Vets bill

The OP corrected the amount to £1,500.

Iam64

In answer to the suggestion I’m making up the story of the dog with conjunctivitis. The vet gave me a prescription. The pharmacist said I don’t need that. She sold me the standard Optrex for infected eye drops. I have bought it for myself in the past.

I once mentioned to a pharmacist that I wanted some pepto bismol for my dog. He said sorry I can’t sell it to you now you’ve told me that so I had to buy it from a chemist a few shops down. We did manage to get some infected eye drops from a chemist but they had to be kept in a fridge and somebody that was staying at my partners house took them out of the fridge. For some reason my partner has been able to buy chloramphenicol at times but I can never get any ( I look guilty even if I’m not actually doing anything wrong). I carry the one box I managed to get around with me and protect it with my life…

Pharmacists will refuse to sell eye drops for dogs and for people over a certain age. I send my husband down to say they are for me and that I'm under 60 if I need them for my dog. I once went to the pharmacist for me having spoken to the GP about my eyes and they told me to buy them from the chemist. They refused to sell them to me and said I had to have a prescription. To say I was unimpressed is an understatement.

The majority of vets now are only in it for the money & this has been evolving since Covid - no idea why except that many people bought pets for company during lockdown. PDSA suddenly had a shortage of vets and appointments became emergency cases only. I'm not sure if that's still the case. PDSA funding must have been stopped and redirected somewhere else. All you paid for was medication.

We've got 10 pets, 8 cats on Vax for Life (free annual vaccinations for life) which our vet introduced when they opened in 2019 and 2 big dogs (which we bought in 2020 & 2021) and we pay for their vaccinations & treatment.

In the last few years our vet has doubled the size of the building, doubled the cost of medication, introduced a £60 consultation fee for vet appointments and £55 for a follow up appointment. They had 4 consult rooms, now they have 8 but now only 2 vets on a shift instead of 4. All the foreign student vets & nurses have disappeared - just like the PDSA vets. I wonder if the vets at our practice are now self employed - all the familiar faces have gone, all the receptionists and their desk which sat 3 have gone and there's never anyone in anymore.

I've lost count of the many tricks they've tried to pull to get us to spend more money - even saying our cat needs £950 on dental work but the latest visit last week by a different vet says he only has a bit of tartare.
He gave me a price of £650 first off then when I pulled a face he said he could do it for £450.

We took the dog for her annual vaccination & the nurse said there was a problem with her heart - she went into the back for advice then said we'd have to book her in for a heart scan as no-one was available. I asked her to listen to her heart again as she'd been all giddy with one of the staff beforehand - she refused saying it wouldn't be any different - she wouldn't entertain it. Every time we go I have complaints about their tactics but I say nothing cos they'll start being awkward.

Mattsmum2

Thank you everyone for your words kind or otherwise. The final bill was around £1500, he’s already paid me £500, taken out pet insurance and asked for me to not give his birthday money, his choice. He said to me that he felt very stupid and embarrassed, that he thought pet insurance was ridiculously expensive, but it isn’t. Not compared to costs at vets. A huge lesson learned.

Nice to read and good news Mattsmum like my ds, your son has taken ownership and learned from the experience.

Got you by the short and curlies haven’t they Boing
I haven’t had pets since a mongrel was a mongrel and it didn’t need a fancy made up name and a cat found you and moved in without bells and whistles. All my cats were strays who just adopted me and had a very good home for life , my last little dog would have been a span-lab-ollie and was given to me for a big bag of sweets for the owners children so we re going back about twenty plus years, they never had injections and never needed a vet, wasnt life simple then.

Yes eye drops and cystitis medication won’t be sold in a pharmacy over the counter if you are over a certain age (not sure exactly) but maybe 70

Good news Mattsmum2.
My son's family has a cat and no insurance. I think he's mad. He said it was really expensive as he has a stupidly expensive cat.

Now his wife has brought home two (ordinary) kittens - coinciding with this thread. I suggested now is the time to bite the bullet...
He said "yes, I think it is".

So thank you for raising this and I'm really pleased your son has stepped up like this.
😸
Excellent.

petra

Private equity companies own 60% of our vet practices.
That tells you everything. These people are vultures where money is concerned.
It’s another subject that just being ignored 🤬

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/30/pet-owners-private-equity-firms-vet-ownership-rules-change

I can believe this, our lovely vet retired because of ill health and sold the practice but he sold to Animal Trust who do not charge for consultations and their charges for treatment are very reasonable, we just paid £52 for our dog’s annual booster. We have reluctantly had to cancel his insurance as the monthly cost rose from £105 to £158, he is 13 so we couldn’t go to another insurer but because Animal Trust are so good we know we won’t be ripped off.

The pharmacist who told me she didn’t need the vet prescription turned it over, looked at me and said, I didn’t see that. We conspired I suppose but no harm done

Cabowich

What an awful society we live in when people can't afford to keep pets and are urged not to unless they're well-off enough.

Pets as luxury items - it makes me want to cry.

I think governments should be paying people to keep them, especially given the health/anxiety benefits pets can bring.

This issue highlights the growing differences between rich and poor and the 'big company' vets are not helping the situation at all.

Pragmatism. If you’re struggling to keep a roof over your head and feed your family, why would you add to those problems with the huge costs that responsibly keeping pets entails?

So, do pet insurance companies charge more for cover if you have an expensive animal, rather than run of the mill pet? I would have thought that age and location were the determining factors.

MartavTaurus

So, do pet insurance companies charge more for cover if you have an expensive animal, rather than run of the mill pet? I would have thought that age and location were the determining factors.

Very often pedigree cats have issues through irresponsible breeding. They also have the cost of replacement in the event of loss or death. Pedigrees are more likely to be stolen too if they are allowed to free roam.

Insurance is bassed on evidence about common health problems in the breed. My four year old show type lab costs over twice the annual fee for my eight year old show type cocker spaniel

Both dogs from good breeders, with no concerns over their five generation pedigrees about common breed problems . I challenged the cost increase when my lab was three. The company explained while mine had good health scores, wasn’t overweight or chasing tennis balls all day, their research showed labs prone to eg cruciate ligament problems over age three. I know this can cost over £5000 so kept up the policy.

Thank you, that's interesting. I hadn't given it much thought according to breed.

They also have the cost of replacement in the event of loss or death.
I had that very unfortunate experience only recently. I cried buckets when the insurance company paid out a four figure amount towards a replacement of my young pet. No one could replace him. I physically couldn't put that money towards a new animal, nor book a holiday, nor anything. It will sit in my bank until I decide which charity to give it to.

FranP

I would get him to find another vet - that is a rip off.

Get an itemised bill and ask for pensioner rates, not insurance rates.

My dear doggie got a seed in her ear (common with Spaniels) £60; a neighbour's cost £400. Someone local on fb paid £1,200. Seems they can charge what they like.

You only know the cat required "emergency care" , not what diagnostics, care or treatments that entailed, so impossible to say "it was a rip off".

There are complex reasons, diagnoses and treatments for ear problems in dogs, which is why time and costs vary between patients. Just like if three humans go to the DR with a sore stomach , one may be easily solved and the others require more tests and treatment.

<https://www.webvet.com/dog-ear-infection/>

MartavTaurus

So, do pet insurance companies charge more for cover if you have an expensive animal, rather than run of the mill pet? I would have thought that age and location were the determining factors.

Yes.
An ordinary cat is much less expensive to insure than a fancy breed.

Also cheaper if a house cat rather than one you let out.

MartavTaurus

Thank you, that's interesting. I hadn't given it much thought according to breed.

Not just breed. Within a breed, the dog's age, occupation fame and pedigree can all affect the insurance premium. Pretty much like cars, and property.

Yes true butterandjam. I understand if you describe your dog as a mongrel the company might not enquire further. Doodle dogs like Cockerpoos, cavapoos, labradoodles might be described as cross breeds but I imagine the breed background would be queried. My big labradoodle was working lab x standard poodle - she taught me a great deal about speed, agility and high prey urge. Her insurance worth every penny.

You don’t always get the best of both breeds, sensitive bright lively spaniel x bright, clever, sensitive mini poodle and you’ve a pup who often isn’t a first time dog 🐶

They might have a fancy name but they re still cross breeds or mongrals and quite often the very best dog to have, but put fancy name on the animal and you can ask for hundreds of pounds It’s madness

eddiecat78

Am I the only person who is very cross that this couple decided to have THREE cats without being able to afford to take care of them properly? Although, apparently they can afford to go on holiday.
I would have told the vet to bill them directly and leave them to sort out a payment plan with the vet

Thank you for your words. They went on holiday with their in laws and they paid for them, both NHS workers they were extremely burnt out.

Martav: Insurance is scary. I have just had a renewal quote for one of my dogs, for whom there have been no claims since inception. £648 last year. £1,219 this year. I can't afford that. Am shopping around but I think that a lot of it is to do with the conglomorates having taken over vet practices and hiking up the prices.

How lovely for them to be treated like this, Mattsmum.
Lucky to have family able to help - both you, and the in-laws.

I do hope they managed at least a little rest and jolly time together.

Iam64

In answer to the suggestion I’m making up the story of the dog with conjunctivitis. The vet gave me a prescription. The pharmacist said I don’t need that. She sold me the standard Optrex for infected eye drops. I have bought it for myself in the past.

Dog and human eye structures and sensitivities are significantly different; (for instance, your eyes don't have a third eyelid; dogs' do) Some common ingredients in OTC eye drops that are safe for humans, are toxic to dogs.

Your pharmacist may not know that.