Why are vets so expensive

[bevelino]

My precious dog has been treated by our local vet but is now an in-patient at a veterinary hospital. The cost so far is way more than the cost of treating a human for the same condition privately,

[quote Snaplittledragon]@Veterinari I said that in my experience the vets I have known have been rude, lacking in people skills etc.
That is a true statement for the vets I’ve known.
I never referred to you specifically, or even vets as a whole.
I clearly stated it was my anecdotal experience of a limited number of surgeries.

I didn’t find the bit of your post I quoted ‘polite’, if I did I wouldn’t have specifically mentioned it as an example of the rude attitude I encounter from vets.

I didn’t understand about the reason for the tenfold increase in medication and I appreciate you explaining it.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow I have Dyscalculia so no, economics isn’t my strong point.

Do you think people with Dyslexia are stupid too or is it only those that struggle with numbers?[/quote]
Well in your experience I also have no people skills , so it seems that you make personal and unfounded attacks

Have you ever considered that if every vet you encounter is terrible, there may actually be an underlying common denominator that is not in fact related to the veterinary profession?

@Snaplittledragon

*Oh trust me - this is novice level fuckwittery In real life there are expert level-pet-owning fuckwits shock* Fortunately though, also lots of utterly lovely and brilliant pet owners - thank goodness smile YEp. There it is again. I am a perfectly lovely and brilliant pet owner thanks. My animals are in fantastic health and well looked after.

Lots of people struggle to understand how vets justify their prices but it’s nice to know it will be politely explained to us

Well you also had the choice to read the thread.

But you decided that you were entitled to a specific and personal response.

Oh nice try. So you are good enough with numbers to say confidently that vets over-charge, but you are unfortunately unable to take responsibility for saying something immensely stupid?
I said in my opinion I think they overcharge.
I didn’t state they overcharge as a fact.
There is a difference.
People are entitled to their opinion.
If it’s inaccurate fine, educate them but there’s no need to be so aggressive and rude about it.

Could you explain to me how dyscalculia prevents you understanding that Amazon has greater buying power than a small veterinary practice?
Amazon don’t sell prescription medicines?The websites that do require a prescription from the vet..?
I struggle to understand numbers, business/economics is very heavily numbers based so no, I have very little knowledge of how businesses work with regards to pricing.

When I am charged a huge amount of money by the vet and google the medication and it comes up a fraction of the price like most people I am going to question.

It was explained to me, fine.
There is no need to be so rude and nasty.

I never even personally mentioned @Veterinari, I was talking about my personal experience of a limited number of vets. Who WERE horrid whether people wish to believe that or not.

Have you ever considered that if every vet you encounter is terrible, there may actually be an underlying common denominator that is not in fact related to the veterinary profession?
Wow.
What an absolute piece of work you are.
I never specifically referred to you.
But you are certainly proving yourself to be just as vile as them.

@Snaplittledragon

But then as you think I'm uncaring, lacking in people skills and don't have the best interests of my patients at heart, I wonder if you can explain what I'm doing here, wasting my breath on pet owners like you who can't actually be bothered to read the thread and just want to slag me off? Showing the lack of people skills I mentioned there... As I said, my experience is based on my personal experience of a small number of surgeries. I have found them rude, uncaring etc. I won’t reveal the name as it would reveal my location but a google search of my first vet brings up a huge amount of negative reviews detailing how rude, aggressive, nasty, unsympathetic and downright horrid that particular vet was (the surgery was actually forced to get rid of her due to complaints) I would absolutely love to have a friendly, professional vet I really trusted and liked actually. As it is, I haven’t yet met one. I avoid vets like the plague only going if one of my animals develops something that doesn’t resolve or has an injury or similar that would need professional care.

You mean like in this post @Snaplittledragon where you quoted me and said specifically showing the lack of people skills I mentioned there As a direct comment on my post.

Please explain how that was not directed at me?

@Snaplittledragon

Have you ever considered that if every vet you encounter is terrible, there may actually be an underlying common denominator that is not in fact related to the veterinary profession? Wow. What an absolute piece of work you are. I never specifically referred to you. But you are certainly proving yourself to be just as vile as them.

Right so suggesting that you might want to reflect on your own behaviour (and let's be honest you've not covered yourself in glory here) is vile? Why is that? Do you see self reflection as vile? What an odd response

“I won’t reveal the name as it would reveal my location but a google search of my first vet brings up a huge amount of negative reviews detailing how rude, aggressive, nasty, unsympathetic and downright horrid that particular vet was”

Hmm, people online say similar things about my vet...

I’ve never found her any of those things, she’s a bit straight to the point sometimes, but I prefer that tbh and they don’t do credit which seems to annoy a lot of people, but it’s a vet not a bank... so...

@Snaplittledragon

I have sympathy for the OP tbh.

I remember having to buy medication for my dog from the vet.
When I checked the price online I had been charged almost 10 times over the price (just £14), nearly 10 (I can’t remember the true figure but it was close to 10) lots of £14 medication plus a consultation fee.
How can that kind of inflation possibly be justified?

The consultation fee is a joke!
I don’t mind paying for an actual consultation but they literally lightly run their hands over my dog, flick up her lip to expose her canines, quick look of her ears, weigh her, the end.
What am I actually paying for?
I do a more thorough body and dental check when I give her her daily grooming and teeth brushing!

I honestly do think vets are overpriced and in my experience, I appreciate its my anecdotal experience of limited surgeries, not very caring, severely lacking in ‘people skills’ and not acting in the best interests of the animal by subjecting clearly extremely ill animals to procedure to procedure before PTS.

A practice has to buy meds through a veterinary wholesaler , we cannot buy them the way you can at a vastly cheaper price online. The price we are charged for ie metacam is no where near as cheap as online suppliers. The thing is you are complaining about something that you have a choice over , you don't have to buy the product from the vet you can ask them for a written script if it is for a pom product , you will get charged for script but you will still save money doing it this way . Why use a practice that makes you feel like that ? Ask friends , read reviews , the majority aren't as you describe . If you do a better job why bother taking for a check up ? We advise , diagnose , prescribe , but ultimately the choices and decisions are yours to make . You can ask for a quote without commitment and then you can shop around , but please don't label all vets / practices the same , especially when you say "my anecdotal experience of limited surgeries". Re the fee, you are paying for a highly qualified expert who has worked incredibly hard to get where they are and continue to do so via cpd which they have to do on top of their normal daily work. You would have your eyes opened if you spent a day behind the scenes at a busy vets , you may change you mind .

This thread has become a bit of a rabbit hole. Tbh, if I found a number of posts opining that my profession overcharged and regularly were found to be rude etc it would absolutely put my back up. Especially if my job involved being underpaid, overworked and seemingly ill valued. Even more so if on breaking down the pricing I was being challenged by people who weren't reading the thread/earlier responses that already answered those points. Is it that hard to understand why the people taking time to respond and explain are getting frustrated?

OP I know you said you wouldn't return but I do hope your dog is on the mend. Its always horrible to see one of them unwell.

Have you ever considered that if every vet you encounter is terrible, there may actually be an underlying common denominator that is not in fact related to the veterinary profession?

I not infrequently have patients come in who start with a litany of every clinician they have ever seen, and all the ways in which they have been incompetant or rude. It would be very unprofessional of me to say something like this to their face, but I confess I often think it.

Because I'm treating humans on the NHS, there's never a bill to follow, which means noone complains about the cost. I honestly have no idea how vets manage to get through a working day without tears or punching walls. Yet, consistently, the care my animals have received from my vet has been faster and more comprehensive than I have, even though I have health insurance. You see how far you get ringing your doctor at 10pm to say, "I think I have something in my eye" or "I keep being sick". With my vets it's like, "Can you be here in 20 minutes?". Amazing level of care, for extraordinarily little money.