How much do your vets charge for a prescription to allow you to buy drugs online. Last night my vet charged me £18.80 just for a prescription for Milbemax as the tablets were so much cheaper online, and after paying this amount for the prescription I still saved a massive amount. Why do vets have to be so greedy, our dog is on Milbemax daily ( advised by the referral vet ) and I needed to buy 100 tablets. My vet was charging £560 for the 100, I bought them online for £360 including delivery and vat

our vets only charge £8 per prescription

> Why do vets have to be so greedy

Here is one vet's explanation along with comments from other vets.

Just out of interest why is she on milbemax daily? Is it for lungworm?
£7.36 for a prescription here down south.

£5.76, just checked their web site..........it used to be 2.50 but went up about 2 yrs ago
Chris

Just out of interest why is she on milbemax daily? Is it for lungworm?

She was misdiagnosed by our vet and treated for thyroid and allergies until eventually referred where they quickly found out she was absolutely smothered in Demodex and had been for 18 months. She was virtually bald with black skin and sores all over. The referral vet was horrified that she had been allowed to go on for so long undiagnosed. Her thyroid was not a problem and she doesn't have allergies, but all the wrong medication used up all of her £4000 insurance, so now we are having to pay.( £2500 so far ) Our vet will not admit to a wrong diagnosis and we know that 2 of our dogs would not be here now if it wasn't for the ops he did for them in the middle of the night on 2 occasions, so we are loath to really make a big fuss and change vets because he is usually so good. She is on 4 Milbemax per day  until she is really clear of Demodex ( along with baths etc ) so very costly to our pocket especially when he is charging £18.80 for a prescription. We had to pay this again twice today for another 2 prescriptions for two different antibiotics that she is on as well, to enable us to buy these online. Her new insurance kicks in again mid Dec so we are trying to keep going with the costs until then, although I do feel he could, in the circumstances have not charged so much for the prescriptions.

I know it is a tricky subject but have you discussed finances with him? 
As you are making such bulk purchases perhaps they would consider a better price to supply you themselves.

We told him that we were having to pay out of our pockets for the time being and couldn't afford the surgery prices and could he do bulk discounts on the meds or help in any way, and he just shrugged and said, well buy online then.

What a helpful individual he was.

I took Douglas to a new vet...in a bit of an emergency he had eaten a bone the day before and was pooing blood. I phoned the normal vet for advice to be told..Well if you think he needs to see us,  come on Monday..it was Friday. In desperation, I called the vets at Pet at Home, it was now 6.20pm. The receptionist spoke to the vet, who advised get him down  she will wait until  you arrive. On arrival, I opened my purse to find I only had £40 and no card. Panicked I told the vet how much I had on me and she tailored the most effective treatment to the amount of money in my wallet. Not only did she check him out for the aforementioned bone. But gave him a thorough exam and offered me a cup of tea, to calm me. The overall service both myself and Douglas got was second to none. Hence I have changed vets. With them its not about the money, its about YOU and the pet.

With PAH check very carefully what their out of hours policy is. When I lived near Portsmouth a friend's Great Dane had an emergency so i drove them to their PAH. The vet wanted to leave the dog completely unattended overnight in the consulting room.
Ref script charges. My old vet in Boston (Lincs) didn't charge at all. Of the 2 vet practices uo here, one charges £21.50, the other charges £12. When I asked the latter why they charge this he said 'We charge half what an appointment fee is'. All very well but it's not like you're speaking to him for half the time of an average consult just for him to write a script out is it?

It is easier getting an appointment with the vet than my own Doctor

I've been wondering this, I wanted to look at buying a prescription for advocate and my vet charges £13 for each size I need.  I need 5 sizes so thats £65 before I even start.  Totally not worth it.

Its all bussiness to them they dont appear to be for the welfare of the animal. I think if they lowered cost a bit more there would be better looked after pets. Some people just cant afford the silly costs.

I can't see how they justify charging an after hours consultation fee of £133+, which is what I was charged (plus cremation etc) when Kizi was PTS on a Saturday evening. 

I am sure many people faced with a dog obviously dying would have waited for them to go on their own or waited until the Monday.  She was already unconscious before we got to the vet.

The staff are at the vet hospital covering 24/7 anyway, and with such charges may well be sitting twiddling their thumbs mostly after supervising inpatients.

> The staff are at the vet hospital covering 24/7 anyway

I would imagine it would only be auxiliary staff if no patients are requiring attention with the veterinary staff on standby.
I wonder how much a solicitor or doctor would charge for an out of hours consultation.

> I wonder how much a solicitor or doctor would charge for an out of hours consultation.

Wouldn't think there would ever be a need for a solicitor out of hours, except where people are arrested.  So wonder how much over normal the duty solicitor that is at the Police stations gets paid.

Our normal vets consultation in hours is under £30, so the evening charge was well over 4 times that, and only just after evening surgery hours, not middle of the night call out.

> Wouldn't think there would ever be a need for a solicitor out of hours, except where people are arrested. 

There are other things such as emergency injunctions, but no I don't think people would use them out of hours unless they absolutely had to because of the fees! :)
Similarly doctors.  You would not expect to use an out of hours private doctor without a hefty bill.

I sometimes have to remind myself how lucky I am with my vet.
When my bitch whelped we took her to the surgery where she had an injection of Oxytocin and a wait while a puppy was delivered. She came home and had a couple of puppies at home, eventually we went back to the surgery at 11pm for an Xray, more Oxytocin and a 2 hour stay while 2 more pups were delivered. Another Xray to check, antibiotics and more Oxytocin. Total bill was less than £300 :)