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.

As far as the cost of meds, vets are not allowed to prescribe human meds if there is a licensed equivalent for the species being treated, they have to prescribe the licensed product, that is not their choice.

Lots of people conveniently ignore things like this. Vets have to follow specific guidance and legislation - they're not just free to do whatever they want.

I think the bulk of your expense for the dental will be x-rays. I've got a quote for my cat and the first x-ray is £245 and any subsequent images are £98.

@fieldsofbutterflies the animal equivalents can be bought online fairly cheaply. Mark up at vets is usually about 4 times retail price. That is on top of consultation and any treatment fees.

Yep, and as I said, you're always free to buy online with a prescription if you object to what your vet charges.

If it's an emergency and your pet needs treatment then and there, then you can ask for enough to tide you over, plus a prescription for the rest. Or you can see the extra costs it as part of the cost of emergency treatment for your animal.

Or you can moan, I guess.

I took one rabbit into the vet and the vet quoted me an extortionate amount to remove the lump under anaesthetic and biopsy for possible cancer.
I phoned around and managed to find an elderly vet, sadly now retired. He took one look at the rabbit, said it was obviously a cyst. He squeezed it, got the pus out and told us to soak it twice a day in salt water. He quoted research carried out at Edinburgh University showing this was more effective than expensive creams.
The treatment was cheap and far less invasive, so much kinder. The rabbit fully recovered.
Too many vet practices now over treat.

@fieldsofbutterflies or you can moan? Is that your reply to blatant profiteering?
You do know there is an official investigation happening for a reason?

@NoisySnail exactly- our local independent vet sadly died, now we only have a conglomerate who charge more than double for a basic consultation, and he didn't have the ability to source anything in bulk or have a blanket insurance policy etc.

And he wouldn't upsell you an expensive cremation service for your hamster. I worked in a vet's at the weekend as a teenager; all the dead cats and dogs go in the same giant freezer.

I also blame TV programmes like that bionic vet guy- keeping animals going for their owners at massive expense. It's not dignified or ethical.

My neighbour has now found a random indie vet though so we're going to try that next. There's an investigation for a reason.

@MerryMaidens Exactly! Independent vets should be more expensive if we are looking at cost.
And the old fashioned vets would not recommend expensive treatment with low chances of success. They tried to minimise suffering. I think some of the treatment given out now is animal cruelty.

It is worth shopping around and speaking to different vets. When we got our puppy we knew we would have to travel to France within the year after getting him so when registering enquired into the cost for an animal health certificate for travel. My in-law's vets quoted us £280! We then got a quote from the independent vet walking distance to us which I thought was going to be super expensive because it's very boutiquey and smart and it was only £90!
We have a vet in France so have now managed to get him a European pet passport and he gets his rabies jab over there and it is so much cheaper even than our good value home vet. It opened our eyes to the difference in costs between different vets!

That seems like a lot, I think it varies regionally but we’re in the NW and have just paid £850 per cat to have all their teeth bar fangs removed. That included two types of pain medication post-op and a check up a week later.

We go to Vets4Pets which is a massive chain. We’ve only had good experiences with them - the staff are all very kind and caring towards our cats, take the time to talk us through things, etc. They’re also completely unphased when our cats hiss at them which is very different to the posh vet my friend takes hers too!!

I think it's a lot more complex than just "blatant profiteering" - you clearly disagree and I really can't be bothered to keep going round and round in circles with you, lol.

You've made your point well enough.

Our independent local vet charges £210 for an emergency vet consultation (before 11pm). That’s just to get in the door. There is one emergency vet within 5 miles and this is a very populous area. It’s just hyperinflation on top of already expensive private medical services. A private GP appointment is about one third of that price.

The CMA don’t launch investigations unless there is potential funny business going on. The behaviour of chain vets (and their pricing) will have whole market effects I’m sure.

It's a total rip off

I think this may be the problem:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/06/vet-who-really-profits-from-poorly-pets