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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Vet's charges - sense check!

10 replies

Serenity45 · 09/08/2023 15:13

Our 2 year old lab has never needed vet treatment apart from boosters / flea & worm treatments and getting spayed earlier this year. We're very lucky she's a robust, healthy dog. She split a claw on Monday and vet fitted her in for an exam that afternoon. He said that she would need claw removed under GA as they can be tricky / painful. She wasn't in obvious pain (no whining / licking the area) but she was limping slightly and clearly uncomfortable.

Dropped her at vets at 8.30am this morning, having last fed her at 8pm last night and no water since 7am. Phone call at 2pm from a vet (different to one we saw on Monday) who said that she didn't need the procedure and he would just trim her nails down (her nails have never been kept long / not trimmed btw). May be a case of lupoid onychodystrophy (?) but not certain.

I politely expressed concern that we had been told 2 different things and he was happy to check with original vet and called me back. Procedure not done as original vet apparently agreed no needed. DH went to collect our girl and paid the bill of £110 without question.

It turns out that we have been charged for a canula to be fitted and the medical waste disposal resulting. Total for this part of the bill is only £25, but I'm not happy that we've been charged at all - surely they should have been double checking treatment was necessary before shaving her fur and putting a bloody canula in??

Also not particularly delighted that she has been in a kennel unnecessarily with no food or water for hours (I did remind of this over the phone and asked them to please feed her / make water available while they waited for us)

Sorry long post for what's probably a minor issue but would it be reasonable to query the bill / series of events? It's definitely the principle rather than the money!

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Sewerdrain · 09/08/2023 15:15

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Sewerdrain · 09/08/2023 15:16

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Serenity45 · 09/08/2023 15:31

Thanks for replying. Yes we do have insurance (£75 excess with good level of coverage). We don't necessarily want to change vets after one issue, as they were personally recommended and have a good reputation locally. I just wanted to get a sense of what would be seen as reasonable in this kind of situation.

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CuntRYMusicStar · 09/08/2023 15:47

I don't know, if your dog was listed for a procedure then it is likely the vet nurse/assistant prepped her by shaving her leg and inserting the canula. Then when the vet checked her before surgery it sounds like they made a good call (backed by opinion of 1st vet) to not carry out the procedure and treat in a much more minor way, saving your dog the unnecessary general anaesthetic and recovery that entails.

At £25 they have literally charged you cost price - if you're happy with their attitude and the work they have done I wouldn't query it.

Amicompletelyinsane · 09/08/2023 15:51

As a vet nurse in my place we would have quickly checked on admit. Often nails aren't as bad as they first look. We wouldn't have charged.

BungleandGeorge · 09/08/2023 16:06

How is £25 cost price?
if They decided the treatment recommended was not needed previous to giving the anaesthetic I’d say it’s up to them to find as it was due to misdiagnosis. It’s fair enough that this happened when seen by the second vet but the second vet must have examined the dog after the cannula was put in which is their mistake, surely that should have happened before. I think missing a meal was unavoidable but the pain and infection risk of the cannula was

Serenity45 · 09/08/2023 16:10

I think missing a meal was unavoidable but the pain and infection risk of the cannula was

Thank you this encapsulates it really well! Appreciate she won't be unduly affected by missing a meal (though she is a very trim lab so no chub to lose!)

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cinnamonfrenchtoast · 09/08/2023 16:34

It could be that she was prepped for surgery before the vet even saw her.

I agree it would have been nice for the surgery to write off the cost, but I don't think I would quibble over £25 - especially if it turned out well for my dog and they didn't need the surgery after all.

AnnieSnap · 09/08/2023 21:18

It could just be an admin mistake. Have you called the vet to query it?

Serenity45 · 10/08/2023 01:27

Thanks for the replies. I've emailed the vet very politely querying/ expressing concern, while thanking them for looking after her.

The receptionist really loved her on sight and had apparently taken her out to the garden for a walk/play during lunch.

DH just wanted to get the dog home, so didn't query the bill at the time.

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