Vets, bills and anger

So the dog gets poorly and starts pooing blood. (sorry, but its relevant)

So we take her to the vet. We get told that we've just caught it in time, and its an intestinal infection of sorts that hasn't yet spread to the bowel.

We get prescribed a carrierbag full of drugs to flush out the nasties and start building gut flora back up from scratch. Cost? £96. I believe this (cos I am not a vet) and we go home to administer the drugs, after booking a check up on the Monday to make sure shes getting better, not worse.

So poorly girl starts feeling better on Saturday and Sunday and goes back for a checkup Monday PM.

"all appears well" says the vet, in 3 minutes flat, and ushers us out of the room, back to reception where we are billed an extra £22 "consultation" and shown the door.

Am I annoyed? Yes.
Is this normal? I don't know.

I'd have assumed the post checkup would have been included, given it was just straightforward? I could have done what was done at home, without vet qualifications. No listening, poking, feeling or anything. Just looking.

I'm thinking of changing vets, just because of this. 3 minutes.

Thats £440 an hour...at that rate (literally)

I understand vets have to cover costs, and you're paying for their knowledge, expertise and expensive training, but this is taking the ****, isn't it?

Before it is said, yes, I know that without the correct prescription she could have died, all I'm getting at is what is "reasonable".

(That equates to an annual income, before tax of about £839,142p.a, by the way)

[timwilky]

Just the reason to have insurance or payment plan. Jasper managed to clock up £122 of bills in the past month because of an allergy. We asked why when he is on plan and was told. Oh, mistake by the girl who sends out the bills, nothing to pay

[rowdy]

My job involves me going around vetinary surgerys and collecting blood samples and believe me what you have been charged is small fry compaired to some of the bills that I hear people being charged, I'm talking thousands of pounds here. Vets have to be so well qualified because their patients can not tell them what is the matter with them like us humans can , I think it takes something like 7 years for them to be qualified.
Our cat became pregnant and on the morning of the birth the first kitten had become stuck on the way out. This happened at about 5 in the morning and my wife called the vet, we were told that the call out charge would be 250 big ones plus other expenses, or we could cover our hands in fairy liquid and without being to graphic pull the cat out ourselves. No prizes for guessing which option we took, but unfortunately the first kitten's liquid sack that they are born in had burst and the kitten had swallowed the lot and when I eventually managed to get him out his back end looked like a water balloon, but he passed away moments later. He was followed by 4 more cats that were all healthy, but if the first kitten hadn't come out we would have lost the lot ,mother included. It may have saved us about 400 quid but I sure wish there was a vet there at the time.

[G]

My mum and dads German Shepard is forever in the Vets.

He has a really bad skin infection so he HAS to be left on steroids. But the vet wont prescribe repeat priscription, he has to see the dog every 2 weeks or so at full 'consultation' cost.

Rediculous really, its worth it to see Jake happy and not in agony though.

Built like a body builder now though lol he's huge.

We are currently £900 down to our local vets, saying that our Dennis has had two ops now and spent a few days in the vets overnight, worth every penny tbh.

Originally Posted by G

Built like a body builder now though lol he's huge.

You should pimp him out Fridays and Saturday nights as doorstaff, make him earn his keep

I'd hate to see animals suffer, so I'd have to say that I agree that vets do a fantastic job, in summary.

Originally Posted by rowdy

My job involves me going around vetinary surgerys and collecting blood samples and believe me what you have been charged is small fry compaired to some of the bills that I hear people being charged, I'm talking thousands of pounds here. Vets have to be so well qualified because their patients can not tell them what is the matter with them like us humans can , I think it takes something like 7 years for them to be qualified.
Our cat became pregnant and on the morning of the birth the first kitten had become stuck on the way out. This happened at about 5 in the morning and my wife called the vet, we were told that the call out charge would be 250 big ones plus other expenses, or we could cover our hands in fairy liquid and without being to graphic pull the cat out ourselves. No prizes for guessing which option we took, but unfortunately the first kitten's liquid sack that they are born in had burst and the kitten had swallowed the lot and when I eventually managed to get him out his back end looked like a water balloon, but he passed away moments later. He was followed by 4 more cats that were all healthy, but if the first kitten hadn't come out we would have lost the lot ,mother included. It may have saved us about 400 quid but I sure wish there was a vet there at the time.

Thats the thing see, as soon as you start to weigh up how much a life "costs", it all gets complicated / irrelevant

Originally Posted by stewie

We are currently £900 down to our local vets, saying that our Dennis has had two ops now and spent a few days in the vets overnight, worth every penny tbh.

Jeesus. What is Dennis, and is he insured?

Originally Posted by ooger

Jeesus. What is Dennis, and is he insured?

half collie, half german sheperd from what we can tell, and no he,s not insured tbh, we realised too late and he was to old at 7 to have him insured, he,s 15 now and these are the first health issues he,s ever had so cant complain really.

by comparison, does anyone know the list price for a private human consultation of similar duration?