Extortionate Vets Bills

[Coco1379]

My three-and-a half year old cat has just had his annual check and vaccinations, and I’ve been told he has to have two molar teeth extracted - at a cost of £626. The after care medicine and painkillers cost £78 - but online they are £17. Many pet drugs are excessively expensive versions of human drugs, so why are vets charging so much? This is a terrific exploitation of pet lovers, and I see the Competition and Marketing Authority is revewing vet fees, as 60% of the country’s vets are owned by 6 major conglomerations. Some online replies to this overcharging say say vets have to pay more for their drugs than the online costs, but if there is a large company owning so many practices, they should be able to offer economies of scale purchases. When I queried the cost the receptionist said she’d just had to pay £15 for a roll of disposable paper but £600+ for tooth extraction?
I know we have a higher standard of pet care now, but back in the day my cats never had vaccinations, only had flea treatment when needed, wandered in and out for basic cat food. We even treated abscesses with saline swabs and almost never saw a vet yet they all lived to a ripe old age.

Have you tried ringing different vets for estimates?
When I needed one of my dogs PTS I rang two of the vets who I'm registered with and went with the cheaper.
Recently my small (3.6kg so not much bigger than a lot of cats) dog needed some dental work.
I phoned around and asked for an estimate for a scale and polish, also stating that I knew any treatment would be on top.
One vet was £600, the one I'd used for the PTS was £390.
Pets at Home, who I'd always thought expensive quoted £280 for S&P, and £380 if work was needed.
When went to pay the bill was £210, including one tooth extraction and they clipped his nails while he was under GA.
Anyway, that's the TLDR way of saying it might pay to shop around.
However I think (can't say 100% I'm right) that if you're lucky enough to be registered with a sole trader, not corporate, vet that you can't stay on their books if you register else where.

Do you know how much human drugs cost? I think people find vet bills so high because they're not used to paying for their drugs here.
it takes a long time to train as a vet, and the costs of the nursing and support staff have to be paid for as well.
It's the cost of owning a pet.

Absolutely shop around, my local independent is cheaper than Vets for Pets. That said, dental work for my cat probably ten years ago was £200 and yet castration of a Labrador with medication and pain relief to go was £216 three weeks ago. Maybe dental work takes a long time and more care and skill than losing your testicles.

Vet fees are so expensive. My dog has had to have two MRIs since December and one surgery for a slipped disc (fell down stairs) . He's also got to have a further quite minor surgery on his ear in a few months time... Total cost £20,000!! He's only five and none of the conditions are life threatening or affecting his quality of life once treated , however for someone who couldn't afford the bills/didn't have insurance it would be a hard choice.
Luckily pet insurance is covering about 14k of our costs.

We pay a little more for insurance because it covers dental work, which seems to be very expensive for animals. I assume there's not a wealth of animal dentists which would push prices up

Also for repeat meds we pay an admin fee for a prescription and buy online

I feel your pain. My girl had to have 6 teeth out and it cost £977. She also needed ear drops that the vet charged £50, but are online for £25. My vet is very sensible and gave me a repeat prescription for 6 months worth.

I know we have a higher standard of pet care now, but back in the day my cats never had vaccinations, only had flea treatment when needed, wandered in and out for basic cat food. We even treated abscesses with saline swabs and almost never saw a vet yet they all lived to a ripe old age

You’re answering your own question. Standards are higher. If you don’t want to give your cats dental treatment, as in the past, then you don’t have to!

I know we have a higher standard of pet care now, but back in the day my cats never had vaccinations, only had flea treatment when needed, wandered in and out for basic cat food. We even treated abscesses with saline swabs and almost never saw a vet yet they all lived to a ripe old age.

Nobody's forcing you to do any of those things, though. My cats aren't vaccinated beyond kitten-hood and they only ever see the vets if it's something we can't manage at home with OTC medication, rest etc.

If you don't feel the treatment is necessary you can decline. If you want to buy your medication online instead then just pay for the prescription. If you think the £600+ is too expensive, you're free to shop around.

Our vet recently tried to get us to pay £100+ a month for injections for our arthritic cat. We chose to stick to painkillers for £20/month instead and he's doing just fine. Vets can only recommend - they can't force you.

Dental work is terribly expensive for cats because you can't just ask them to hold their mouths open - anesthetic, recovery time etc etc all factor in. Also, bad mouth hygiene can often cause a cat to live less long because they get infections which can eventually cause kidney disease. I just lost a nearly 21 year old cat who had almost all her teeth out when she was about 12 (at astronomical expense, comparable to what the OP is paying) and my vet says that her great longevity was helped by her toothless mouth. But I feel your pain, for sure - it's an awful lot of money.

I know we have a higher standard of pet care now, but back in the day my cats never had vaccinations, only had flea treatment when needed, wandered in and out for basic cat food. We even treated abscesses with saline swabs and almost never saw a vet yet they all lived to a ripe old age

It's more than that. The way we treat pets has changed. Many seem to treat them like children rather than pets. When I was growing up if you took an old dog to the vet and it needed an operation that cost £2,000 the vet would advise that it has had a good life and it was put to sleep.

Nowadays you hear of people spending thousands and thousands of pounds on operations and medication after operation for a 16 year old dog which will at best live another year or two.

I agree that vets bills are a huge expense, but then I think we're lulled into thinking medical treatment or medication isn't that expensive because we have the NHS.
It's not just the cost of the treatment that you're paying for, it's skills of the people involved in giving the treatment, which can be expensive to attain and keep, and their ability to monitor and react correctly if something goes wrong, it's the room it's done in and the equipment & electricity used, the cost of the room and equipment being sterile and fit for purpose, the receptionist that books you in and the computer system they do it on, the nurse who monitors the animal while the vet operates and then monitors recovery, and their knowledge/advice when handing back to you afterwards. Then the medication used to sedate, anaesthetise and recover.
Treatment, medication, training and equipment have all improved and alongside that so has the cost.

My dog is barely bigger than a cat, she's just had abdominal surgery that cost nearly £700 with an independent vet that was quoted at over £1000 elsewhere when I checked for reference, I have insurance but due to her age and then excess I paid just short of £200 for my part of the bill. So although yes it's expensive, and some clearly are profiteering, I think it's an expensive service to deliver as well.

I read an article about vet fees and it really annoyed me. 1 person complaining vets fees came to £5000 but their insurance only covered £4000.... this isn't the vets fault which insurance you choose. Another saying that some prebiotics cost 4x more from vets than pets at home. But im pretty sure the price at the vets included paying to see the vet as I have just had same product from vets and paid slightly less. I have also bought from pets at home and realised although it looks the same it isnt

Prescriptions for animals aren’t subsidised like NHS prescriptions, which is why they seem like a lot.

Please all who have experienced crippling and in my opinion criminally extortionate rip off vets bills sign here
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/656809

I was recently charged £100 for a guinea pig UTI. Examined my pig 5 minutes. Given literally 5ml of pain relief and antibiotics. I’ve looked up the price to buy them direct online (sadly only with a vet prescription). A 20ml bottle is £7. So the vet absolutely ripped us off and they do to the majority of pet owners. Sadly this is why millions of pets are dying long slow painful deaths from illnesses/ even broken bones that people can’t afford to get treated OR simply put down at the first hurdle. It has to stop.

But what do you think the actual vet practice’s overheads are for 5 minutes?

Obviously the vet's overheads are higher than that- but as a comparison some of the specialists we see privately for one of our children would be about £100 an HOUR. Not the 5 minutes we got last time the vet poked the cat and said he was 'probably fine'.

I refuse to believe animal private healthcare has higher overheads than human healthcare. Vets aren't even paid that well for the length of training so the PE companies are rinsing their staff too- it's not going to their expertise.

My little cat (ex feral and came to me at around 4 years old - so no chance of preventative dental care) needed total dental clearance, costs were around £700 - but I’m assuming the bulk of the cost is in anaesthesia and post op care, rather than number of teeth removed.

Thankfully my vets is a small independent and the wonderful vet always enquires who you’re insured with before quoting as he has a feel for which insurers will cover what costs, and will advise to get pre authorisation before hand, so if the insurer won’t cover the costs and I’ll be paying out of pocket then he will amend his quote to make it more affordable for me. But then he knows I only adopt rescue cats and I’m often following on trying to treat expensive problems due to prior neglect so perhaps that influences his willingness to reduce costs.

You weren't "ripped off." Those are the prices for a consultation fee and 2 lots of meds. The costs of running a veterinary surgery are immense and have to be factored in, in everything they do.

No, they are ripping us off. Did you read how much the actual product being prescribed cost from the manufacturer? £8 for 20ml bottle they charged me £25 for a third of this. So actual cost: £2.80 to them- they charge me 8 times that. Of course that’s not being ripped off??!! 🙄

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/12/uk-vet-pricing-competition-and-markets-authority-cma

https://www.mouthymoney.co.uk/spending/private-equity-investors-are-the-reason-your-vet-bills-are-so-high/

£16 of that was VAT.

The practice probably costs £25 an hour before they’ve even turned a light on or paid any wages.

I dread to think how much insurance and
practice licences are. They will also have to pay to be part of a governing body. Then there’s regular training, which they will be obliged to do.

Commercial premises are not usually maintained by the landlord, so any repairs and maintenance are at the cost of the tenant.

There is no cap on commercial energy rates.

Businesses aren’t charities. Nor do they exist just to provide services. They are also there to make a profit.

Online pharmacies can charge the prices they do because they have the ability to buy in bulk.

A pharmacy running out of a massive warehouse can store thousands of units and benefit from the corresponding discount they get from buying in bulk.

A vet practise can maybe order and store 50 bottles at a time, so they pay more per unit.

Vet prices also cover their training, their time and their expertise, as well as all the overheads that come with running a practise, insurance, professional registrations, staffing costs, electricity, heating, internet, paying for on-call staff and 24-7 care for patients.

None of that comes cheap.

If you object to vet prices then by all means pay for a prescription and order online, or use your own expertise to treat your pets.

It costs more to see a vet for 5 minutes with an animal than have a private GP appointment. It is because of the conglomerates making lots of money.
It used to be all independent vets who used to charge reasonable prices.

And the prices of the vet we use went up vastly overnight when it was taken over by a conglomerate. The costs were the same, the conglomerate simply wanted to make lots of money.