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Expensive Vet Treatment - or quite reasonable?

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Sodapops

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Hi there,
Would like some advice. I made a post regarding my sow JJ and the fact that yesterday i noticed a fair amount of dried blood just inside her ear. I cleaned it as much as i could (without hurting her or making it any worse) using a salt water solution. As i thought she had some sort of infection i made an appointment with a vets in my area (3 of my piggies are registered with the PDSA - but as your only allowed 3 animals registered i was forced to go private).

Anyhow i took her down this evening and the vet seemed to think that she's cut the inside of her ear somehow and had irritated it further by possibly scratching it due to it being rather uncomfortable - thus creating an abscess type wound. He gave her an anti-inflammatory injection and prescribed her 0.2mls of baytril twice daily. He also gave me a small amount of Avipro plus.

The total cost was:

18.99 consultation fee
14.08 for the baytril and anti-inflammatory injection

they forgot to give me the Avipro plus - and after i reminded them just before leaving i was told that i owe them another 6.71 and to settle up when i bring her back next tuesday

the total cost for her meds was over 20.00 - dies this sound a little expensive for what she was given?

When i took Homer to the PDSA for his head tilt i was charged 2.84 for his course of baytril - and when i was there a person i was talking to who had a cat that wasn't eating (due to teeth problems) was charged 3.84 for an anti-inflammatory injection (which i presume was similar to what they gave JJ today).

Ive checked online and can get a 100g sized bottle of Avipro plus for 6.45 - ive just weighed what i was given (tub and all) on my digital scales and it weighs 19g

Should i look elsewhere - or does this cost sound about right? She's got to go back next tuesday as they first want to get rid of the inflammation and any infection so that can find out the exact course.

thanks in advance :)
 
I'm not sure of the cost of Baytril (thankfully its been a while since I've had to use it) but the consult is cheap. Its nearly £30 for a consult where I am. Hope JJ gets better soon x
 
It doesn't sound too bad to me. Doesn't the PDSA charge discounted prices anyway? I thought they did, but not too sure. x
 
The consultation fee was actually the cheapest i found - but i was more interested to know whether the cost of her meds seemed reasonable?

Like i said Homer's course of Baytril cost me 2.84 from the PDSA - but i'm wondering whether they do 'special rates' and that's why JJ's meds seemed quite a bit more expensive. I mean if i can buy the Avipro plus for 6.50 - then why am i being charged 6.71 for a tub that has less than quarter of the contents?

This is the first time i've been anywhere re. vet treatment for my piggies - so ive only got the two practices to compare to @)
 
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PDSA do special rates and then rely on donations. I know that when I had my first hamster I made a small donation out of my pocket money to them when they put him to sleep and then did a local door to door collection things to raise more money.
 
it sounds about right to me, but i would defo buy my avipro plus off the net in future, hope your pigs better soon x
 
because they are a vets and they add their cut onto the price so they can make some money themselfs, what your best doing is asking for a prescription and buying off the internet, you then have your prescription to post off to the company and only pay internet price, think there is a £5 charge for prescriptions from the vet thoughxxx
 
Hi sodapops, do you mind if I ask which vets that is......my two aren't registered with a vet, but my cats and dog are (Manor). PM me if you prefer.

Tracey
 
The vet was the Orchard Veterinary Centre - Church st Oldbury.

I'm not sure about them yet - there were a couple of occasions where JJ was screaming (i.e when he was wiping the inside of her ear) and my daughter was really worried by this and his exact words were 'guinea pigs are the babies of the animal world they scream over everything - you only have to touch them and they scream'

In my case the vet looked inside the ear with the wound and that was the sub-total of her checkup - he didn't even look in her other ear! There was also mention of an operation to remove the abscess/growth if the Baytril doesn't have any effect - that worried me slightly as i want to find out the cause!

It was the only vets within my area that i could get her in to at such short notice - i guess i'll see what happens when i take her back next week :)
 
only one of my pigs has ever screamed at the vets and he was in pain with his bladder, that sounds horrible
 
i took crumble to the vet on saturday and its 16.66 for a consultation and i paid 9.53 for 2 injections and some science recovery.

just paid out 7.38 for baytril and metacam i think it is to.

your's does seem expensive and not as if they knew what they were doing. hope she is better soon.
 
JoJo's GA was almost £50 on Monday...I am not sure why, he's a guinea pig, I know he's a bit fat but he didn't need that much!

Everything is just going up in price :(
 
I would say that's quite reasonable for the consultation and the meds. At the end of the day, a vetinary surgery is a business and they need to make money. These things are expensive and will probably get more expensive with the way the economy is. I've heard of folk having to pay upto £50 for just a consultation in normal working hours. Perhaps if your piggy is going to need the Avipro plus for a while, you could get some off the internet, instead of having to pay for a repeat prescription of it.
 
At the end of the day i'll pay whatever it takes to ensure ALL my piggies are ok. In terms of the Avipro Plus - i might buy some anyhow to keep in the guinea pig first aid kit - but JJ is back at the vets next week so i guess she'll only need it for as long as she's on the Baytril
 
That cost sounds about right. Both times J got hay stuck in his eye it cost nearly £40 (each time) for the consultation and meds, plus a further consultation fee for follow-up appointments. Then when he got hay stuck deep in his ear canal (don't ask how, but it totally baffled two vets) it cost £68 and this included consultation, meds, GA and overnight stay. Vets make loads of money on meds, its ok for a short course of meds but anything longer its worth getting the prescription and buying online.
 
Thanks janew - that's interesting info er. long term meds - i'll keep that in mind (like the Avipro Plus - i'll buy online next time) :)
 
Flippin eck my vet charges me £7 consultation fee whenever I've been with a guinea pig and the last time I went when Peppa was ill he gave her an anti inflamatory injection and the whole visit cost £7.
Mind you my vets is really resonable anyway when my puppy had a stomach complaint he only charged me for the medicine.
 
I judge my vet to fairly expensive but I am happy to pay it as they are excellent and the care is second to none. The vets are several miles away and there are much closer vets but again because of the level of care offered I am happy to do this.

\but I appreciate that this is simply not practical for others.
 
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