Village Vets - prescription charges for worming/flea treatment

[BlackSwan]

I just paid over £100 for a packet of Nexguard (3 months) and 2 tablets of Endoguard.

Nexguard looks like it should cost about £40 max and Endoguard a couple of quid.

This is ridiculous.

What do other people pay? How can I order this basic medication without getting fleeced?

Expensive business being a vet. You could go elsewhere but you may find your local vet goes the way of local shops.

You will be paying a dispensing charge as part of this. Per item. Probably around £30 the two things. You might find your vet has a care plan which covers parasite treatment plus vaccinations, and a couple of free consultations and discount on things. I pay £18 a month for my Lab.

Not sure if it's correct but nexgard is prescription only and would be around £32+ per month and a few pounds for endogard. So it doesn't sound too bad.

I'm on a vet plan and pay £18 per month for all of my dog's flea/worm treatments, also includes booster and kennel cough vaccination, 2 free consultations a year and some other stuff.

I pay £50 for 3 months but for a small dog.

I don't treat for fleas unless we see any - which we never have in over eight years of having outdoor animals.

I buy wormer online - costs less than £20 for a large bottle of Panacur that does all the animals quite easily for about three months.

Interesting. I find the cost of nexguard to be ridiculous and might try this. I am terrified of fleas though, still shuddering after a whole house infestation from a cat 16 years ago. My dog doesn't really have sustained physical interaction with other dogs, but presumably my cat didn't snuggle up with the local strays. I wonder how easily dogs catch fleas...

I have given up with vets after being forced to bring my elderly cat with stress related UTIs to the surgery just to get prescribed flea treatment. I am perfectly capable of weighing him and should be able to obtain the medication without a vet's visit. They charge a small fortune and treat customers like idiots. Flea combs all the way for us now. I will only see a vet in an emergency

I was shocked last week to pay £140 for flea n worm treatments for my two frenchies .

Get the village vet pet plan, it covers flea and worming ect month, annual vaccinations and two free consultations a year.

For a set fee each month. X

Also plus kennel cough vaccine included. X

Goodness, I pay £17 a month to our vets, and it covers so much, all flea and worming treatment (extra if needed)
Teeth,eyes,ear care.
All vaccines and boosters, nurse checks every 3 months, other bits I can't remember off the top of my head. But there is also a substantial discount on any other emergency treatment or medication for illness. And I'll be getting a huge sum off the bill when I get her spayed in a couple of months.

So I'd definitely say well worth it.
But to be honest there are alternatives also on Amazon when in need of treatment fast and they do work. (Just be careful of brands some are known to make your animals unwell or worse)

No idea how some are even allowed to still be on the market.🤔😠

Still far cheaper than that sort of bill every few months 🙈 I'd not be able to keep up.

It seems to me that some vets take the piss and are very much in it for the money. Even putting a dog to sleep costs a lot compared to the price they would pay for the solution.

Some are obviously genuine but some are in it for the profits it would seem

@ClickClack300 with respect, you are not paying for the "solution". You are paying for the vet's (& at least one vet nurse's) time, expertise and (hopefully) compassion and empathy at a really awful time to give your pet the most dignified send off possible.
I will typically spend between 30-60 minutes on a euthanasia appointment, charged at around £60-70. Our standard consultation charge (of which I am usually fully-booked 4-5 per hour) is only slightly less than this, so euthanasia appointments are certainly not the "money maker" that you seem to suggest in terms of cost per professional time. These appointments are often squeezed in as emergencies, and my colleagues will pick up the rest of my pre-booked appointments on top of their own fully booked lists, and I would never ever rush a euthanasia- you will have as much time as you need.
When I move on to my next patient, who might now have been waiting for 30 minutes due to this unforeseen delay, the veterinary nurse that has assisted will spend additional time taking paw prints and hair clippings and preparing your pet for cremation.
The cremation charge varies depending on whether you would like an individual cremation or not, but we pay the cremation fee directly to the pet crematorium and it is not marked up by us at all. We look after your pet at the practice (at cost to us, and no extra cost to yourself) until the pet crematorium collect them, at multiple set times each week.
Obviously the overall cost is cheaper if you choose to take your pet home and bury them yourselves.
I put 3 patients to sleep today, spent a large portion of my day comforting very upset owners, and am comfortable in the knowledge that I did the very best for every one of them. I resent the implication that I am financially motivated- I would have made my practice a substantially higher amount of money today had I seen 15 "normal" consults in the time I did those 3 euthanasias. Luckily I am not on commission and have lovely bosses who would rather I was giving our clients an exceptional service in their time of need.

I work with dogs and my dog is out socialising with multiple different dogs a day - they all travel in my car and in almost five years, I have never once seen a flea!

@ClarkGriswold thank you for doing the kindest thing for peoples' pets.

Nexguard covers lungworm though... and panacur doesn't.
So I registered with a new vet - £20 a month. Didn't cover an eye ointment which he needs which was another £80. Even that seems very steep to me. It wouldn't cost so much for humans! It's a human medication off licence for dogs.

Anyway - it's mostly the flea/tick/worming charge which seems ridiculous to me. It should be available over the counter. When I was growing up (another country) those kinds of medications were cheaply available without prescription. We're being had.

Panacur does cover lungworm @BlackSwan .

"Panacur® Small Animal Oral Suspension is a broad-spectrum wormer for the treatment of roundworms, tapeworms and lungworms in dogs, cats, puppies and kittens."

I stand corrected! I see Nexguard is available in my home country without prescription. May stock up on my next visit

Not sure of the specific website he uses but my dad saves a lot by just getting the prescription from his vet and ordering from an online veterinary pharmacy

Rules for vets in the UK changed a few months ago. We can only prescribe prescription flea and worm treatments after a physical exam now, and we can only set up a repeat prescription for a maximum of a year. Nobody is trying to rip you off if they ask you to come in for an exam, legally we have to.
We can't get the discounts that the big online pharmacies get when buying drugs, because we can't buy the quantities that they buy, so they will often cost more directly from the vet. You can ask for a written prescription and order online if you prefer.

Could you explain why they would force me to bring a cat that suffers stress related UTIs into the surgery to obtain flea treatment. I was able to get antibiotics for for my DD over the phone for tonsillitis , so why not flea treatment for a cat?

It's against RCVS regulations now, vets in the UK just aren't allowed to do it. The rules changed at the end of last year than we had a short extension to early this year because it was so difficult for most vets bring in the changes. The rationale behind it is to make sure prescription antimicrobials are being used appropriately and to try to reduce build up of resistance.
After they have been examined they can be set up on the system at the time to have repeats as needed for up to 12 months, if that's appropriate for the patient, then they need another exam. It's frustrating for vets too but we have no way round it.
We're not allowed to prescribe antibiotics without an exam either so we couldn't prescribe in the same way that your doctor has for your daughter.

I subscribe to Itch Pet . 8.99 turns up once a month and no fleas or ticks . My spaniel is her own tick and flea magnet . Every three months I added a working tablet in and that month costs me £15.99 for the flea and worm treatment