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Vet bills, through the roof?

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cavykind

I'll begin by saying that I appreciate vets have huge overheads and that I agree if we can't afford vet bills we shouldn't have pets.

But...aren't they expensive. when we had little Alfie in the vets yesterday, our receptionist mentioned that consultations had just gone up to £18.53 for a small animal.
Like many of us, I can treat small, general problems at home, but never waver or hesitate if I need a vet. Sadly I am too far away from the CCT to seek treatment there...so we have to get on with it and see our vet.

I worry that so many people on some small animal forums delay vet treatment due to lack of money...or a reluctance to spend it :-\

After spending £40.52 on Alfie on Wednesday, I gave my night out up...plus I wanted to keep an eye on him ;)

Barbara
 
My vet is very good and very cheap. He checks out a lump etc free of charge, and his prices are very reasonable. We are very lucky.
 
I used to get charged £14 per pig just for checkups but I now have a brilliant vet that charges something different everytime you go but never more than £10 for consult and treatments.... I've even had no charge on occasions.....

On the flip side though, they no longer do out of hours surgery and it's with an external body that charge £80 min! :o
 
yes, that's true with mine too! Roger has often not charged me :)
He's great - and an excellent vet/ surgeon/ anaesthetist!
 
£80 per minute :o I'm hoping that's a typing error LOL

That is extortionate >:(
 
it's great that some have such reasonable and good vets :)

It's also true that you get what you pay for as far as out of hours services go. We pay more, but we do get to see vets from our own practice out of hours and I like that. For example when I ahd to have my precious Sandy (dog) pts out of hours (midnight) I saw a vet I knew and who had treated her regularly.

Barbara
 
bev said:
£80 per minute :o I'm hoping that's a typing error LOL

That is extortionate >:(

I'd guess that's out of hours call out?

Barbara
 
£80 per minute I'm hoping that's a typing error LOL

I meant £80 minimum sorry, not per minute..... now that would be day robbery! :o
 
our vets are pretty good some ops have been expensive but when we had Charlie PTS it was only £40 which I think was'nt bad and we got a condoleance card handwritten which was wonderful the words were so lovely I cried, my vet some times lets me have extras on top ( no no not that ) just realised what I typed, he lets me have critical care and eye drops and baytril etc if needed and only charges a silly amount like 50p, and they have a hugh vet hospital where most types of treatment can be done not bad for an Island
 
I was shocked how expensive the UK is. Nothing against the UK, really, its a lovely country and all, but I think the vets are taking, as we say, out of a naked mans pocket.

Where I used to live, a vet would clip a guinea pigs claws for five euro (about three quid or four?), if you brought it along with another case (my sister had expensive stuff done for her cats) they mostly even did it as a freebie.

I came to the UK, and I had a rabbit where I really was not confident in cutting claws, they were so black... I asked at the vets -

ELEVEN POUND! that is fifteen euros, so three times the price I used to pay! *gulp*

and that goes on and on, castration - I paid 40 quid (about 50 to 55 euro) and I would pay 35 euro where I came from...

I mean obviously in other countries you still get cheap vets and expensive vets, but the average: at least half the price of what you pay here.

I used to buy woodshavings, 60 Litres for 3 Euro (2 quid) - here you pay that for a 20 Liter pack in alot of pet shops!


I think they are just ripping all of us off, big time.
 
Beks said:
but I now have a brilliant vet that charges something different everytime you go but never more than £10 for consult and treatments.... I've even had no charge on occasions.....

Beks I'm in Nottingham - Sherwood. Which vets do you use? mine are absolutely sh1t& with GP's...
 
I am very lucky now, my vets dont charge me any consultation fees with the pigs, as they know they are all rescue piggies. I still have to pay for tests etc, and just recently the piggie who is suspected to have diabetes, the urine & blood tests cost a staggering £39! :o and that was without a real conclusive result.

Vets are very expensive in the UK, and I do think its that that encourages 'dumping' of pets, as people just cant afford the bills. Its really sad, but can understand it.

I miss the fantastic piggie insurance by Pearsons, it was brilliant. Shame it was closed down.

Deb x
 
My vet is quite expensive but my babies are worth it. :)

Plus they are no fazed by treating rats which i found some other vets to be. One particular (and i shall mention no names or places as it isn't fair) vet told me when i brought a six resuce rat into me to have her PTS and then buy a new one >:( I was furious. This vet might be expensive but at least he will persue all options before resorting to the sadess.
 
Roger never even mentioned putting anyone to sleep, even when Scaby had cancer and Dr was so ill.
 
I cannot believe how much profit some vets must make- it is disgusting!

I was continually frustrated with my old vet, I didnt feel they really understood small animals and their prices were horrendous. I now have a fantastic small animal vet, who was recommended to me by a couple of people, including a rescue. Not only are they really clued up about rabbits in particular, they are very good value.

For example, one of my rabbits once needed a GA for her teeth- old vet quoted me £80, new vet £25- mahoosive difference :o. A couple of times they've ended up doing things for free liek nail clipping, sexing. They are all really lovely too, and not at all patrionizing as so many vets can be.

Id never put cost above standard of care, but i feel I am getting both with this vets.

(I'm not sure how good they are with pigs, as Max hasnt had anything wrong with him yet, but they did an excellent job neutering him and I was told they neuter pigs regularily.)
 
I think my vet charges about average and they are very good so can't complain. The problem I have is I had a bad run with the animals - for example I had the rabbit, the dog, a guinea pig and then the rabbit again in the space of 6 weeks in the vet. Individually none of the bills were too bad but together it was nearly £250 :(
 
Beaney said:
I think my vet charges about average and they are very good so can't complain. The problem I have is I had a bad run with the animals - for example I had the rabbit, the dog, a guinea pig and then the rabbit again in the space of 6 weeks in the vet. Individually none of the bills were too bad but together it was nearly £250 :(

Our bill was over £2,000 last year and I wasn't "actively" doing rescue then :o
Hate to think what it will be this year when we tot it up ::)

Barbara
 
My vets are very very good to me. I think they approve of what I am doing, and truth be told if they charged me the sort of prices you are talking about I couldn't do it. But I don't think they charge those sort of prices to anyone for rabbits or guinea pigs - precisely because they realise people won't bother to get treatment if they charge too much :'(
But I dread to think what my yearly bill this year would look like. It's been several hundred already this month so far and its only the 8th :o

Louise
 
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