Someone is taking the p….

We used to insure, but then Mr C wanted to just put money away . He got overruled fortunately, as our dog needed surgery and it was far beyond what we would have saved. The other thing to consider is the insurance covers if your dog caused an accident, that could be ruinous if you don’t have it.

I wouldn’t go back there! It’s the fact of insurance that makes these vets greedy.

I think Vet should have a sign outside that has a picture of Dick Turpin! It is highway robbery and we can do nothing about it. Heart string stuff because they are our pets. My cat had diabetes for 9 years. I injected her twice per day with insulin. She had blood tests twice per year and we purchase the needles from there as well. It cost a fortune. One we were quoted £27 consultation. We never asked a question??? We paid it because we loved her. Sadly she had to be euthanised in November 2019 at the ripe old age of 20.5 years. I still miss her to this day. The vets are greedy sods!

I hope your beloved spaniel is ok now.

My cat had conjunctivitis, 10 min consultation, pain killing antibiotic injections and eye drops £168.00 Eye drops exactly the same as can be bought over the counter for humans.
What a wheeze!

Vets have the highest suicide rate of any profession in the UK, and there's a reason for that. They deal with people's pets at their very worst. They have to treat animals that should have been treated days ago, but people have waited as they don't want to pay. They have to put animals down, often the owner doesn't want to be there because it's too upsetting. It's upsetting for the vets too. They've gone through 7+ years of training, and put themselves in massive debt to do so. They've been called out at all hours, in all conditions to save people's pets.
They have to pay the rent, business rates, water, electricity, phone bills, internet, receptionist, out-of-hours phone service, vet nurses. They have to have a lot of drugs there and available so they have them to hand in an emergency - even rarely used drugs, just in case. these cost a lot - and many are disposed of as they've gone out of date, so they have to pay disposal. They have to buy equipment (do you know how much an anaesthetic rig costs, an ultrasound scanner, an x-ray machine?) and they have to keep that equipment serviced. They have to buy surgical tools, swabs, consumables. They have to pay lab fees, and / or have a trained lab technician in the practice - more salaries. They're constantly re-training as medicines and practices evolve, and so some equipment - expensive originally, is now defunct and worthless.
We are really struggling with the numbers of qualified vets in the UK, as they work so hard, are not paid anywhere near what people think, and are constantly berated by people calling them greedy, rip-off merchants, callous, and accusing them of emotional blackmail and manipulation.
People don't post on here nearly as often on the cost of lawyers, mechanics, plumbers, builders or roofers, yet they charge a higher hourly rate, have less training, and don't have to have the skills, dexterity or compassion of a vet.
Seeing all of the comments about how much of a rip off it is - makes my blood boil.

I've never had pet insurance but have always put money aside for the inevitable vet's fees. I do think it's become a "Catch 22" situation - more pet owners took out insurance when it was relatively affordable, so the vets put up their fees knowing that the insurers would pay up but the insurers have now hit back at the high cost of claims by upping their premiums and refusing to cover some conditions. I do sometimes find it ironic that, as a nation, most people are unwilling to fund a better health service for themselves and their families (how wonderful to get a GP appointment and treatment on the day as I always get at the vets) although they will pay out hundreds if not thousands for their pets. But then we're British ....

We have x3 dogs and always keep them insured. We pay £67 a month for all three and, yes that's just under £800 per year. A lot of money? Yes.....and quite hard to find BUT, if there is a major bill at any time (less £100 excess and 25% of the total) it would be covered.
Our dogs are part of the family and we could not see them suffer, or have to part with them. Their lives are short enough as it is and we would rather cut back ourselves than deprive them of care.

I remember years ago taking my cat to the vet as she was limping badly. The vet went through the costly procedures needed and then asked if cat was insured. I said no and was then told to keep her confined for a few days. Cat was fine after a couple of days. This made me realize that none of the procedures mentioned were actually necessary. It was the vet just wanting to make a lot of money....

I recently had a course of anitibiotics for a tooth infection - the dentist charged me £20.00. Why anyone has to pay hundreds for antibiotics for a dog I cannot imagine - unless of course profit is the key word.

I hope your dog is better soon - for everyone's sake. x

Farmor15

I think you've had the p... taken. I live in Ireland where we don't have NHS. Unless you have a low income, you have to pay for GP and medication. I recently had a urinary tract infection and ended up going to an out of hours doctor, which is run as a business - no government funding- so a bit like a private vet. The visit cost me €45, which included urine test - there's a quick dip-stick test to show if there's an infection. I assume vet would have used similar - very cheap as no lab needed. A week's course of antibiotics cost €16 - most antibiotics are not very expensive. I just took paracetamol for pain - pretty cheap! So my diagnosis and treatment for something similar to dog cost less than £60 (if you convert from €.

Just FYI, you can buy those testing sticks from Amazon. Useful if you need to quote results to the GP.

amazon.co.uk/Parameter-Urine-Strips-Dipstick-Tests/dp/B095X5TQW9/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=urine+test+strips&qid=1669902986&sprefix=urine+%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-5]]

This comment is not about me! It's a comment about a friend who has always had cats and she lives in a rural village. She told me that none of her cats have ever been vaccinated, never been fleed and never had plaque removed from their teeth. She says, apart from obvious illnesses which have always been treated, all her cats have been healthy. Food for thought?

I'm sorry to say that the cost of vets fees is a major contribution to why animals are being dumped. I would not argue so much if it wasn't for the fact that VAT is added. When a pet is in pain, the treatment is not a luxury

The medical care would cost just the same for humans if we didn’t have the NHS. Welcome to the real world of medicine and count your lucky stars.

Bibblebibbleblop - medical care for humans isn't always very expensive. See my post quoted by CountryMouse22 above.

Yes, your vet was taking the p whilst literally taking the pee. These are the kind of eye-watering fees and costs that will become familiar to all of us if the NHS is abandoned. Right now it is slowly slipping away before our very eyes and we must make our voices heard before it is too late.

My last dog had an eye condition kind of like Dry Eye in humans. When she started having a cream inserted every day the charge was £32. Years later it was £78 a tube. Checking the cream online I could purchase it for a quarter of the cost. The problem was a vet's prescription was required and vet wanted a horrendous amount to give me one and only for a month at a time. Just couldn't win. I have a vet in the family (doesn't live near me) and he and partners are selling the business to a large company but are retaining the building and renting that to the company. Quids in for all concerned me thinks!

@WonderBra
Glad to see someone defending vets, they're my favourite people - and I know they often have no say over fees.
I have a new (to me) dog now & I have him insured as my last dog (PTS 2 Jan 2019) cost approx 12k in her last few years for specialist operations. I adopted her aged approx 13 and had her for 6 or so years. I don't resent a penny.
I then fostered for 3 years - all vet bills paid tho you do, of course, eventually have to hand them over.
I could save the £16 a month my dog's insurance is costing me - in 26 years I could save up for one of the ops my previous dog needed...
If they're not worth the money, don't go to the vet.
And for anyone truly not able to afford vet fees (I don't live in a PDSA catchment area either) I'd thoroughly recommend fostering.

It's not vets per se who are charging these ridiculous amounts, it's the large businesses that are gradually buying up all independent vets and bumping up the prices. That coupled with the fact that they're charging the proper rate for medication means a visit to the vet or a visit from a vet is now double what it was a couple of years ago. You need pet insurance but that's unlikely to cover things like dental care. Hope the spaniel soon feels better.

No one is taking the " p..." .
I am a GP
This is how much private care costs . Without the much maligned NHS this is what we would all be paying for our appointment, medication etc etc .
I think we all need to think about that !

It does sound about right, I'm afraid. When mine was a puppy (13 years back) she had a (baby?) puppy tooth embedded in the roof of her mouth. It was Sunday, she was uncomfortable - so we went to the local 24hr vet. 5 minutes later, all done, we came out £100 lighter.

Then, a few years ago, she had a swollen face (tooth abscess) - so visit, painkillers, antibiotics - then extraction of a broken tooth - well over £400. Still, we're quids in, as she has a savings account but no insurance.

There is a vets' practice near me ( not a big chain) where the vet has a brand new Tesla with personalised number plates, he previously had a Porsche. I don't go there as I didn't want to contribute to that!

Our dog developed a tumour which was removed by local vets and he was then referred to a specialist oncology vet practice for further treatment. They are even more expensive, by a long long way! We were told he needed a CT scan of his chest and abdomen to see if the cancer had spread. They were charging £2800 for this. DH did a bit of googling and found a not for profit chain of vets who would do it for £900 and send the results to the oncologist. It was on the other side of the country so we all piled into our campervan and had a few days away in order to get it done at a third of the price. Even with the costs of our trip it was still cheaper.

Thank god you haven’t got an African Grey, our bill is 800 a time because he is prone to Aspergillosis’, a parrots disease. I don’t care I would give my right arm for him, he’s an absolute darling. He tells me what he wants, what he thinks as in something crap on the tv he says ‘what’s this crap?’, he tells me when he is tired as I’m tired wanna go to bed. We’ve sold stuff to pay for him but yes agreed vets charge an extortionate amount !

We have a wonderful vet just round the corner. He never charges excessively for treating our cat - at least, nothing like the figures quoted in previous posts - and he really cares about the animals in his care. I rarely claim on the insurance as that's just there in case of an accident or perhaps a need for extensive investigations or severe illness like that described by ecci53. As far as I am concerned, the insurance premium (which went down this year!!) is "top sliced" from my meagre pension! And lest you think my cat is a lively, healthy youngster, he's a rescue cat of indeterminate age, possibly 16 - 19, and he has chronic kidney problems, possibly stage-3 CKD. I take him for a checkup about every 6 months and any fee is worth every penny! I work on the basis that he is my responsibility, and it's up to me to make sure he has as long and happy a life as possible even if it does cost me!

It's because most vets have been taken by one of the 6 big companies. All the vets in my town have gone over the dark side. Now if a pet needs urgent out of hours treatment the owner has to travel miles to the vets that deals with all of our town and the next one for emergency out of hours treatment. They charge astronomical prices just to get in the door. We had been with our vets for over 40 years but I was not prepared to travel that far and be fleeced if either my dog or cats where ill during out of hours. On further investigation thankfully in the rural area on the outskirts of our town is an Independant vet who we are now registered with. They are on site night and day. A fact that we were thankful for when at 6.00 am on a dog walk, we found a deer by the road with a broken leg and we were able to telephone our new vets who came out immediately and had to unfortunately euthanise it. Goodness knows how the poor thing would have suffered as we could not speak to the RSPCA as they do not answer their phones until 8.30 and the other vets expect you to take the animal to them. I would add the vet did not charge.

Speaking of charges. Before word had got out between my fellow dog walkers about the changes with vets, I went to collect the three-monthly tablets that my dog has to have. They charged me £52 and I was dumbfounded but thought perhaps the medication had gone up. When I collected them from our new vets they charged me £42 - the price I had always paid previously at the old vets. Again I would add that Ben Fogle's father is a Vet and when I looked up all the information I could find regarding these takeovers I found and article he had written. He said that vets were being offered eye watering amounts to be taken over and that he was strongly against it and he would never sell out and would remain independent.

Good old Google is full of information if you check.

As you may notice I am fuming. We loved our previous vets but when they went over the dark side we had to change. So sad.