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£225 For An X-ray?!

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hillwalker2004

New Born Pup
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Hello all,

Archie is a 5 year old boar who has had a stubborn UTI infection before but this time a course of Baytril over 10 days has not done the trick and he is no better. He clearly had a lot of blood in his urine but upon the second visit the visible blood has disappeared but was told that under the microscope some specks were still visible. The baytril dose is 2 x 0.25ml daily. The vet was unable to detect any bladder stones but has recommended an x-ray to rule out the possibility. This makes perfect sense but we were shocked at the estimated cost:

- General Anesthetic (only if required) = £93
- x-ray = £85
- 1 x hospitalisation = £48

Potential total £225

Obviously there is a question over whether GA is required but to be honest I'm a bit shocked that it comes to this amount and am concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg. First consultation cost £68 and the second one £32 so it has already cost £100 before the xray!

Can someone assure me that the cost is normal and reflects the going rate?

Thanks in advance!
 
yes, that seems about right to be honest. i would recommend going to an exotics vets though, as they will beable to try a better treatment than a course of baytril which isn't the best one for this kind of problem. also ten days won't be enough to clear an infection and allow the bladder walls time to heal properly. there is a vet locator on the home page so hopefully you will have an exotics vet near you.

was your piggy on metacam aswell during treatment? this is really important as it reduces inflammation and provides pain relief.

i am currently going through this with my piggy mollie! she hasn't had it before though but if you would like to see the treatment given by an exotics vet then you can check that out.

going to an exotics vet may mean they can try a better treatment plan and then decide whether urine cultures and xrays are needed. good luck :)

eta: it takes the bladder walls weeks to heal. also regular vets are not trained to treat exotics like guinea pigs. they know the basics but going straight to a specialist is, in my opinion, the best thing you can do to get the very best treatment :)
 
thanks for the reply. Yes on 1 x 0.25ml of metacam although to be honest I cant see any visible difference it makes. It was the same when he had mites, it possibly gives him the relief, just that it doesnt seem very obvious!
 
hillwalker2004 said:
thanks for the reply. Yes on 1 x 0.25ml of metacam although to be honest I cant see any visible difference it makes. It was the same when he had mites, it possibly gives him the relief, just that it doesnt seem very obvious!
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that metacam dose is very low and won't do much at all. especially from an inflammation point. it takes an adequate/higher dose at least initially to really bring down the swelling and inflammation. then the dose can be lowered for the rest of the course to continue with the remaining inflammation :)
 
Hi :wel:to the forum..

This does sound a bit steep to us, as recently we had one of our piggies X-rayed due to an UTI which cost us £110 which included X-ray General Anaesthetic and recovery time at the vets. The General Anaesthetic cost does seem excessive along with the Hospitalisation..

Have a look at the forums Vet locator - https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-vet-locator/

In the meantime can you please add your location to your profile as it helps fellow members give any answers to questions you may have that may be area/country specific. This can be done by clicking on your username, then personal details, then add location......
 
Thanks duly done - Tamworth in Staffordshire. That was why I thought it was steep, many people seem to be suggesting £100-£150 on the forum, or putting it another way I cant really see anyone paying £220!

Whilst his squeaking is as it was when he first got the infection he is weeing pretty normally to be honest (albeit with pain). Having said that I've just double checked when we first took him, it was actually on the 5th May so he will have been on antibiotics for 2 weeks tomorrow.

The other thing we have noticed over the last few months is the amount he drinks - between 150-200ml a day at the moment but the vet did not seem particularly concerned.
 
In order to Xray to rule out stones in a guinea pig, the vet would need to take two Xrays - one from above (dorsoventral) and one from the side (lateral). This means you will be charged for two Xray plates so the cost may increase from what you have been quoted if a second plate is added. Whilst it is relatively easy to see bladder stones in a dorsoventral Xray - if the stones are in the urethra (tube leading from the bladder) or ureters (the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder) instead then this is often only spotted in a lateral Xray.
It is almost impossible to take a lateral xray with the legs positioned properly so as not to block the tubes unless the piggie is given an anaesthetic (should be able to do this with a slight whiff of gas).

I would therefore strongly recommend that you ensure the vet is indeed going to take both views otherwise you could be wasting your money. It may be that it is their intention to take views hence why you have been quoted £85 for the Xray

As to the costs you have been quoted - I know my vets are secondary referral exotics vets for the whole of the south east so charge more than other vets in the area. However a first consult is about £50, and followup is about £28, and their prices for GA/Xray in Dec last year were approx £70 for GA, £45 for the first plate and £35 for the second plate. I would only pay a hospitalisation fee of approx £50 if the pig was not well eough to go home the same day and had to be kept in overnight.

So unless your vets are extremely prestigious exotics vets then I would say the costs are rather higher than I would expect.
 
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Judging by the fact that I dont think there is actually a resident vet at the practice (!) I dont think they are prestigious exotics specialists!
 
I don't think there is an exotic vet in Tamworth to be honest. I've been round a few in the South Staffs/East Staffs/West Midlands...cor I get around a lot!
 
My Bumble went off to a referral exotics again two weeks ago who is fab (she has piggies of her own ) and has spayed 2 of my old ladies- with her its £26 for a consult £35 for an ultrasound and similar to Pebble with £45 for a 1st x ray plate and £35 for the second - a hospitalisation overnight is £22 - so costs can vary widely - My other vets charged me £22 last week for a consult (£16) 25 days worth of septrin and the aspiration of an abscess - so it does pay to research - might not help you now, but in the future - good luck.
 
hillwalker2004 said:
Thanks duly done - Tamworth in Staffordshire. That was why I thought it was steep, many people seem to be suggesting £100-£150 on the forum, or putting it another way I cant really see anyone paying £220!

Whilst his squeaking is as it was when he first got the infection he is weeing pretty normally to be honest (albeit with pain). Having said that I've just double checked when we first took him, it was actually on the 5th May so he will have been on antibiotics for 2 weeks tomorrow.

The other thing we have noticed over the last few months is the amount he drinks - between 150-200ml a day at the moment but the vet did not seem particularly concerned.
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i'd pay it for an exotics vet, but not a standard vet. it depends how well they know you aswell i find. when we first started going to our vets, we were charged properly for everything. once we had been going a while we started to get discounts here and there and still do. so it could be them telling you what the max charges would be.
 
Pebble said:
In order to Xray to rule out stones in a guinea pig, the vet would need to take two Xrays - one from above (dorsoventral) and one from the side (lateral). This means you will be charged for two Xray plates so the cost may increase from what you have been quoted if a second plate is added. Whilst it is relatively easy to see bladder stones in a dorsoventral Xray - if the stones are in the urethra (tube leading from the bladder) or ureters (the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder) instead then this is often only spotted in a lateral Xray.
It is almost impossible to take a lateral xray with the legs positioned properly so as not to block the tubes unless the piggie is given an anaesthetic (should be able to do this with a slight whiff of gas).

I would therefore strongly recommend that you ensure the vet is indeed going to take both views otherwise you could be wasting your money. It may be that it is their intention to take views hence why you have been quoted £85 for the Xray

As to the costs you have been quoted - I know my vets are secondary referral exotics vets for the whole of the south east so charge more than other vets in the area. However a first consult is about £50, and followup is about £28, and their prices for GA/Xray in Dec last year were approx £70 for GA, £45 for the first plate and £35 for the second plate. I would only pay a hospitalisation fee of approx £50 if the pig was not well eough to go home the same day and had to be kept in overnight.

So unless your vets are extremely prestigious exotics vets then I would say the costs are rather higher than I would expect.
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glad you mentioned this about the xrays because ours use a whiff of gas to take them so they can view from two positions. i always wonder whether that happens when some vets offer conscious xrays. i don't see how it could and like you say, the two different views are really important.
 
Just a quick update - I took Archie to another vet for a fresh look. He felt the abdomen and said it felt stiff (cant think of the actual word used) and felt that its likely to be a bladder stone or tumour. He didnt feel that an x-ray would be all that beneficial as its likely to be one or the other so Archie is booked in for an op this Friday to take a look and see whats going on. I think his condition is starting to go downhill now, so hope its not too late.

I know one or two people might raise eyebrows with going straight for the op without x-ray first but it was something I talked about at length with the vet and ultimately it was my decision.

Eyebrows were raised about the £220 quote for the x-ray at the other vets - he didnt quite understand what the hospitalisation cost was for and asked surely thats it include the op afterwards - i have the blurb printed out and it most certainly was for the x-ray only.

Cost of the op is to be no more than £150 worst case, possibly around the £120 mark including post op medicine.
 
Bad news. Over the last 24 hours his condition has deteriorated significantly. We woke up today on the day of the op to find him on his side fitting, eyes sunk, whimpering with his legs shaking. Really distressing to see and never thought as a grown man of 33 would burst in tears over it all.

He went at the vets who gave him fluids which I was told made him perk up a bit and we decided to go for the op as the worst case scenario was he would die anyway. Just been called to say that they opened the bladder which and there was no stone or growth but his urethra was blocked with lots of grit and they were unable to clear it so we put him to sleep.
xx
 
I'm so sorry for your loss, Popcorn free little one! xx
 
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