Im new to your web site but have read all the threads for a while and must praise your the sound advice you give. Well done.
I would like to ask if anyone has had to seek emergency veterinary treatment and at what cost?
When my vets close by me we have to go to the PDSA centre where they have a Vets Now Clinic. A while ago I was due to go to a show on a saturday morning when one of my dogs was sick (typical) so we stayed at home, he was only sick the once and was a little quiet so I kept an eye on him as you do. Now my vets close at 11.30am on a saturday. Come the afternoon he was still very quiet and when I took his temperature again it was high so off to this clinic we went bear in mind this was saturday afternoon the vets were very good. When I came to pay the bill in came to £230.00 pound of that £68.00 was a consultation fee FOR A SATURDAY AFTERNOON!!! if it was 3 in the morning you might justify it I nearly fell to the floor. Has anyone else out there had this would love to hear from you.

regards
June

Yes I had the same last year, when one of our pups was poorly.  We called the out of hours vet and she said a vet was on his way into surgery for another dog too and if we got there at the same time, we could share the 'call out fee'......it still cost us £196 of which £80 was consultation, I paid it because like all of us on here I would hate to see any of my animals suffer!

When we contacted ours a few weeks ago for an evening call they said it would be £55 consultation/call out fee and then any treatment/medicines on top
But if you are worried or your pet is ill you have to pay it - simple as

i havve never been in the situation but i thought it was around the same cost's of out of hours vet appointment.(emergency app) at own vets.
our vets have an out of hours clinic which i think is the pdsa like yours leomad. but we haven't needed it yet.but it is true if he needed it then cost is not the issue,he has it but it does seem step to pay £80 for seeing them.we usually pay about £25.
i wonder if there is different prices for different sized dogs instead of the same for every one?
  

I am the sort of owner that will not wait for my own vets to be open. I love my dogs far to much for that and would never see them suffer. I dont mind paying I just thought £68.00 to walk through a door rarther steep. Again in the middle of the night maybe but not on a saturday afternoon

When one of my dogs was bitten on a Saturday afternoon, the consultation/callout fee was £60, instead of the usual £18. And this was 4 years ago! But it's the same fee whether it's Saturday afternoon or the middle of Sunday night.

A friend recently phoned her vets and spoke to a junior vet. She was at the end of the afternoon surgery and said that she would wait for my friend to get to the surgery. The friend arrived 10 minutes after the surgery closed, but was still charged £50 'callout'. A few months later when she saw the senior partner about another matter, he asked why she had been charged the callout previously and was furious when she explained. He reduced the bill by £20 (I think) and told her to report it to him if she was charged similarly again.

Daisy

I have heard people in dogdom saying that they waited for there vets to open and often wondered why. I have to say that I would rather pay and have peace of mind. But how many animals out there suffer (not just dogs.... cats rabbits mice etc. all loved pets) because of this? and have to wait for there own vets to open. I have great respect for my vets been with them for years... Hell they roll out the red carpet for me I paid for there extension (only joking....Not) As I type they have one of my dogs in for xrays

At times you have to expect to pay for someone to be on the end of the phone, to come out to you or open the surgery for you, I do not think £60 to £80 is too much when you concided how long and detailed advice they will give you over the phone, even in the middle of the night, without charge.The vet has to be paid for their 24 hour service whether anyone wishes to see them in person or just phone for advice.

Out of hours vets are very expensive.  I had to take my old cat to one at 7pm for him to basically tell me what I knew - he didn't have long to go.  I paid £120, only £10 of that was for the painkiller.

On the other hand, I phoned the out of hours vet once at 3am (probably got him out of bed!) because I was worried about Copper's serious kennel cough.  He told me to give him a co-codamol (part of) and not to worry.  Everything was then fine.  Dog stopped coughing and went to sleep.  Cost me the price of a phone call.

I think its swings and roundabouts here folks. 

CG

Our vets must be extra special!  Three years ago our older dog decided to jump off the top of a disused quarry (only way I can think of to describe it, a place where stone had been cut out many many moons ago), realised he wasn't going to make it, scrabbled his paws in the air (like a cartoon character going over the top of a cliff and realising no ground beneath!) landed about 25 feet down, on his neck, and rolled head over paws for a further couple of dozen feet down the slope to the bottom.  On a Sunday morning!  Vet met us at the surgery, gave him a thorough examination, stitched up the one and only cut he had from the accident, gave two injections and a course of antibiotics and the whole bill was only £50!!!!!!!

We were extremely pleasantly surprised, we had expected much, much more, even though our Vet's bills are always very reasonable indeed.  I don't have a problem with them charging whatever it takes to meet their costs and make a decent profit, but maybe that is because I know our vets don't charge rip off prices :)  After all, at least they will still come out to you if need them to, which is more than can be said of Doctors in lots of places these days ;)

Lesley

My vets are fantastic, wouldn't take my dog's anywhere else but it cost me £51 to have Buffy looked at at 4pm one monday afternoon. She had caught her tail in the back door and i thought it was broken, i phoned the vet and they said that i caould bringf her in a normal appointment an hour later but i wanted her seen there and then so they squeezed us in between appointments. She hadn't broken her tail so it cost us just for the vet to say she was fine. The way i see it i paid for piece of mind. :)

Debbie

when my yorkie was very poorly out of hours had to use  emergency vet  on a sunday afternooni believe they charged double if i remember it was early in the year. my boy was very poorly at they time they found a large tumour,i think they charge double time 

A friend of mine had cause to use the emergency vet a couple of weeks ago. It was 2300hrs, and they phoned their surgery only to hear a recorded message saying that they didn't do an out of hours service anymore, and referred them to the PDSA vets 20 miles away.
The consultation was approx £96.00, for the pleasure.
Yet my vets do a call out, and when i had to go earlier this year, was charged £50. Some vets exploit the situation, i think.
I personally think it pays to stay with the smaller practise, but then again, it all depends on what you want.

I always say my vet is a saint!! Saturday evening, anaesthetic & XRays & antibiotics & painkillers & anti-inflammatory tabs, vet on duty called senior vet out to be sure - £55.00.

I rang the vets on the Sunday before Bath due to the fact my girlie had a lump caused by a reaction to anti biotic the vet had given them I was told that I would have to pay a call out fee which I believe was 60.00.  Bearing in mind this was a bank holiday weekend I didnt have any option.  The lump was huge and at the time we didnt know what it was but the vet did seem really reluctant to come out at all and asked me about 3 times if I was sure I couldnt wait until Tuesday!  When we got there she had to lance it and told me if I had waited it could have been really serious. 

in all respect to the vets, they work long hours and they often have families, and when they are called out during out of hours, it's taking them away from their home life. we can't expect them to be on call for us 24 hours a day and not get anything extra

Here we have an emergency clinic that is for the clients of several vets in the area.  All of them got together and formed this clinic with superb facilities.  It is open every night from 7pm-8am, every weekend, bank holidays, x mas the lot!  No calling out, just turn up, but obviously its better to ring so they can prepare for you.  You can go at any time if you are worried about anything.  Yes its expensive, they have between £40-£70 consultation fee depending on the time of day/night, but there are staff and nurses there 24/7.  Excellent facility, glad we have it.
Dawn.

When one of my dogs had a swollen head we were lucky to get an appointment almost immediately, later in the evening when things seemed to be getting worse I phoned the vet at around 10pm and met them at the surrgery, extra cost for this was £3 for the tablets & the vet phoned next day to see if things had improved.
Please also remember that if a vet nurse is required they sometimes have to travel to get to the surgery so you have the cost of that to consider as well.
My worst experience wasn't with my vet, it was when on of my dogs left a small puncture wound in another dog, the lady phoned the vet for an appointement and was told not to worry the vet would call in on the way home as he passed the house.  To park his car in the drive cost £85, they were horrified when I gave them a copy of the paid account and changed vets !!!!!!

My friends cavalier collapsed at our house & we rushed him to my vets as they were nearer-sadly on the way he died & when we got to the vets my vet confirmed he had died & arranged the cremation & return of his ashes on my friends behalf-The charge-Nothing at all even though the vet & nurse went to the surgery especially for us(it was a sunday pm)

Even when I had to rush another dog there who had Lymphoma & who had also collapsed & was PTS I was charged just the normal fee & they arranged the cremation & return of his ashes & that was over 14 years ago

Our vets have a co-op with other vets in the area and they share out the on-calls.  I've had to phone for advice on about 3-4 occasions - costing me the cost of a phone call. great advice, and we were able to see our vets the next day in one of the circumstances.  On another occasion Chlesea got bit and we needed to go in right away.  I think we paid £75 for everything which was the consultation, a day's worth of pain killers and the exam/cleaning/shaving of the wound.  Would I do it again - in a heartbeat.  And we have insurance which covered all costs after the $50 including the following day's appointment at our regular vets and the next few days worth of meds.

I think the piece of mind to know that there is someone available 24 hours is well worth it.  And as someone else pointed out - these people have a life too.  I know areas in the US that have NO out of hours treatment - what do you do??

Wendy

My dog insurance covers the cost of my call out fees, but I rarly us it, about a year ago I had a poorly, 4 week puppy that had the runs and at 1.30am I could not stand the thought of the puppy going all night and being dehydrated so called the vet, we met him at the surgery with the puppy and another puppy that I was worried about, there was another lady with a small kitten, he gave both pups an injection and a bottle of medicine and dropper to continue the next day, total cost £20. When holly my daughters yorkie had pups her milk did not come down so he called  in on his way home to give an injection, he lives in the next village, he came injected her and said not to bother about cost as he was on the way home. He is about 67, looks like an old age hippy with pony tail and the woodstock t shirt and the best vet I could find for everyday ailments, I hope he lives for ever.

All these charges seem remarkably fair compared to the call out fees of plumbers, electricians etc, even compared to seeing a Doctor privately within sociable hours.