or (human) dental treatment when the professions say these are probably reasonable and believable costs

DH is a vet. I was a vet for years. We own three (having taken one on after the tax hikes earlier this year) practices now. I agree with everything that other vets have said.

DH speciality is eyes. Many vets refer their patients to him. Likewise, neither he (nor I when I practiced) would touch PPDH. As a PP said, twenty years ago vets would chance surgeries far more than they will now and part of that is fear of being sued etc. There's more training now than there was then which means expert surgeries cost more.

When you are having any procedures done on your pet, you are not simply paying for the expertise of that vet but also all the other costs: Utility costs, VAT costs, vet nurses in the room, medical equipment (which can be horribly expensive and does not last forever) which also includes drugs etc, receptionist costs, other vet nurse costs (those who don't assist on surgeries), other vet costs (likewise, not all vets do surgery) cleaning costs, various insurances the vet has to factor in. There is a whole world of costs that people rarely see and don't take into consideration. For example, our practices have at least one nurse monitoring pets post-surgery around the clock. We operate our own out of hours service (rather than forcing people to go to VetNow, who charge £200 for even a consultation at night). Things like that cost money. Employing good vets, nurses and receptionists, costs money.

As someone, rather cruelly, said to me at the end of last year when I was worried that Starmer's tax hikes would be the end of DH business, 'you're running a business, not a charity.' And I think a lot of people forget that because medical care is free for humans.

Thank you for your responses to this.

@Savingmyflowersonebyone thank you for sharing this, unless you're in the business and have this overview it is difficult to see the bigger picture. I think what I'm getting is that this condition is so rare and so the original ballpark we were given was just inaccurate given the rarity and complexity of the condition. So I can appreciate the expense involved now.

I'm so very grateful for everyone's time responding to this, if have any conservative tips for PPDH I'd be interested to hear. We are feeding small amounts and not overdoing play. I'm going to seek further advice from our vets too of course.

I had a similar thing. I changed his diet, previously he had been almost exclusively raw/natural wet food so I stopped that and he only gets dry food now. I got lucky - the vet said his teeth looked much better at his last check up.

Sorry, @cherrytree12345
Yes, he’s been on urinary cat food for several years - he doesn’t like Hills but Smilla, Concept For Life, and Almo Nature are tolerated, although if he can snaffle his sister’s when my back is turned, he will.
Previously I could get him to have Cystaid in his food, mixed in with a bit of hot water, but he’s currently refusing it so I’m syringing it right into his mouth along with Gabapentin and Metacam.
We also have a Feliway Optimum as recommended by the vet.