Vets.....what a rip off.?

Question

I took my dog too the vets today because her ears keep irritating her...anyway she was given some drops and a 10 day course of tablets and it came to £35 and £17 of that was the consultation fee (gone up from £11) The money these vets must make is outrageous..plus i pay pet insurance but cant claim on any bills under £50..as anyone payed more than £17 for a consultation fee.

No medicine man...i think the world of my dog.. it is the consultation fees they charge plus the fact i pay insurance as well.

Answer 1

How much does the Pediatrician charge in your area..Vets are usually well under the fee of a human doctor, and yet the schooling is the equivalent..Now, even the equipment is similar..Overhead is the same, so why should they charge less? but, they DO, because of their dedication to our animals..They could be giving some rich lady implants, for the same amount of schooling..
All services have gone up...from fuel to groceries...It is just inflation at work..sigh....Vets still don't charge as much as the plumber!

Answer 2

My Vet's consultation fee is £28.50. The Veterinary Group also have the monopoly in this area (East End of London). I think their charges are very high, but the only other choice is one Vet's Surgery that does not have a very good reputation, or travel a long way (which I would not want to do in an emergency) so its pay up time whenever my dog has something wrong with him. I have pet insurance with no excess for health claims, but they are really slow in paying out.

Answer 3

Now you see why I don't have insurance. I put the money into a bank account every month instead to cover vet bills.I have rarely had to pay more than £50 at the vets so the whole insurance thing is a con. JKust put a tenner a month into a savings account to be used only for vet bills and earn interest on the amount. I pay £14 consult' fee but I am in rural East Anglia. You do know you can phone around to ask vets what their consutation prices are don't you? You do also know that your vet has to give you a prescription for the drugs so that you can buy them online cheaper don't you? And he is not allowed to charge you for the prescription either.I bet he gave you synulox tablets. They get the biggest mark up on them when a cheaper antibiotic would have done just as well. You could have insisted on amoxycillin on prescription, taken it to Boots, and got it for less than half the cost of synulox.
It is simply a case of informing yourself not matter what you are buying, be it a car, a fridge, or vet attention.

Answer 4

Our vet, though excellent charges £18.50 for a consultation but if its a Saturday afternoon or Sunday then it goes up to £25 as they like to keep appointments at those times for emergency only, our dog got stung by a wasp a last summer and we were given the tinniest tube of ointment you ever saw and that cost us £17.50 plus the £18.50 consultation fee, £36 for a wasp sting hey, the one good thing about our vet is if you have to see her for a few things in any six weeks she will add those fees up and put it down as one consultation so you can claim at least some of the money back through the pet insurance company, can't complain about that can I.

Answer 5

I just paid £20.75 for a primary consultation...think it goes down if I need to see the vet again for the same problem.

I know what you mean, it is expensive.

My staffie has a skin infection and this was the bill:

Primary consultation £20.75
Antibiotics £38.47
Stronghold flea treatment £25.87
Plastic head collar to stop him biting himself £4.05
Medicated shampoo £13.32

Total bill: £102.46

I was shocked!!

I'm insured but had to pay the bill and now need to make a claim to get some of it back....not easy when you're on a low income.

Answer 6

Vets go to school to become a vet. Do you know how much a year of college cost? Plus look at the cost a doctor charges when you go see one. I'd take the vet bill any day. Plus some doctors aren't very good ones, same with vets.

Answer 7

In Canada, I pay $65.00 consultation fee. It does seem like a lot of money but these vets go to school for 7 or 8 years just like other Drs and have a lot of expenses...equipment for instance, staff wages, rent or mortgage. I'd rather pay good $$$ to a certified vet than go to a psychic and get "guess work".

Answer 8

You might consider calling around in search of a vet that doesn't charge the "office call fee". Our vet does not charge it when the dogs need their regular shots and such, but they do when we need to attend to something like an ear infection.

On the note of ear infections, we have a doxie who had the worst case of them when he was a pup. Once they finally were cleared up, the vet suggested a cottonball in each ear (not deep tho) to keep the moisture out while bathing. It's done the trick and we've not has a recurrence since.

Answer 9

There's excellent and informative information here by Vets, and Dog Breeders who trust their vets. Does the old Lira sign indicate that you are in a different country? I really trust some of the experts here that I believe are in the US, if not I apologize. The advice I receive from reading their answers have helped me and my pets, and I have been able to show their answers to my friends who are pet lovers of all kinds. I wonder if money is a big deal, then why do you have a pet? I certainly don't have enough resources to provide perfect care for my pets, so I rely on the expert advice given here on answers. For the people that provide this information I would like to thank you, and my friends would like to thank you. I would certainly rely on the expert advice of professionals here on answers. Added for our pet advisor's is there a way to contribute, um a little something one of your organization's that really help us?


Dang!!!! I was the first response, and by the time I posted this answer there were already a gazillion answers.........Geez, I can not for the life of me figure out yahoo's time zone, time zones from email I know are good to go, but this is driving me a little batty...

Answer 10

I live in Lincolnshire,the Consultation fee last year was £18-21,so you can bet its gone up since then,but we can't do without the vets can we.