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Original poster

How much does your vet practice charge just for a prescription?

33 replies

thesunwillout · 11/01/2022 09:03

Old cat needs Loxicom, had consult £40, and 15ml of Loxicom was £27.

Shocked.

I asked how much they charge for just a prescription, so I could buy online.
£19 !!

I'm hoping if I get the prescription I can buy more than 1 lot? Cheapest I can find is about £11 for 15ml.

Is this how it works, that I can get the prescription but stock up. The prescription lasts 6 months. Again not sure if it can be used multiple times in that period.

To be told at reception they can't get it from their suppliers as cheap as online really bloody annoys me.

They charge £27 for a bloody thimble full.

I know I should be thankful that's all dcat needs ATM but what a rip off.

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 11/01/2022 13:16

Ours was 8-9. A vet you trust is worth a lot though.

Orarewedancer · 11/01/2022 13:30

£15. The prescription would usually allow for a certain number of "repeats" so that you could use it for up to 6 months.
It's entirely true though that the cost price to them is higher than the retail price in an online pharmacy due to bulk buying. Also, they've got to make money to cover overheads, wages etc so it's natural to put a mark up on it. I understand it is a big difference in price, but the profit margin looks a lot higher than it will be in reality.

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 11/01/2022 14:37

According to our latest vet bill:

Consultation: £27.
Metacam - £11.08.
Antibiotics - £9.12.

That includes VAT.

Original poster
thesunwillout · 11/01/2022 14:55

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

That's a huge difference in what our vets charge.

That's the sort of difference that pisses me off.

I understand I'm paying for lighting, staffing, overheads, expertise.

I've no other vet's to try as live in rural Devon in a small town.

Loxicom is bloody ibuprofen/gold.

OP posts:
PatriotCanes · 11/01/2022 14:59

£17.
And they charged per animal - even though the prescription was for the same thing so I was expected to pay £51 for 3 animals to get 3 tablets when I'm really sure it would have been easier for them to 1. Stock the stuff themselves or 2. Make 1 prescription for 1 animal to get 9 tablets.

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 11/01/2022 15:07

@thesunwillout yeah, it massively varies from practise to practise.

Ours is a very rural, pragmatic farm vets - the care is excellent, we never have to wait ages for an appointment and they can even see you OOH within thirty minutes.

Our previous vets charged double (if not more) what we pay now and I don't think the care was any better.

Original poster
thesunwillout · 11/01/2022 19:36

@PatriotCanes

£17. And they charged per animal - even though the prescription was for the same thing so I was expected to pay £51 for 3 animals to get 3 tablets when I'm really sure it would have been easier for them to 1. Stock the stuff themselves or 2. Make 1 prescription for 1 animal to get 9 tablets.

😳😲 You win @PatriotCanes

OP posts:
Original poster
thesunwillout · 11/01/2022 19:38

[quote fairylightsandwaxmelts]@thesunwillout yeah, it massively varies from practise to practise.

Ours is a very rural, pragmatic farm vets - the care is excellent, we never have to wait ages for an appointment and they can even see you OOH within thirty minutes.

Our previous vets charged double (if not more) what we pay now and I don't think the care was any better.[/quote]

Unreal, it's very unfair isn't it.

The care at ours is ok but I've nothing to compare it to.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

OP posts:
fairylightsandwaxmelts · 11/01/2022 20:00

That's the position we were in before @thesunwillout.

We went there because they were our local practise (we didn't drive at the time), but we didn't realise how expensive it was until we moved and my current cat had the same issues my old cat had - he got identical treatment and the cost difference was astronomical!

SanFranBear · 11/01/2022 20:19

£16 but always two or three repeats, so definitely a money saver as these were for quite expensive heart meds. I guess it depends what it's for really...

What you might find is not only will it get repeat, but they'll do it for a larger amount ie 30ml. This happened for the repeat Metacam I had for a while - although then there was a shortage of the bottles so I couldn't blooming redeem it anywhere!

Sparklingbrook · 11/01/2022 20:20

£10, sometimes if i have 3 they only charge for 2 though.

Want2beme · 11/01/2022 21:09

I buy Loxicom regularly from vet, €14, no consultation and no prescription.

BigSigh2021 · 11/01/2022 21:22

I'm a vet. We charge for prescriptions because it takes time to do them. Like a doctor or pharmacist, we are using our knowledge to select an appropriate drug, appropriate dosage, consider possible contraindications and side effects, etc.

At my practice, we will happily write a script that can be repeated a few times, or for a larger bottle - whatever is needed to keep you supplied with the drug until the next recommended recheck.

We have to recheck animals as it is our legal duty to ensure that the drug is still appropriate, i.e. is condition worsening/improving? Does animal still need this drug, or a stronger one, or an alternative? Does dose need adjusting? This is different for different conditions.

So for example, we'll see an arthritic dog every 6 months, and will write a script to cover this time period. Hyperthyroid cats, diabetic animals, and those on medication for heart failure would be 3 months if stable. Those on palliative treatment for e.g. cancer would be checked more often.

It is true that the "buying power" of an individual practice is far, far less than that of an online pharmacy which sells thousands of products a day. So they can negotiate a much lower cost price.

This is why I advise everyone to insure their pet from as soon as they get it. To help to cushion finances against the unpredictable nature of your pet's health.

BigSigh2021 · 11/01/2022 21:23

@Want2beme

I buy Loxicom regularly from vet, €14, no consultation and no prescription.
In which country, out of interest?
BigSigh2021 · 11/01/2022 21:25

I'm not saying some vet practice owners aren't overcharging, but many of us charge fairly. We're not all arseholes.

DeathMetalMum · 11/01/2022 21:32

You can take your vet prescription to a regular pharmacy and get them to fill it for you. I'd ring a local independent pharmacy and see what price they offer.

Fredstheteds · 11/01/2022 21:37

£15 for 6 months but my vet couldn’t match the price at all. Not there fault

BigSigh2021 · 11/01/2022 21:40

@DeathMetalMum

You can take your vet prescription to a regular pharmacy and get them to fill it for you. I'd ring a local independent pharmacy and see what price they offer.
Eh? What do you mean? A human pharmacist can't prescribe animal drugs. They aren't qualified to do so!
Want2beme · 12/01/2022 00:12

Ireland. In London vet care used to cost me a fortune . When I came to live in Ireland, I was surprised at the difference in procedure and cost. It's so much cheaper in rural Ireland. About 25 years ago, I remember having to visit an out of hours, (Sunday), vet in London and was charged £250 for the pleasure of being told to visit my own vet the following day, no treatment givenConfused They were part of the same group of vets as well. When I've had to do the same thing here, I've been charged a flat fee of €60. Once the vet didn't even charge an out of hours fee, just charged for the treatment.

DifficultBloodyWoman · 12/01/2022 00:14

£25 for a prescription. Fuck only knows how much to fill the prescription!

Want2beme · 12/01/2022 00:16

You'll find that this is very common practice in Ireland and in Spain. I regularly took my cats vet prescription to the pharmacy in SpainGrin, and you can buy various medical items for cats and dogs from pharmacies in Ireland.

Want2beme · 12/01/2022 00:19

* BigSigh2021*

DeathMetalMum

You can take your vet prescription to a regular pharmacy and get them to fill it for you. I'd ring a local independent pharmacy and see what price they offer.

Eh? What do you mean? A human pharmacist can't prescribe animal drugs. They aren't qualified to do so!

Quote didn't work. My above reply was in answer to this. **

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 12/01/2022 00:29

@BigSigh2021 A lot of the drugs are the same, the animal just needs a smaller dose. My dad's cat had a heart problem and they bought expensive tablets for years from the vet. One of the times they picked up the prescription they discovered the tablets were out of date. Phoned the vet who couldn't replace them with any others at short notice as all were OOD. They suggested my dad go to boots to get the prescription. It cost a fraction of what the vets were charging. The only difference was they had to cut the tablet into 4 doses. They never bought from the vets again.

Lampyshady · 12/01/2022 01:05

@patriotcanes it would be illegal to prescribe 9 tablets for 1 animal when they know 3 are needed for 3 animals-it’s a legal requirement to have the animals correct details on the prescription.

Yes vet costs vary a lot between practices, however wages are the same for pretty much all vets-it’s not like they can go to another job down the road and have a vastly higher salary so they aren’t pocketing the difference/ripping you off. The difference will be due to area/rent being higher, whether the practice is part of a large group that can buy more drugs, or it may just be how their pricing works-some vets will charge more for prescriptions and consultations and less for emergency care and operations whereas some will make consultations cheap but the bill will be higher if hospital treatment is needed etc. very unlikely your vet is trying to rip you off-if they wanted to use their interest and ability for science and medicine to make money they wouldn’t be a vet-they’d be a dentist or doctor or work in the pharmaceutical industries-these salaries are all more than double a Vets salary!

Lonecatwithkitten · 12/01/2022 08:40

[quote Lampyshady]@patriotcanes it would be illegal to prescribe 9 tablets for 1 animal when they know 3 are needed for 3 animals-it’s a legal requirement to have the animals correct details on the prescription.

Yes vet costs vary a lot between practices, however wages are the same for pretty much all vets-it’s not like they can go to another job down the road and have a vastly higher salary so they aren’t pocketing the difference/ripping you off. The difference will be due to area/rent being higher, whether the practice is part of a large group that can buy more drugs, or it may just be how their pricing works-some vets will charge more for prescriptions and consultations and less for emergency care and operations whereas some will make consultations cheap but the bill will be higher if hospital treatment is needed etc. very unlikely your vet is trying to rip you off-if they wanted to use their interest and ability for science and medicine to make money they wouldn’t be a vet-they’d be a dentist or doctor or work in the pharmaceutical industries-these salaries are all more than double a Vets salary![/quote]
@Lampyshady at the current moment it is an employees market there are not enough vets so people are able to move practice easily and ask for more money. Vet costs are set to rise as the costs of staffing a practice are rapidly rising due to the work force shortage.
50% of vets were European and a large number went home. Add in covid leading to huge burn out and loads of people leaving the industry. My practice should be 5.25 full time vet equivalent and is currently 3.26 not able to recruit despite above average pay and excellent working conditions.