What do your vets charge...

[genesis92]

I've become increasingly annoyed at how much my local vets are charging for everything, but yesterday really took the piss.

One of my cats has to be on lifelong daily medication, that I buy online. I've been told I have to have a 6 monthly medication checks for them to carry on prescribing these tablets. He had his medication check yesterday, it was less than 5 minutes. Consisted of vet looking at cat, using a stethoscope and asking a couple of questions. That cost me £80. I will then have to pay another £20 admin fee for the prescription.

So just for the pleasure of buying the medicine I've already had to fork out £100. That's before I've paid for the medication. It's daylight robbery.

I was just wondering how other areas of the country compare? I'm so angry it's so expensive to take care of your animals. I was expecting the medication check to cost around £40/£50 maximum

Well I live in the north and I highly recommend animal trust vets there’s a few of them about. They actually are a normal vet but with a slight charity element everybody’s entitled to go there the reason I say that is because they do not charge consultation fees.
They also have a thing where for your pet? If you pay £19 a month for my dog I get medication without any admin fees so I’m saving a lot of money on drugs so I needed steroids. They only charged me £1 for them that also includes 10% off operations and 10% off other things plus you’re allowed two free lab tests a year.

Just had a look at Animal Trust and found out that majority of their practices are in the north some in Wales, Yorkshire and near the Midlands

Thank you - yes unfortunately I live in Cornwall and don't have much choice re vets in my local area

Shame I don’t suppose you live in an area where there’s a lot of second house ownership and people with money because I find that like everything prices seem to go up if they think they can charge it

Do you have a Pets at Home? I found them slightly less expensive than some of the independent vets.

I have the same issue with my dog, his condition won't change, it's purely money making and all the vets here do it

The under care regulations require a clinical assessment to be carried every 6 months to continue prescribing medication.

That's awful OP 😔

I don't live in the UK but my vet charges €40 per visit plus whatever meds they need usually Kloppy requiring antibiotics after a fight or accident 🙄

My girlcat recently had all her teeth removed, she was kept in overnight and when I collected her in the morning I was expecting to take out a bank loan but was only charged €130!

There's been a change in regulations which requires vets to examine animals to allow them to prescribe. Its not your vet being unreasonable it's your vets adhering to rules that could lead to them being struck off the register if they didn't abide by them.

Any service requires a fee, be this doctor, dentist lawer or vet.

I had all this with my guinea pigs with their repeat prescriptions. I could have bought a very nice car with all the £ ive spent at the vets the past few years. Its £63 per pig at my vets just to walk through the door. No advice unfortunately we love our babies so we pay.

Ouch @PollyCreo that's a lot! Where are you? We've just paid 310€ for an ultrasound, bloods and 4-weeks of medication, including the obligatory homeopathic tablets, in Germany.

Whoops. Quick edit to add that that was for a small dog, not a cat.

I work for a vets (over 20 years) and over the years I’ve defended vets prices. Over heads are expensive. However the last few years it’s got ridiculous! I cannot justify the price to clients at all.
Vets get paid a lot and their managers also get paid a huge sum of money!

Unfortunately having a pet is a luxury nowadays.

The only way to beat the system is for
people to stop buying pets!

Clients ask me what pets I have and I say none - because I cannot afford the vet bills.

I thought the €130 for teeth removal wasn't bad, I've seen posters on here being charged nearly £1k for the same op in the UK. That vet is an old skool type guy - the one who charges €40 for a visit is a young vet with a fancy surgery.

I'm in Cyprus and we have a huge problem here with the feral cat population and the spread of FIV etc. Charities do their best with the TNR programme and trying to educate but unfortunately many locals just allow cats to breed and breed.

I don't begrudge the medicine check, just the cost of it

Thanks for your response. I've had my cats for over 7 years and I've noticed the cost going up exponentially last couple of years. I appreciate having a pet is somewhat of a luxury, it's just so much more expensive now than when I first got my cats.

Doesn't help my vets have built and moved into the most oversized, ostentatious building ever and that's probably why they're charging so much for simple check ups. I'd much rather not have the posh OTT building and pay a fairer price for treatments.

My oldest cat has to have six monthly blood tests for his metacam - it costs £64 total which includes an appointment, a blood test and a bottle of Metacam.

An arm and a leg!

My vet charged £50 for a bottle of steroid ear drops. That were £21 on line. The vet gave me a repeat prescription for 6 months for £20 and I got them online, it was much cheaper. The reason for the price difference was apparently the vet doesn't buy them in bulk.,

My dog was unwell one night on holiday in the Scottish highlands, we phoned a local vet in the very early hours of the morning who told us to bring him in. They opened up the practice, gave our dog a full examination and an injection (turns out he just had cramp from all the walking 😂) I thought it was going to bankrupt me…. It was £35!!!!!!!! I was so shocked 😳 vets definitely over charge

Our cat hurt her leg and we were charged £70 for the examination, metcam, antibiotics, cone of shame and pillpopper. I think that was reasonable. We are in SE London and our vet is known for being on the cheaper side. She's a lovely old school type vet. The actual practice is a bit run down but the care we have had with our cat has been first class.

Our local village vet is really reasonable and is an independent practice.
Absolutely no frills just basic care.
My dog had sedation, 4 teeth removed, oral clean and metcalm .The bill was £150 ! Thought that was very reasonable.
The vets in our local town are ridiculously expensive and this procedure would have been nearer £500 .
Unfortunately teeth are never covered by pet insurance

that price is very cheap, you’re so lucky having access to an independent vet practice. Just to point out some insurers do cover dental costs. Petplan paid for both my dogs dental extractions, one of which was over£1000,