Vet fees

[SurreyHillsinspring]

Out of hours fees round my way are minimum £290 ,and that's just for the initial consultation. I thought best get insurance, but DW sais too expensive. When I rang the nearest one had just closed ten minutes away.So fourty five minutes away was all that was available.

What do you think a private health consultation for you would cost if you didn't have the NHS? If you think that insurance is too expensive, then have you seen the cost of treatments? Sorry, but if you can't afford to provide medical care for your dog, then you shouldn't have got one. It isn't acceptable to say that you can't afford to care for your pet.

Not sure what your point is here?

and you should definitely get insurance. I’ve been in the position with a very sick young dog in hand and the first question is “are you insured because the treatment will cost at least £2500”. Could you deal with the inevitable alternative which is euthanasia?

I just thought I'd put it out there for new puppy owners.I know someone that has paid £2500 for an op.He hasn't got insurance either,he thought it too expensive.

Why did you need out of hours care? Do you think that highly trained professionals should not be compensated for staying on duty in anti social hours? Do you think their overheads magically reduce after 6pm? You are being silly and clearly did not think carefully enough about what being a dog owner entails financially

Our dog cost £5000 in vet fees last year due to a sudden and serious illness, apart from £400 it was all covered by Petplan so insurance is definitely a good idea and if you can’t afford it then I don’t think you can afford a dog.
As for call out charges etc due to The NHS we have no idea what medical treatment costs. We have paid £300 for a 1 hour consultation with a Private Doctor during working hours for my daughter.
Vets run a business and charge accordingly

I must admit we've been lucky with all our dogs,never really had anything over £300 which was a Yorkie over twenty years ago.Yep I never really thought about vet fees so big mistake on my part.

It was two o'clock on Saturday too,just thought I'd add some detail.

You may need out of hours care and you will need to pay it if you don't have insurance.

Think of all the long weekends with bank holidays and what would you do if your dog had a serious accident or illness at the start of it?

I have had to take mine on Xmas and New Year's Day but insurance paid out each time.

Yep, that's the reality of pet ownership.

I had my cat in the vets at 11pm last New Years' Eve as he was in his litter box every five minutes and vomiting - both major signs of a blockage which is fatal if left for too long. Luckily he was fine and just needed some medication but if he'd needed surgery it would have been well over 1k.

They're not cheap - if you don't have a good stash of money tucked away then insurance is an absolute must.

If you have a pet, you need insurance. OOH's is anytime after 5pm and after noon on Sat at weekends around here. Our dog had an accident 2 weeks ago 1pm on a Saturday. He needed emergency treatment, X-ray, drugs, OOH charge and thankfully was home 4 hours later. The bill was £1000. I dont begrudge the vets at all. They were amazing. We are just used to 'free' NHS treatment and dont realise the true cost of medicine.

Yes I think my vets are brilliant too.God knows they have had to put up with my old dog ,and he is very grumpy. My wife still doesn't want insurance .Cheapest she was quoted was £70 a month.We have savings and of course we would pay for any treatment needed.

But he didn't think twice about spending thousands on a pup in the first place.

He bought two.He's minted.

Minted..wealthy.

Any vets here?Why the 45 minute trip,probably an hour to get ready and get the pet in the car...if you've got one

Even if you do have over about £7k in liquid savings that you don't mind spending on your pet's health, you might still want to insure it, for third party.

If it caused an accident or bit someone (or another pet) you could be left with very high expenses to repair the third party's damages and paying medical/vet fees for the victims

I have mixed feeling about insurance but I’ve been very lucky. I’ve owned, showed & bred for over fifty years now a breed that are always near the very top of the At Risk Native British Breed list at the KC but are luckily pretty robust & healthy. I do provide insurance for puppies leaving me which the new owner has the choice to continue with or not. But what I’ve always personally done is have a separate bank account that I save monthly into the equivalent of the average monthly payment for insurance. I draw on this for any vet fees. Over the many years it has built a substantial balance of several thousand.

I do believe animals should be insured but it’s something that needs to be started when you get them, because as soon as they suffer their first illness it’s classed a pre-existing condition and they use it to try and get out paying for anything.

I'm sure a lot of owners didn't know that.Thankyou

I would always insure my pets.

You could get to a point where a pet needs life saving surgery and advanced diagnostics and a has a good chance of survival. Or it could have a life long treatable condition with expensive medication or cancer where surgery and/or chemo are an option to increase the lifespan.

At this point you'll be dealing with vet specialists at the top of their career with at least 10yrs in training.

All in all with expensive equipment, a multi disciplinary team caring for the animal and hospitalisation you're looking at least £8k, more if out of hours.

You could opt out of all the procedures and pts or let nature take it's course.

I'd rather have all the options available to us and I know I wouldn't have the savings at all to cover it so would rely on the insurance pay out, which it has for us so far fingers crossed.

If you can't afford the insurance you shouldn't get a dog.

It doesn't take much to get into 1000s with an OP.

We had an emergency with our dog over the Jubilee weekend.

Sadly she had a brain tumour - we had no idea, she started showing symptoms on the Monday and was put to sleep on the Friday.

The treatment on the Friday involved one consultation with emergency vet, an emergency MRI at a specialist vet about 40 miles from where we live and care for the short time she was there in ICU, followed by euthanasia and cremation fees. That Friday alone cost nearly £4000 - thank God we had insurance.

PetPlan have been amazing. I couldn't have coped with the worry of finding the money to cover her treatment on top of the shock and subsequent heartache of losing her so suddenly.

Get insured - it's a no brainer. My dog was only 5 - even with a young dog the unexpected can happen 😥

Thinking back.In my family we've had a pug, two bull terriers,two Yorkies,three rescues,a shitzu and now our new puppy.Luckily none of the conditions in the thread have come up.But i'm now not sure whether to go the monthly deposit into an account or insurance. Also the hour trip is still bothering me .

I'm really sorry about your dog.It's a member of your family, it breaks your heart when they go.Ive shed many a tear.Im really sorry about the pain it has caused you.

The hour trip reflects the fact that the duty out of hours vet will be covering a wide geographical area. And how much have you got to set aside in order to build a fund of thousands? I cannot fathom your reluctance, as a person who has it seems a wide experience of dogs, to just buy some insurance!