Vets say they are under pressure to bring in more income per pet.

MayBee70

The vet at my partners says if a dog switches to Lepto4 they have to start a course of it. I thought they only caught Lepto 4 from things in the environment, not other dogs? The vet did say that rescue dogs from other countries are bringing in more diseases. Although I have considered just having my dog titre tested instead of having annual boosters I’d still want the Lepto vaccine.

Titre tests unfortunately cannot be used for Lepto. My vets still offer Lepto 2.

This is going to sound really daft, but when your dog or cat is very ill for no reason you can think of, you search out specialist veterinary skills to establish the cause, (just like a person would). However, because your animal can't explain where the pain or the problem actually is, you're coming from a different strarting point and you end up forking out hundreds for various diagnostic tests because you kind of assume the vet can then establish the reason.

We are lucky in that our pet insurance has a phone line we can call 24/7. You book an appointment with a vet of your choice within the hour and they offer advice on medication and treatment. We've used it several times and it's saved us expensive trips to the vet. They've even phoned back 24 hours later to check up on the animal. If they're concerned they do tell you to follow the call up with an appointment at your vet.

Sometimes it’s just lucky that a vet picks up on what is wrong with an animal. My last dog suffered with intermittent lameness and purely by chance we saw a new vet who had previously sent a dog all over the place to be assessed only to find that it had a corn on it’s foot. She recognised it straight away in my dog. We had assumed that a cancer she had on her shoulder had gone into the bone.

Medicine has progressed so much since the early 60's. Back then small animals were still a sideline for most vets, & nearly all practices were mixed.Treatment options were far fewer.Most didn't even have an Xray machine.

My vets are brilliant about charging, they are known as an expensive practice (they have a lot more diagnostic tech than the alternative one), but they are very pragmatic about keeping costs affordable. My dog's a model patient so they'll do things like a needle biopsy in a routine consultation with me holding him.Happy to write me £20 prescription for expensive drugs.

By the way, frontline is really not reliable, it kills fleas if they're not resistant, but round here it doesn't work at all. That's why they have to keep coming up with new generation flea treatments, although each is more expensive than the last of course!

Some of the prices quoted on here are hair-raising, an op on a child for a broken bone NHS is re-imbursed 2-4.5k for common ones, so why 15k for a cat?

Medication to calm the cat, look into her throat, a small seed found which they said would pass, £1,300

Approximately 15 years ago I had a cat that became ill so I took her to the vet. She had to stay overnight on a drip.
Luckily she recovered and the bill was for £1000 !
I dread to think what it would cost in today's prices but she was very much loved and I didn't hesitate in paying . Vets know we have no choice and they can name their price and we'll pay up . It's extortion but we have no choice .

Following on from the patient can't talk to explain the problem, how clever must vets be to treat so many different species? All the stomachs and hearts etc must be in different positions and have different characteristics. 🐕 🐄 🐦 🐟 🐍 🦎 🕷
Such an interesting, skilful job!

Thanks escaped, I’m always impressed by the way my vet has handled my various dogs over many years. She manages my current sensitive lab brilliantly including timing any visits to avoid a wait area crowded with dogs he doesn’t know. She’s diagnosed and removed a cancerous lump in one 10 year old dog who lived happily another 3 years. Investigated and referred on a six year old spaniel who was found to have an inoperable tumour - came to our home to help him leave the suffering. Her people skills also excellent. Yes my vet bills/insurance costs are eye watering. Pets are expensive x

My vets (yes, one of the big six) have taken to cold-phone-calling me asking if I want to bring my 15-year-old cat in for a wellness check. She was only seen for her boosters 2 months ago.

We havnt had a pet for some years but when we did over many years we never insured them. Not sure there was pet insurance.

It is is big business now , massive in fact, and I am wondering whether the costs , which always were high, are now being demanded because most people seem to have pet insurance which in itself is very expensive and the big vet companies can charge what they can get away with because insurance pays. Until it doesn’t.
A friend had a dog which had a minor accident some years ago and hurt a leg. Not badly and it recovered quickly but the bill was over £7000.

We also don’t have pets now, we travel a lot, previously we had several Jack Russell types, they had their puppy vaccinations then never needed a vet, just worming and flea treatment, certainly no insurance.

It's a catch-22 situation when it comes to pet insurance though. Yes, it has undoubtedly pushed up the prices vets charge, but if you don't have it, you could easily face bills of several thousand pounds if your pet falls ill or is injured. And in the case of dogs, pet insurance normally includes third party cover too, which is something many people tend to forget about.

I am very grateful for pet insurance. I have just had to have my much-loved cat, Phoebe, put to sleep and am heartbroken, but at least I know she had all the scans and treatment necessary to ascertain what was wrong (bladder cancer) and to keep her comfortable while she was being assessed. The cost? Nearly £7,000 She was in the vet's hospital with 24 hour care for a week.

I am incredibly sad without her, as fellow petlovers will understand, but at least I know I did the best I could for her.

I have seen both men and women crying at the vet's when their pet is not insured and they can't afford to pay. I would never risk doing without insurance.

Sparkle I am so sorry about Phoebe. You will miss her, I know how sad I was when we lost our very special cat Josie, many years ago now.
My point was that before universal pet insurance, vet fees though not cheap were manageable. It’s only since city finance firms have bought up practices that the cost has risen so much.
The example I gave of my friends little dog is a case in point. £7000 !? Daylight robbery.

It's concerning to hear about the pressures vets are facing to increase revenue. The corporatization of veterinary practices and the ubiquity of pet insurance may contribute to rising costs. While these issues can deter potential pet owners, it's important to focus on ensuring ethical care and transparent pricing. If you consider adopting a pet in the future, researching independent vets or discussing treatment options and costs ahead of time could help alleviate some concerns. Open communication with your vet can ensure your pet receives necessary care without unnecessary procedures.

It was decided years ago by the vets’ governing bodies that dogs vaccinations last for years and annual boosters are not required. I told many people this but their vets went on sending annual reminders and possibly still do.
Pet owners need to do the research and know when they are being ripped off.

The problem is that not vaccinating probably invalidates your pet insurance and there’s also a problem if you have to put your dog into kennels.

None of our cats that we had over many years were vaccinated, it wasn’t the dine thing really, but they were taken to the vet if they were unwell and that was it. They all died quietly of old age at home, except for the last one.