Why are vets so expensive?

[WatermelonLou]

Like it says. Had my small domestic dog at the vets and they quoted me 800 for an iv drip, blood tests and 'in house care' whilst they run tests. I opted for the alternative antibiotic jab and plenty tlc. She recovered well and went back into her dry food after chicken and rice for a couple of days. Got me wondering why are they so expensive for triage??

@ChiefEverythingOfficer
We've had similar shit advice from some vets. Cat developed a limp, took him to the vet and told to give him metacam for three days then bring him back. He was still limping and the vet then told us he thought it might be bone cancer and the cat needed £700 of initial tests. Took him to a different practice and was told to keep the metacam going for another week to give it a chance to take an effect. Cat of course recovered from his limp perfectly with no further intervention.

This is the real cost of medical care. You can see it in the States, this is what would happen if we had no NHS and went private.

Because it is expensive.

I do think what they charge for medication is ridiculous eg my dog is diabetic, his insulin is £75 a month from the vet, instead I get prescription from the vet and it's £40 per month online. Even that was £21 a couple of years ago.

Vets have something like 3-4 times the rate of suicide compared to the general population population. They're not sitting there rubbing their hands with glee at the money they earn.

I really don’t understand posts like this. Surely you are just grateful your pet was ok? A previous dog presented with just being a bit off his food, he went in and had all these “initial tests”, which led to a very prompt referral - turned out he had a very rare, aggressive tumour. Thank god they did them and didn’t just send us away. I lost the dog, but it meant he was euthanised before he deteriorated further and suffered unnecessarily. I will be forever grateful as he didn’t deserve that, and was a lovely dog.

Imagine if your cat HAD had bone cancer and was sent away with a pat on the head and some mild pain relief. You’d be complaining then. They can’t do right for wrong.

Vets are bloody expensive, but that’s not a new thing or a surprise. If people don’t want to pay it- simple, you just don’t have the animal.

Personally I don't believe all the posts saying "this is the real cost of care".

Yes, private medicine is expensive but why can some practises charge so little when others charge so much?

An appointment at our practise is £18, whereas I know others charge almost £50. A male cat neuter is £78 whereas on another thread, someone was charged double that.

I got an OOH appointment at 11pm on NYE a couple of years ago for less than £100 - and that price included painkillers, an anti sickness jab and antibiotics. But someone upthread said it costs them £250 just to be seen.

This is why I think it should be a legal requirement to have pet insurance if you have a pet. No animal should suffer because of money.

They’ve also become less competitive as many are own by conglomerates back by venture capitalist companies. Many are not transparent about their prices either so it’s hard to ‘shop around’. The Competition and Marketing Authority are currently investigating the industry.

When you look at cost breakdowns my vet is cheaper than any other professional service I've used recently (mechanic, solicitors, emergency locksmith).

A good* insurance policy is vital though, unless you can lay your hands on £££££ quickly in the event of an emergency.

*good =/= cheap. Good = a lifetime policy with double the amount of cover you think you might need as a minimum, taken out at a young age (ideally), BUT with a clear understanding of the terms and conditions that your actually agreeing to.

I think the cost of OOH care varies because it depends whether it’s in house or at one of the purely OOH vets which ours is . I’ve been using the same vets for 40+ years and seen it through many changes of ownership and now it is with IVC Evidensia, a group of independently run practices across the UK and Europe. For us the cost varies by who you see as the practice lead vets seem to make up their pricing whereas with the junior vets / nurses the prices are as written . As I prefer the lead vet in each practice ( there are 2 ) unless it’s an emergency that’s who I book with .

One of my DC friends is a vet. She naively thought she would save a fortune not having to pay call out/exam fees for her own horse. Once she qualified she realised that isn't were most of the cost is.

Neutering costs are heavily subsidised otherwise it would be prohibitively expensive for a lot of people.

I've seen practice at some "budget" vets who have cut costs where the client doesn't see it. One place in particular I was absolutely horrified. They were very cheap on things like consultation fees but there was a massively hard sale on additional products to the point where the vets were watched on CCTV to ensure they were pushing these products enough. The same place were operating on an operating table where the main surface was a sheet of old MDF. I don't know about you, but I'd rather pay more and have my pet operated on in a sterile environment. I could go on, it was truly shocking. Thankfully shortly after they were closed down. I did report them and was told they'd had several reports.

On the flip side, I've worked with independent vets who kept their prices low without compromising on patient care, because of the effects of rises on their clients. They all sold out to corporate companies because they eventually had no choice. One vet was regularly paying staff wages out of her own savings, which came from the equity in her family home after a divorce. Her savings were totally depleted to ensure her staff were paid, whilst she rented a room in a house share in her 50s to keep her own costs as low as possible. Others sold to corporates in similar positions, all on the brink of bankruptcy, including some larger scale multinsite practices.

I completely understand a hefty price tag for anything remotely complex which requires more than common sense.

£150 for a consultation fee and eye drops for minor conjunctivitis. Diagnosing minor conjunctivitis requires a bit of common sense, not a veterinary degree. Many day to day scenarios in the consultation room don't take thousands of pounds of overheads nor require a veterinary degree to diagnose. It's this sort of thing, like charging consultation fees for flea treatment which will lead to a drop in animal welfare.

They are businesses and throw the degree/overheads card around to try and justify the frequent unnecessary overcharging.

@Floralnomad I've never known a practise that allows you to book with a specific person.

We just ring and book an appointment and get given a choice of times and locations as ours is spread across two practises.

@SummitOfMountWashmore I've never had a single product pushed on me - in fact, our vet will say "we could give you X but you can get it on Amazon for less if you're happy to wait".

They don't stock any food or branded supplements either, though will get things in for you if you ask.

The operating theatres are all clean and up to standard too.

They're an excellent vets - based rurally and mainly farm clients.

As other people have said, vet fees are a reflection of the true cost of healthcare. As much as the NHS has its shortcomings, we are thoroughly spoiled by it in that very few of us have any idea of what it actually costs because we don’t have to think about it.

You can specify who you would like, that's one of the perks of private medicine. Just ask on booking.

I will choose who I want to see based on what the problem is - there are some cases where I may need to travel to a different site to see that person when I want, and there may be other times where I can't because their availability isn't convenient/I need a more urgent appointment in which case I'll see whoever .

To add, they've been privately run for years and have recently expanded to add new vets and services.

Their prices have increased by about £3 for an appointment since 2020.

You can specify who you would like, that's one of the perks of private medicine. Just ask on booking.

Our practise honestly doesn't work like that - you see whoever is on duty.

I've had appointments with the practise owner as well as appointments with the newest recruit. They all charge the same and it's never been an issue.

I guess with being a farm vet, they often have people called out to emergencies so they can't guarantee that a certain vet will be available at a certain time.

Our local Independent Vets has been swallowed up by a bigger “ Group”- not a Chain.
There are Independent practices in wealthy areas of the City - and they are very expensive, especially anything OOH ( out of hours)
Insurance is absolutely essential.

I've always marvelled how reasonable my vet is - I'd pay £35 for a sane day gp appointment and £1000 for an operation the next day! But human medicine is slow and a lot more expensive privately

Donkey’s years of training and expertise?

I don’t resent paying for that. I do resent paying hugely inflated drug prices.

I pay my vetinary practice £55 for a bottle of Metacam every month. I can get the same bottle of Metacam online for £8 with a prescription. My vet charges £45 for a private prescription and a mandatory £55-review every 6 months. I think that is scandalous.

That's appalling. We pay £24 a month for a bottle including prescription costs. We can also collect the same day (within minutes if you go in person).

They were recently taken over by a big corporation. Prior to this they were a great private practice who genuinely seemed to care. They never charged you the consultantion fee and didn't bill for half the stuff they should have when it was a large bill. The last of those original vets has just left so I looked around for a different practice, but it looks like all the ones in my area are now under the same or similar big corporations and charging similar fees.