Vets charges £17 for 15 paracetamol

[Messyhair321]

This is normal paracetamol isn't it?
How can vet charge £17 for a box of 15 tablets when I can pop to the chemist & get them for £1. ??!

Exactly my point. The funds should be preserved insured or not (we are but no excuse to rinse us like this!). In the position of a sick dog every penny counts doesn't it

I was shocked when my vets charged me £114 for a 70ml bottle of fluoxetine that I later saw I could get online with a prescription for £21!

Even worse is it's for a chihuahua so a tiny dose and the bottle says discard after a month of it being opened! It would last four months at the dose prescribed.

Is that an online vets?

My horse was prescribed paracetamol for a short while. I think he was on 16 pills a day at least twice a day. The first prescription the vet gave me was extortionate, and I too didn’t realise it was human paracetamol.

I probably spent the same in fuel driving round loads of pharmacies buying it OTT 😂

No, weldricks chemist online has info that they can dispense vet prescriptions for fluoxetine so I'll go there next time.

Are you saying you have evidence to sue the vet for the "wrong" diagnosis? Firstly you gloss over all detail and later say happily you found out from the hospital that the condition was not as bad as originally thought. At no point have I expressed anything to be "wrong" about. So what in your mind exactly was I "wrong" about? You were charged for their time and treatment and tests and medication. Which part of this was "wrong"? Did your dog not get seen, blood tested, pills prescribed?

Your ranting about having to pay for your vet's work has been conveniently conflated with my alleged "prejudice" and "faith in the system", all of which you've concocted in order to rant at me. The only positive aspect is that ranting at your vet and a stranger online may reduce your ranting at your dog. Lastly, who knows what you're willing to bet, because your rant on that was cut off.

what a vile unpleasant post, hope you are proud of yourself.
Hope you don't work in either healthcare or in animal care, you seem particularly uncaring as an individual.

My relative had a little dog who had problems with lungs, we had to have meds for her, it was really expensive which we just accepted (£160), until we realised that this was human meds, £40 in boots!

My cat has multiple health issues and my vet has always been very good about telling me when its cheaper to source things myself. In some cases I've still gone through them anyway as its easier, but for some things I buy them myself online.

Seems like it's luck of the draw with vets. All business is really about trust & it's a shame that we have been left feeling like this about our vet

To form, you've resorted to flailing about in another unsubstantiated rant, typically unable to support any of your allegations, You obviously have no leg to stand on and are having a tantrum over £17 showing little relief from your story that your dog's prognosis is not as bleak as you had thought, not that the initial prognosis stopped you from going ballistic over £17, hope you are proud of yourself. You definitely seem particularly uncaring as an individual.

@maryso i believe they were saying you were wrong about your statement that you’re paying for the vet to know what to test for, not just the test, on the basis that the test came back negative.
Honestly, I just had one of my own dogs tested for pancreatitis, because she had a health emergency in 2020 and recently presented similar, less severe symptoms. The test was expensive, but it ruled out pancreas issues as a cause, and left only a nasty bout of GI (we narrowed down to those two options with history and symptoms description).
It was a relief that the test came back negative, I don’t believe the test coming back negative means it was wrong to test at all, medicine is about narrowing down options, which is much harder when the patient can’t verbalise their own discomfort. I was worried about it being pancreatitis myself, and the test afforded the opportunity to either: find out that it was, treat appropriately and manage the condition in future by giving low fat food, or find relief for my own worries in a negative result and not have to upend my dog’s diet.

Much to my surprise, I was given human Movicol when my cat was constipated and probably paid over the odds for that. Just used a quarter of a teaspoon from a sachet (where a human would have the whole thing).

@GreenMini How do you convince a cat to take movicol??? That stuff makes me heave 😂

That's a very generous take on something that I didn't actually say, @Jenzine, tres diplomatique! I agree that vets have to make judgements based on clinical observations and test accordingly. And wholeheartedly on the relief that negative tests bring, human or canine. None of this nuance has ever been acknowledged by the OP, just unsubstantiated railing about the vet due to the modest cost of an analgesic. It's always good to know when things turn out well, and I definitely would have done what you did, not only for the relief of discounting pancreatitis but the added benefit of being able to target the underlying cause of the symptoms. All of this, human or canine, costs time and other resources. Farmers are acutely aware of this, however the surge in pet ownership has not always been accompanied by awareness of the costs.

There are several online U.K. based companies that dispense animal meds when you submit a prescription you need to buy from the vet, they can’t refuse by law. The prescription used to have to be supplied free but a few years ago they changed the law so that now vets can charge for issues the prescription.
One of my dogs was on three separate tablets for a heart complaint for three years. From the vet the cost was £480, I paid for prescriptions & bought the exact same tablets in the exact same boxes for £178 every six months ( the prescription can only cover six months supply before needing renewing). For those tablets I used
Animed but I have used other reliable firms for other things, both prescription & non prescription, there are several eg VetUK, Petmed, VioVet.
Many supply their own version of non prescription products like flea treatments, probiotic paste, wormers which are just as good as branded products at a fraction of the price. I’ve used all those firms for years, very reliable, helpful & quick

Viovet has been known to have issues regarding supply, their website shows what they can buy from suppliers, not necessarily what they actually have in stock; animal charities/rescue centres have often complained of waiting months to receive any communication at all from the company either regarding delivery of the medications, or refunds for time sensitive orders, so they can buy elsewhere. I ordered a collar from them once, two weeks went by with no change in the status of the order and the only communication from Viovet was the few dozen emails trying to get me to buy more stuff. I’d never rely on them for something as important as medication.
Animed is definitely good, though, exactly the same situation, vetmedin pinobendan, £65/2mo.

Yes I get my cat meds ongoing , even though all my pets are well insured I still like to keep the costs of claim low with prescriptions & online suppliers. It's another story but I really feel that if we all keep claiming on insurance it just pushed the costs up for everyone.

My main issue with being given this paracetamol was that the vet didn't give me an option to buy it myself (as another vet at the practice has done previously with another over the counter medication), he also didn't tell me it was paracetamol just referred to it as 'pain medication'.
I would never have agreed to purchase this for the cost given the choice. Who would?

Like I said we were in a bit of a state given he'd just said that our dog had a life limiting illness.
I don't have anything against vets & we all have to make a living. But all business is done on trust. And I don't now feel able to say I trust my vet in the way I'd like to now.

If it's liquid I put it in a syring & just squeeze it into her mouth, mine has liquid meds daily, If tablet I wrap it up in a cat stick give her a few then slip the one with the tablet in. This is quite successful!

Fingers toes & eyes all crossed for my beautiful pooch. Hoping she will have some good life ahead. I'll go with the optimistic vet rather than the other one!

It’s exactly the same as people paracetamol (also sold in 500g) just get the own-brand Tescos stuff for 30-40p. I normally get the capsule type (like this 💊), cut the tip off, and sprinkle the powder inside onto pet food.

Yep, & I've learnt something this week!