Is this Vet bill very expensive or am I just out of touch?

Grannynannywanny

^Vets bills are astronomical. One way my daughter reduces cost is not to buy medication from the vets. She asks for the prescription and gets it on-line. Last example, an eye cream prescribed for her dog would have cost £39 at the vets and she bought the identical cream on-line for £6. Quite a mark up. Anyone without pet insurance these days is taking a huge gamble^

Will the vets willingly hand over the prescriptions Sarnia? I wish I’d thought of that today. Having said that the dog has an uncomfortable itchy ear and it might take a few days to receive an online delivery. Definitely something to consider in the future though.

My daughter hasn't had any problems getting the prescription although the vets would rather you bought the medication from them, naturally!

Just for a consultation at my vets is £25.00 on the bill straight away + vat.When my little Poppy had to be PTS last January it cost me just over £200 for the injection this is why so many dogs are abandoned when they become ill the cost is unavailable to some families and they just abandon the poor animal.
My DD has just paid nearly £40 for three flea treatment tablets for her kitten I shall tell her to ask for the prescription if she takes him there again thanks for the information ladies.

Thank you Sarnia for prescription tip. I’ll pass it on to my daughter and son.

Daisymae

I paid £40 for one worming tablet!

Crikey Daisymae. I pay about £6 for worming tablets at my vet. You can buy them on line even cheaper but they are part of the vet payment plan I have for my dog.

Not at all expensive, seems about normal.

That amount sounds about right to me too - a recent visit with one of my cats to treat an abscess cost £90 on two occasions then another £300 to remove a broken tooth and clean them.

The insurance for both of them has now gone up to £83 a month - they've both over 10 so no other company will insure them after that age. I have had my monies worth from them though as the other cat has had several issues over the last 5 years costing over £6k.

I do agree about online costs though - the above cat is on a special diet which I buy from the same online company which does prescriptions - it's much cheaper than the same stuff from the vets although she still costs me a fortune every month - she's worth it though

You have to pay the vets for the prescription then you send it to online company I used pets direct you usually receive them within 24 hrs it worked for me and saved me money as my doggy needed life long medication.

Actually that wasn't bad, two lots of medication and a consultation.

Don't forget there is a consultation fee in there. Vets train for very many years and you are paying for their expertise then the cost of any medication on top.

Yes that's about right... We were at the vets a couple of weeks ago for the same thing and it was £80 something. Very expensive dogs... But much loved ?

We have FIVE dogs in our household currently This is about right I’m afraid

Vet’s bills are out of all proportion and I think the driving force upwards is the result of pet insurance. (A bit like the cost of health treatment in the US). If there was no insurance people wouldn’t be able to afford these extortionate costs, and vets would have to reduce charges or go out of business.

For those saying the costs are “astronomical” vets train for many years, they have to cover the costs of their premises and pay for medicines and sadly no animal NHS so no subsidised drugs like we have ! Wonder how much we’d all be paying for a GP consultation and subsequent drugs.

Like many others we have both pet insurance and a plan with the vets to cover vaccines, flea and worming and twice a year health checks. We pay £16 per month per dog

Its the meds that put the price up so much. The vets need paying for their consultation also. My dog and 2 cats unfortunately need all their boosters just before Christmas which can work expensive. Plus my dog has to have special food otherwise she is ill. Even buying it on line works out ultra expensive. I don't have them insured as the one time I did and had to claim it was an insult what they wanted to pay me back. I now save a certain amount each month in a separate 'pet account' and have managed to accumulate enough for all outgoings for my furry friends. They are worth it.

Our vet (an independent at the time) used to tell me very crossly about the chains, which treated all patients as ‘units’ and put a great deal of pressure on vets to increase profits per ‘unit’ by urging owners to buy various products, inc. special food, for their pets.

He did once recommend an expensive diet cat food for our admittedly somewhat portly cat (portly largely because he was in the habit of visiting neighbours for succulent leftovers) but especially since he was incredibly fussy anyway, and I certainly wasn’t going to confine him indoors, I declined - adding that I thought the mere notion of diet cat food verged on the obscene.

He agreed, and said it was pretty nigh impossible to keep a non-indoor cat on a diet anyway.

But he later sold out - to one of the chains he’d so vociferously complained about!

Also remember drugs costs are also linked to the pharmacists supplying so that’s probably part of the reason vets charges vary

I'm pretty sure that's about right. Vets bills and pet insurance are so expensive now, no wonder the rescue centres are full to bursting because some people can't afford to pay the bills so the pets end up there. My pet insurance is dearer than my house and car insurance put together!
My dog has epilepsy and had her first seizure 2 weeks after I rescued her. The meds aren't that expensive thank goodness, but my insurance is so high now and I can't move elsewhere because she has an underlying health condition. I love having a dog, but when this wee one goes I don't know if I can really afford to have another.

One of my dogs has a heart murmur and has regular medication,the vet sent her to a specialist heart consultant,the bill,£1625.00, followe by a repeat visit six weeks later.The maximum amount the insurer paid out was £2000 per condition. Consequently I paid out the difference. I also have to pay an excess fee every year and because she is over 8,25% of the bill.Definitely not cheap.

Sounds about right to me. My son paid £1700.00 for their cat to stay in for observation for a stomach infection for two day and one night's care. He nearly fainted at the size of the bill but his wife is devoted to the cat, so no choice. Why on earth it is not insured I cannot imagine but it is grossly over-weight so perhaps that has something to do with it.

Vets bills are so expensive! We have a beautiful cat, aged 14 but she will be our last pet as I can't justify the bills for any illnesses that may occur. Even monthly flea/worming soon adds up.

Seems reasonable at today’s prices - dog ownership isn’t cheap!

Will the vets willingly hand over the prescriptionsSarnia? I wish I’d thought of that today. Having said that the dog has an uncomfortable itchy ear and it might take a few days to receive an online delivery. Definitely something to consider in the future though.

I imagine that as its your son's pet he would have told you if he had wanted you to do that.

The consultation alone is £50! Antibiotics £15 each for eyes and ears
Normal costs!!

That bill sounds pretty reasonable. Many years ago a vet wanted to charge me over £400 for a couple of small stitches in a cat's paw - no antibiotics involved and it was a 5 minute job.

kwest

Sounds about right to me. My son paid £1700.00 for their cat to stay in for observation for a stomach infection for two day and one night's care. He nearly fainted at the size of the bill but his wife is devoted to the cat, so no choice. Why on earth it is not insured I cannot imagine but it is grossly over-weight so perhaps that has something to do with it.

Insurance is obscenely expensive too now, my DD agreed to pay 20% of any bill to keep it to a managable level. Her's is an indoor cat - with use of a balcony - so less risk of accidents or infection than most.