Operation cost...

I know vets' fees do seem alarmingly high but I would point out that veterinary pharmaceuticals are very expensive.

It's difficult to just get third party accident cover for dogs; I know I tried to get it years ago and hit a wall, but it's included in medical cover. Horse insurance seemed much better value and work done on them didn't seem to cost too much. I just think that dogs and cats are where vets make their money. I keep seeing these 'value' vets everywhere and am wondering what they charge.

Oh yes. The pharmaceuticals. They are much, much cheaper to buy on the internet but the vet charges you at least £12 for the prescription.

I suppose cats don't need third party - they're not liable and neither are their owners!

This thread is making me feel very fortunate with our vets. I know they're good but I now realise their charges are reasonable, well they seem to be in comparison with some of the horror stories here.

My current 2 dogs are insured with one of the biggest pet insurance companies. The 6 year old has had a number of hunting injuries (racing through shrubbery after rabbits, ripping her side open, getting thorns stuck up inside her foot etc). The 3 year old has never been ill/injured himself but I did claim for a behaviourist because he's reactive and a bit of a challenge. The insurance company pay out, other than the £75 excess, with no quibble. I decided to keep the policies going, rather than put a monthly amount away after my neighbour's dog broke a leg - £3,500 and that was a few years ago.

Our vets work in an area where there is a lot of competition. A not for profit vet practice opened a mile way from them a few years ago. Maybe that's helped make sure they don't ask for silly money

Well, she's refusing to take the paracetamol and codeine even when I drown it in sardines.

...might take it meself....

Have you smashed the pills up between 2 spoons then put the crushed pills in those sardines Tegan (I'm sure you have). My doodle is an expert at hiding pills in the side of her mouth, she must have watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

She's only ate a tiny amount of the sardines and had a small drink of water; I thought if anything could mask the taste of the tablets sardines would. Her poor little head is just one huge scar and I'm worried about her knocking the wound. They wanted to put a cone of shame on her but whippets are a strange shape when it comes to things like that and I'd rather she was comfortable. She had a reaction to the shearer as well and needs some Sudocrem on it; also struggles when I try to cut the bandage off her leg. Think we'll be taking it in shifts to watch her for the next week or so. She shook all over when we got to the vets this morning; whatever happens she's not having any more operations .

My neighbours dog has just had a £4k emergency operation on a shattered knee and will need another £1k on the other back leg. No insurance either.

We took our dog to the vet because his front leg splayed out and he was obviously in some discomfort.

After examinations, x-rays and scans, investigative surgery found that he had a torn shoulder ligament and he was given a cortisone injection. He was also given a sort of harness to wear.

The bill came to over £6,000 which seems an awful lot of money to me. The harness alone was listed as costing £360. Luckily we had insurance.

I was reading in the paper the other day that people may in the future be more likely to buy "robot dogs"/"virtal pets" than real ones. Given the cost of insurance - which rises hugely as a pet ages - I think many people may feel this is their only alternative - though I can't imagine anything being so lovable as a real dog.

I've always had pets; dogs and cats, even back to student days. I know when I was newly maried and very broke I always bemoaned the fact that, whenever there was any money to spare for clothes, one of the cats would get ill, but I never remember the vets bills being so great that I questioned whether to continue having pets. One cat was hit by a car and we had to call the vet out in the middle of the night [he turned up at the surgery in his slippers] but, even then I can't recall having to live on baked beans for the next month so we could pay the bill. Given that my dog had a lump removed last year wich cost @£750 I don't understand why this one has cost so much. Even the follow on appointments, which used to be free after the initial consultation have been charged for. I was expecting to possibly pay up to £1000 if the insurers wouldn't pay but this bill has shocked me, as the lump was tiny compared to the last one [which grew because the vet advised a 'watching brief' and only agreed to take it out when we said we wanted her to have a teeth clean at the same time..it turned out to be cancerous]. Over the years I've been to various vets and always lose faith in them after a while; like most things, instead of complaining I just move to another. I do believe there is a correlation between people insuring their pets and the fees that vets now charge and agree that it's best to say you haven't got insurance even if you have. My daughter took her cat to the vets last week to be put down [it's obvious he was dying] but, even then they suggested putting him on a drip to see if he would improve [which she refused].

Our dogs would always take tablets if they were buried in half of a fun size mars bar and, no, the tiny bit of chocolate didn't kill them or involve more vet's bills.

We have decided not to get Poppy insured she will be the first dog we have not insured the reason being when we took her into our Vets when she first arrived after we adopted her for a check up and with her being a pedigree dog the price seemed to have doubled as to what we paid when we took Barney the scruffy JR to ever roam this earth,I'm sure they think you have more £s to your pocket if you have one of these little dogs and that is just not so,we adopted her as a dog not a breed and where so glad to give her a loving home,we now put £15 a week in a tin just for any emergencies and buy flea treatment over the counter at the Vets but without the massive consultation fee of £21.00,we do buy 3 treatments at a time which saves £6 over 3 months.

Strangely enough there's an article in todays telegraph about people whose pet insurance premiums go through the roof after one claim [eg an increase from £321 -£2,283 per year after one claim]. I know I was stupid not to read the small print but a lot of the people complaining had taken out Life Insurance, believing that it was, in fact for the lifetime of the animal.

As I said above, our pet insurance policy has just paid out on a large claim.

Our insurance is due for renewal this month and we've received a renewal notice BUT it states that the insurance underwriter they use has pulled out of the UK pet insurance market and they can now offer insurance from another co. for £47 a month BUT pre-existing conditions or anything deemed related to those conditions will not be covered.

We had a Lifetime Cover plan (which at the time of purchase was subject to no pre-existing conditions) but it seems it means nothing because if the underwriter used by your pet insurance co. decides to withdraw the so-called "Lifetime cover", it can do so. I'm appealing it.

The more I read about GNs' experiences, the more it seems like a rip-off where insurance is involved and even worse with vets fees!

If this was applied to human life insurance (and I know it rises or is higher when risk level or ill health is involved) and private medicine I dread to think what would happen - there would be uproar I imagine.

Just imagine if you paid privately for say a hip replacement and the surgeon decided to do an additional procedure unrelated to your hip and not needed, then whacked up the bill!

I presume there are regulatory guidelines somewhere?

Eloethan;the article states that 'the insurance is also leading to record number of complaints being taken to the Financial Ombudsman..the worst hit include those who paid for so called lifetime cover supposedly giving owners certainty that their animal will be covered for it's lifetime, who now see premuims rocketing at renewal. The FOC states that one in three cases it finds in favour of the policyholder. Up to 10,000 Axa pet insurance customers are currently being moved to NCI Insurance with the transition being complete by August'. The article also says that, with so mnay companies pulling out of pet insurance, the decrease in competition will result in an increase in premiums. Not wishing to play the 'pensioner card' but a lot of elderly people depend on their pets for companionship and it is a great blow to them if they can't afford either insurance premiums or treatment. I'm going to look into these vets that offer cut price treatment to see what service they do provide. The article does say that you can ask for a higher excess etc to bring down the yearly cost; but that doesn't solve the problem of life cover not meaning 'for life'.

Marmite sandwiches, heavy on the marmite, crushed pills hidden.

Thankfully her love of corned beef has saved the day [and the codeine has knocked her out].

Thanks Tegan. I found an Ombudsman's adjudication on a complaint re withdrawn "lifetime cover". He felt it was reasonable for pet insurance providers to withdraw lifetime cover because they were not responsible for their underwriters' decisions. That may well be the case, but my argument is that if "lifetime cover" can be withdrawn in this way, a potential customer should be very clearly informed in writing that "lifetime cover" cannot be guaranteed (which, in my opinion, means that it is not really "lifetime cover").

I think the whole issue of pet insurance and vets' costs should be looked at.

A young man I know well was training to be a vet. All of the new students were seated awaiting their introduction to the World of Vets.

The tutor entered and the first question was 'Why do you want to become a vet?' The answers were the usual : To make a difference: To work with animals: I've always loved animals etc etc etc......

He looked around the room and said 'No!!! the reason we become vets is to make a lot of money.' My young friend was disillusioned and after a year decided to leave the famous Scottish University and become a Minister.

I find that vets seem to set their own prices. We moved from one vet who used to charge exorbitant rates to a less 'fancy' vet in the next town who refuses to give unnecessary tests and does not try to flog expensive products. In fact the practice would rather suggest the internet to make treatment cheaper.

Going back to pet insurance, I think that, if/when a company is no longer going to cover your pet for a certain illness they should actually write a letter to specifically say that rather than sticking it on the back of page three..or at least put it in big letters on page one . I've realised that I should have joined the 'Gold Plan' at my vets rather than paid another years Petplan insurance; it would probably have taken 10% off the cost of the operation.

have just been quoted for Ellie's op, she has a cancerous mammary tumour and a cancerous lump just discovered on her head this morning ,at the referral centre who has been treating for a long list of conditions...the latest quote given today,including a full body scan and surgery to remove tumours is £2,000.00 to £2,500.00. we have just had the results of the scan..the tumours are cancerous,her liver is clear,as she has liver disease and hepatitis,but she has fluid in her uterus and enlarged ovaries and she needs an emergency hysterectomy..thank God have enough cover as I checked with pet plan....poor Ells also has lung worm because of her penchant for snails when a puppy,and osteo arthritis ,and she had half of her jaw removed 2 years almost to the day because of a squamous cell carcinoma...and her elbows operated on when she as a young girl...poor old girl ....she is 10 on monday

What sort of cancers are they? Will Petplan definately pay and will she have/need radiotherapy?