My out of hours vet in the North West where I live is Pet Medics (who I dont like, but have no other choice).

I called into my own vet last night to pick up some medication for one of my dogs and the vet gave me a leaflet to say that in future, Pet Medics require a £500 deposit before they will treat your animal (or insurance details).

I was absolutely gobsmacked, and my vet is very unhappy with this but only found out about it yesterday. In an emergency situation, I could probably afford this (which would be knocked off the bill or the remainder returned after treatment) but it got me thinking about people who just cannot lay their hands on £500, what would they be expected to do?

Has anyone heard this before, and it this normal practice in this day and age?

Gabrielle

This is normal practice from my OOH (Vetsnow) For an estimated £3000 bill for GDV they wanted £1500. We have credit cards for this reason.

One of my dogs went to a lovely single parent in Brighton, a wonderful owner.

Some years later she rang me in the night saying VetsNow wanted a large sum up front before they would let her through the doors with her boxer bitch who appeared to be suffering bloat.
I had to ring the company and give my credit card details before they would open the doors to her.The lady had money enough to repay me but at after midnight,was unable to quickly lay her hands on a large sum.
I believe the RVC have censured VN over its 'closed door' policy.

I am just shocked I suppose that this appears to be quite normal. I just have visions of a really sick animal and an owner with no way of producing £500 at the time... what would happen?
I wonder if it is worth me contacting the RVC to complain?

They will give painkillers, or euthanise without payment but nothing more. I'm afraid first and foremost they are a business.

I have just spoken with the RCVS and they have requested a copy of the leaflet and will look into this further.

Business or not, these are peoples' animals and 'family members' and I can't believe they will not treat pets other than with pain relief or euthanasia without £500 being offered up front :-(

Unfortunately a sign of the times :( People are taking on animals without thinking of how they will pay a bill in an emergency AND vet bills are getting extremely expensive :( It's how things used to be for many families before the NHS :( :(

Unfortunately, vets must be suffering their fair share of bad debts like all other businesses to have to resort to this :( We don't think it strange to have to pay for a new cooker etc before buying.

Well hopefully the RCVS will do something about it... they asked me if I was sure about this, when I phoned and seemed quite shocked....

If my pet needed a vet in the middle of the night as an emergency, the last thing on my mind would be wondering where £500 was going to come from.... :-( I would know that I could pay the bill, but not everyone can lay their hands on money like that in an emergency situation.

It appears that Pet Medics is part of quite a big company called CVS UK limited.... :-(

I find the whole thing very sad :-(

Thanks for the comments.. :-)

> I find the whole thing very sad :-(

I agree - but if ALL people paid their bills in full and on time, none of this would be necessary :( :(

I agree - but if ALL people paid their bills in full and on time, none of this would be necessary :-( :-(

I couldn't disagree more. We are in this situation because vets no longer want to work out of hours. Newly qualified vets expect more or less a 9-5 job, whereas just a few years ago, all vets knew their job would involve some weekends, nights, early mornings etc. It was part and parcel of being a vet. Now all of a sudden somebody saw a business opportunity -offering vets to have regular working hours, with sleep every night. They didn't do it to help pet owners, they did it as a pure business, and of course once a few vets had taken them up on the offer, more and more followed, until it became the norm that vets no longer have to be available 24/7 -they have a separate company doing this for them. I know my own vet has said he could not get new employees if the work included out of hours.

The problem with the businesses doing the out of hours work is that they generally charge a lot MORE than our own vets would do when they did OOH. A LOT. And they don't know their clients, as they are never your regular vet. So when your own vet did OOH and you turned up in an emergency, if the vet had known you for years and knew you were trustworthy chances were he'd agree for you to pay another day -even if that day was just Monday. The OOH businesses can do no such thing. This is causing all sorts of problems. Not only for the pet owners, but for the animals, as people will of course now think not just once or twice but ten times about whether they REALLY need to see a vet on a night or on a Sunday, or could they manage to wait until Monday morning to see their own vet? The fact that Vets Now then in addition has a very poor reputation for their actual treatment of animals does nothing to help the situation. I know I will now rather wait to see my own vet, than see a stranger I have no trust in.

Unfortunately the people who can't afford this are the very ones who incorrectly think that Insurance will prevent them being in this situation.

I'm very lucky with my vet because they do there own out of hours and on accasion when I have had too use them they let me pay the next day if I want.
But I took out a debit card just for my dogs vet bills and keep just over a £1000 on it for emergencys.

I quite agree with what you are saying, Marianne - but, as you have pointed out, vets no longer want to operate in the way that they once did - they want to be a business now, with the advantages that that offers - not doing 24 hours etc. A business is a business whether it deals with pets or plumbing. Businesses only offer credit to those companies etc that have a good credit record - and they do check :) Why should vets be any different ?

Surely, if you have a gripe, it should be with your vet that no longer wants to operate OOH and has chosen that you have to deal with another company that doesn't know you (or it's other customers) and so can't offer credit ?? :) :) :) The OOH vets are also charging more which any other plumbing company etc would charge for this service and may also have far less customers than a day time vet, so have to factor this into their charges.

Having said all that, I am fortunate to have a vet that does operate it's own OOH service - how long this will continue I don't know :) :) But, as other people have said, they are prepared for emergencies either by having insurance or credit card etc, Maybe this is something that breeders should be quizzing their prospective buyers about - are they aware and prepared ?? :) :)

Surely, if you have a gripe, it should be with your vet that no longer wants to operate OOH ....

My vet has never offered an OOH service as she has always been one vet on her own in practice... (she now has a part time vet three days a week)... I am not thinking of myself in this as I would cope... I just feel for maybe the old person in the middle of the night who wouldn't necessarily have access to that sort of money... but is worried about their beloved pet.

It is a shame a 'caring profession' is becoming more business like... will wait and see what the RCVS say :-)

A business is a business whether it deals with pets or plumbing. Businesses only offer credit to those companies etc that have a good credit record - and they do check :-) Why should vets be any different ?

I agree -but the thing is, your normal vet will not phone up a credit agency and check your credit rating, he will go on past personal experience with you. Trust that you have built up. An OOH vet will simply not offer credit, end of story. There are people that simply may not have a good credit rating (and therefore will not have a credit card) but who may be perfectly good at always paying their vet -but in an emergency may need a day or two to get hold of the money. In fact I have one such puppy buyer.

Surely, if you have a gripe, it should be with your vet that no longer wants to operate OOH and has chosen that you have to deal with another company that doesn't know you (or it's other customers) and so can't offer credit ??

I can't blame my vet because as I said, if he did not use an OOH business, he would not get vets working for him, and it would be impossible for one vet to deal with all OOH work for a fairly large practice.

> It is a shame a 'caring profession' is becoming more business like

Unfortunately people see vets as they do the NHS - a bottomless pit (of taxpayers money) :) :) :) :)

I am lucky, my vets do operate an OOH service and as I have an account with them, I do not have to pay immediately. One particular vet will come out in an emergency, yes I do charged for it but It is worth it for peace of mind. If I had a vet that asked £500 up front, they would soon be on their way.

Yes we had this as they provide the OOH service for our vets .We had to take Betty in on Christmas day and we had to pay a £500 deposit before they would do investigations even though we said she was insured .

yes what a surprise,vets have decided they want a life too and even if they don't work ooh hours the job is a far cry away from 9-5!
try working nights after a busy day shift and then work another day after the night shift,or work friday pm till monday am,do you really like a vet to deal with an emergency when he or she i already knackered and close to break down?
the responsibilty to provide for their pets is with the owner and not the vet and if you have the means to pay your bills at a later date why not safe up or set money aside for a potential emergency but expect the vets to carry your can and rely on the promises to settle the bill in the future.
vets have been stung too many times and simple can not afford anymore to believe promises of payment which in many cases never take place.
a veterinary practice is a business which is nothing sinister just because they treat animals.
many pet owners are far too quick to blame their vets when they have not planned ahead and don't realise it is their responsibilty to care for their animals which includes finances and transport to a vet . so much easier to shout abuse when the the s... hits the fan and blame the evil money grubbing vets.
time people wake up  take a good look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their own shortcomings

time people wake up  take a good look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their own shortcomings

Where did all that ranting come from all of a sudden? I think every single poster here have said they are happy with their own vet, but not the out of hours ones -and one big reason for that is that you will be dealing with strangers. Finding a good vet isn't easy, it is something that matters a lot to all of us and that we tend to take a great deal of care with, so having to see one we have NOT met before and have trust in when it matters the MOST (i.e. in an emergency) isn't nice.

time people wake up  take a good look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their own shortcomings

Er, where did anyone blame their vets ??? I don't have any shortcomings... I have the money to pay luckily, I was thinking of someone who may have an emergency in the night and not have access to funds....

If I needed a reminder why I never post on here any more, you have just given it to me....

Thanks for all your comments guys... I will post back when I hear from the RCVS...

Gabrielle

>time people wake up  take a good look in the mirror and stop blaming others for their own shortcomings

The lady I described HAD the money, had a caring day time vet and bloat was an unexpected crisis, she was just one of those people who didnt like credit cards and I'm pleased that their ruling body agreed that VetsNow were being callous with their customer.

Having £1000 available to you at 2am doesn't make you a better person, a better dog owner or a more worthy client.

I absolutely agree Tooolz...... this is exactly what I thought.

I am hoping the same will be thought of Pet Medics...

Im no lover of vets but, UNLESS, theres some kind of oath or law then they can do as they want. They are in private practice, the same as private doctors but they have to swear hypocratic oath, which is not a law & if they dont want to accept someone they do not have to so. I'm not really surprised at that vet, the next time I meet/find one who I trust & charges reasonable fees then I'll probably write something about that, I'm not expecting the day will come when I will ever write such a post.
.

Can I also point out to the 'ranter' that keeping over £500 at home is not usually covered by your household insurance. So god forbid, but if you were burgled, most insurance companies would only give you £500 compensation and the rest would be considered a loss whether its £50 over or £5000. You also need to remember that you need to pay the access to get this which could be anything from £100 upwards.

I do not keep cash at home, have a credit card or a huge overdraft limit on my debit card but would like to consider myself a caring, considerate pet owner with their best interest at heart, who will get them help if they ever need it.

Also, all good and well comparing a vet with a plumber but last time I checked, there are methods to heat water/your house, stop leaks etc should your boiler etc stop working and am pretty sure it wouldn't be in pain, although it would be an inconvenience.  If a pet has been involved in a RTA its would be a pretty sick vet who demanded cash upfront while the animal bleeds to death. Even private hospitals allow you to settle the bill after treatment. Same as dentists too no? Why should OOH vets be any different - especially when you are insured?

My vet is great but the only surgery that I can use with their own OOH service is over an hour away, in derby. I refuse to use vets now.

If a pet has been involved in a RTA its would be a pretty sick vet who demanded cash upfront while the animal bleeds to death. Even private hospitals allow you to settle the bill after treatment. Same as dentists too no? Why should OOH vets be any different - especially when you are insured?

I may have told the story before, cannot remember, but cutting a long story short, even some normal vets can be as callous as this. My former vet was. He DID do his own out of hours, the only vet in the area that did. I had a totally unexpected emergency -a dog that literally was bleeding to death after a fight with another. Called the vet, who said they would not give us any credit, and it would be around £900 to sedate and stitch the dog plus keep him overnight. This was approximately half an hour after normal surgery hours so not late or at a weekend. The vet didn't even have to come out as he lived on the premises. I did not have that kind of money available right that moment, for all sorts of reasons, so I called my dad who was alive then. He promised to pay the vet bill but as he lived in Sweden it would take roughly a week to get the money to me. We called the vet back and explained and at first they tried to refuse to treat the dog because they would not be paid up front. And this was a dog that was bleeding heavily where every second counted. Eventually they gave in and agreed to wait a week. To top it all they then threatened to report me to the RSPCA for having had two dogs fight! Needless to say I changed vets after that. My current vet is brilliant, and will put the animal FIRST, which is what I believe all vets should do. Yes they run a business and I certainly don't begrudge them making a good profit, but why would anyone become a vet if they didn't love animals and had their best interests at heart? It truly ISN'T the same as being a plumber.

The last time we needed OOH a few years ago Vets Now wanted £500 before they would look at our dog - 2 days before payday and a couple of weeks before Christmas, whilst I had the money in a saving account I didn't have it in my current account, or in cash, so they refused to treat him :(

Fortunately it was only a few hours before our usual vet opened so we were there waiting at the door with a very poorly dog, who sadly passed away just a few weeks later.

How many of us who may or may not choose to insure, keep money set aside in a savings account, rather than a current account? I know I do. How many banks are open at midnight to draw cash out of a savings account - I can't name one....

I understand about vets being a business, I also understand that non-payers make the situation worse for everyone, but I'm so please that the vets we've chosen for our current dog run their own out of hours, they've teamed up with another small local practice to help share the load which I think it a brilliant idea. They also offer a pay later facility for regular clients if an emergency bill is too large for upfront payment.

>How many of us who may or may not choose to insure, keep money set aside in a savings account, rather than a current account? I know I do. How many banks are open at midnight to draw cash out of a savings account - I can't name one....

I refuse to have a Credit Card as I am not sufficiently well off to know I would not get into financial difficulties with it.

Any savings I have I do not keep in a current account (so as not to spend it), I do have a £500 overdraft facility, on my current account, and another account that is no longer available to new customers with £3000, ut at a very uncompetitive rate..

Out of hours though there is no way to draw out more than £300 from a cash point for goodness sake.

I have no idea what my Credit worthiness is.

I have absolutely no debts, but no real savings either, paid mortgage off 18 months ago, all bills paid on time by Direct Debit. 

As I understand it having an overdraft even if untouched (as I keep mine) is a negative against your credit.  As I understand it you build up good credit by paying off things, but if you make sure you don't buy on credit your credit worthiness can be poor.

What a ridiculous, uncalled for rant.

I am very happy with my vet, but they outsource their OOH care and I dread needing to use it for 2 reasons. First (& the less important reason) I think they charge too much for their procedures. Yes, there will be a fee to cover the OOH bit, but once that fee is levied, they shouldn't charge more for the procedure, medication etc.

My main worry though is that my dogs would not get as high a standard of care as they would at my usual vet. There would be an absence of medical records, just when they would be needed most (dep on what the emergency was).

No one is suggesting that vets should have to work mad hours. A well organised practice should be able to rota effectively to avoid this. In my opinion being a vet is one of the careers that require people to be able to work shift type patterns. Nurses manage it, hospital doctors manage it, commercial cleaners manage it. It just goes with the territory.

I had a similar situation about a year ago, it was during the day and the dog was covered by insurance, but the vet wanted £500 pounds up front before they would treat the dog for a blockage. They faxed the insurance company (Animal Friends) but because they could not give an immediate agreement that they would pay the claim they said I needed to pay £500 there and then.
I have a savings account with the post office that is kept for emergencies, so I had to literally had to go and find a post office and draw out the money before they would start the operation. The Insurance company did agree to pay the bill but it did not come through till later in the day, god knows what would have happened if I had not had money in a savings account and the Post Office was open, presumably they would have left the dog suffering until I could raise the funds.

If you are in the North West I can recommend the Animal Trust  www.animaltrust.org.uk  They are a not for profit vets and do not charge consultation fees. I have found them to be very reasonable. They have branches in Bolton, Burnley and Failsworth. They are a charity but you do not need to be on benefits. The practise in failsworth is modern fully equipped and you are seen by appointment, and all the vets are lovely.

The previous vets I went to were in Shaw, Rochdale, the also bumped the bill up considerably as soon as the Insurance said they would pay. They originally quoted a price of £800 if their was a problem with the Insurance company, but the final claim got bumped up to £1800 !!!

I had a dog that had an inoperable cancer, the first vet was charging approx. £80 per visit for pain killers or antibiotics. When I changed to the animal trust they only charged for the medication so my bills went down to about £20.

Forgot to say, Animal Trust are also open 9-5 on a Sat & Sunday so very useful if you need to see a vet at the weekend.

but if you make sure you don't buy on credit your credit worthiness can be poor.

This is true, the more credit you have the better credit score it makes, if you are not in the system you are invisible, you could have no debt at all and yet you can't or couldn't (might be different now) even get instant free credit as you are not known.

Today, there are many credit card issuers who will start you off small..... say a £200 credit limit if you have no previous cards etc, all they need to know is that you have an income of approx £5,000 coming from where ever they don't really care. Both my sons in part-time jobs whilst going through Uni had an emergency card, they both bought a T-shirt to start them off and paid it off, made them have excellent credit, those cards values go up and up and up, along with a flood of others coming through their doors, they don't spend, the card just sits in their wallets and they both have a £2,000 credit limit on them now......... yep ridiculous! My sons keep ringing me up laughing saying guess how much we have now?..........

So, yes, you can get one Brainless, tbh with the amount of dogs you have, and the way that vets operate today, I think you need one, even with insurance many vets want payment first, they hold us to ransom.

Saw how one friends vet was with her dog, I was disgusted, she came to me crying as they refused to do an emergency operation at £1,600 without payment first, even though she'd been with them for 10yrs. It was pay up or dog dies.......... disgusting, I was mortified for her, and had to go down there with my card, cross wasn't the word (not with my friend, but the vet) not many people could find that money in an hour or so,

I really can't stress enough how important it is today to be able to get to that money, vets today...... well some make my blood boil......

I keep being offered Credit Cards by both my banks, but having never applied don't know if I'd actually get one.  I always worry about security, as they seem less secure than my Debit card.

so some people here don't like to keep cash at home ,have a large overdraft,money is on another account,don't like credit cards aso sorry but this has nothing to do with the vet it is you problem and you have to figure out how to provide for your pets and don't expect vets to do this for you.
of course an emergency is unexpected it's in the name but again it is the responsibilty of any pet owner to plan for situations like this and don't pass the buck to their vet.
yes nurse,doctors,cleaners and others work shifts too,funny enough nobody thinks they do it for free or the promise of payment at a later date.
by the way, manchester animal trust is not a charity nor do they work without profit,just a very clever business set up with a name that likes to fool the public.

My last Out of Hours visit was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business dealing with out of hours, I probably would have doen ti soner as it was it was £130 consult fee, with the bill coming to nearly £200,

My last Out of Hours visit was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business dealing with out of hours, I probably would have doen ti soner as it was it was £130 consult fee, with the bill coming to nearly £200,

My last Out of Hours visit was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business dealing with out of hours, I probably would have doen ti soner as it was it was £130 consult fee, with the bill coming to nearly £200,

My last Out of Hours visit was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business dealing with out of hours, I probably would have doen ti soner as it was it was £130 consult fee, with the bill coming to nearly £200,

My last Out of Hours visit was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business dealing with out of hours, I probably would have doen ti soner as it was it was £130 consult fee, with the bill coming to nearly £200,

My last Out of Hours visit was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business dealing with out of hours, I probably would have doen ti soner as it was it was £130 consult fee, with the bill coming to nearly £200,

My last Out of Hours visit in 2011 was to put to sleep my dying bitch at 9pm.

Had the practice (who are my usual vets weekend cover) told me to come before 7pm otherwise it was a totally different business (Vets Now) dealing with out of hours only, I probably would have come in sooner ( I kept hoping it wasn't going to be the end) as it was, I wanted the my daughter to be able to say her goodbyes, and I could not see watch here struggle until Monday morning.

It was £130 consult fee to be seen, with the bill coming to nearly £200, which I paid there and then.

£500 though I would not have had or expected.

I now go to Vets for Pets in Pets at home at weekends.

Problem is now many people will maybe now have to wait with their pet until office hours.

>yes nurse,doctors,cleaners and others work shifts too,funny enough nobody thinks they do it for free or the promise of payment at a later date.

Of course they do - they get a salary at the end of the month, which is paid in arrears.

Exactly. If I do an on call shift I don't go banging on payrolls door when I turn up at work to be paid before I do the work-what a ridiculous notion.

My vets are great and have their own 24 centre. I cannot believe some of these stories I've just read; I thought people had compassion.

Most services are C.O.D.

yes nurse,doctors,cleaners and others work shifts too,funny enough nobody thinks they do it for free or the promise of payment at a later date.

When my husband works overtime he doesn't see the extra payment for well over another month as it will go onto the next month's salary. Same thing. And dentists tend to be perfectly happy to let you pay within 28 days if you have an emergency, whether they know you or not, and doctors and hospitals don't want payment from you at all, so not comparable. The AA had to come out to my husband not long ago when the car developed a problem on his way to work. It was fixed easily enough under the policy but also needed some oil added which wasn't covered, and my husband had no cash or even a card on him. Again they simply billed him, payment within 28 days please. They will even do that if people run out of petrol which truly is a self inflicted problem that can be avoided. I have more similar examples. The washing machine repairman we use will bill you, so will the plumber and the car mechanic and BT if you develop a fault which caused by you so chargeable. And yes my vet too!

> Most services are C.O.D

I have to disagree Barbara (Brainless). Nearly all the services I've used in the last few months have billed me.
I've just had all my carpets cleaned, top to bottom and they sent me a bill. Replacement window glass, garage door...I could go on.

I pay my handyman, dog nanny and window cleaners in arrears.

I'm also lucky that my own vet does her own out of hours service so I get a great continuity of service....I really pity those who have no local service other than VetsNow.
I know of a dying dog, on a drip .....which was emptied out onto the street at 8am with his hysterical owner...told to get a taxi to her own vet as they were now CLOSED!

It may be a business but NO vet that I've known would agree that was what they signed up for.

What I was most annoyed at for the dog with a blockage, was that the vets had confirmed I had  valid Insurance, they had phoned the company, so surely they should not leave an animal suffering. I had also confirmed that if for any reason the Insurance did not pay then I would pay the bill anyway. I offered to pay £200 on account but they wanted £500 before they would operate.

Regarding Animal Trust  I can only relate is my own experience. At the previous vets I was being charged every couple of weeks £80 for treatment for a dog with terminal cancer.
When I went to AT for the same medication I was charged only £20 and it was a larger size, also when I went for interim check ups I wasn't charged anything and they were a lot more compassionate and caring.
Over several months it was a considerable difference.  I did not have Insurance for this dog due to her age and had always kept money in the savings account for emergencies.
I have car Insurance if I have an accident I do not expect to have to pay any excess or an on account payment upfront at the side of the road !!

>don't pass the buck to their vet.

Are you serious?

How is expecting the vet to see to an animal in an emergency situation, BEFORE asking for any money 'passing the buck'?! I'm expecting the vet to exercise a little compassion, that's all... I don't think it's too much to ask :)

Just a thought...if owners can be prosecuted for failing to provide treatment to an animal or by causing unnecessary suffering could a vet refusing to treat until prepayment is made be accountable in the same way? I don't want anyone to go to prison here but surely by leaving obviously seriously injured/ill animals untreated whilst waiting for funds to 'clear'  must amount to some sort  of cruelty??

>I know of a dying dog, on a drip .....which was emptied out onto the street at 8am with his hysterical owner...told to get a taxi to her own vet as they were now CLOSED!

Wow.  Now that has brought a lump to my throat.  I am so lucky.  I can't believe the stories I'm hearing.  I don't have the cheapest vets in the county.  It is a large tier 3 veterinary hospital, and, although they have a lot of vets I'm fortunate to know them all.  They don't have a fast turnaround, so, over the years I've seen them all.

One of my dogs had an accident earlier in the year, while I was away on holiday.  Only down at the caravan with 4 dogs, but my dog sitter rang me to say what had happened.  He wasn't prepared to make any decisions (naturally.)  It did end up being an amputation, and a vet rang me after he had exhausted every experienced orthopaedic expert he could think of.  Sent x-rays by email (after phoning them) and every single one said that the bones on a Chihuahua wouldn't allow a repair job.  I won't go into detail, but suffice to say I raced home.  The dog had to stay overnight after surgery.  The vet who had phoned me for permission to operate, was waiting for me the following day (he was one of the partners), and showed me just how bad the x-rays were.

I was blown away when he brought my boy in, and the dog immediately jumped up to welcome me.  Don't know what I was expecting, but not that!  When he said the cost was over £800 I must have looked shocked.  He said, I'll tell the girls to split the payment over 2 or 3 months.  Money had not been discussed over the phone.  My vet does seem to be the only one in the county doing their own OOH.  Am I just lucky?