Has anyone any idea why vets don't display their prices ie £60 for spaying, £20 for boosters. And why prices are not - standard throughout the country? I mean I imagine drugs are the same price regardless ?

Karen

Overheads are going to vary enormously, running a property, paying staff etc is obviously going to be a heck of a lot more in the Home Counties that in the Borders.  Some vets might choose to work very long hours and others may choose life! and pay for locums to provide some cover.
The size of practice i.e. ordering power may affect the price of the drugs, dressings etc.
I think most vets will tell you their standard charges if you phone them up.

Our vet does display by reception prices for boosters, castration, spaying etc. Prices couldn't possibly be the same throughout the country as no two vets have the same overheads, premises, standard of facilities etc etc and prices for things like insurance, council rates vary from place to place :)

Daisy

My vet also displays the prices for standard procedures like vaccinations, neutering, dentals, hd x-ray etc etc.

I use 2 vets -one for medically important stuff and one for vacciantions as the second one charges less than half for vacc than the other one but they are further away and their premises aren't as good!

Marianne

They don't display their prices, because they like to shock you at the end of the treatment............lol.  We've just changed vets, same breed of dog over the past 12 months, both needed a c-section, our first vet charged £700 for a c-section during normal work hours on a week day, changed to our new vet again c-section, this time 1am on a bank holiday monday and the cost was only £300!  First vet charged £20.88 for Synulox drops for one of the pups, new vet charged £10.80!

I don't they can justify these prices, it's just greed!

Plus of course there is the variation in the dog - weight being the greatest. The heavier the dog the more drugs are needed. Then if things go wrong during an operation they would need to take extra measures wihch again would cost more. They can usually give you an estimate beforehand but it will always vary from one vets to another.

My dogs are both the same breed and around the same weight, neither had any problems during the c-section!

I have a nice vet whose normal charges are very reasonable.  I only paid £8.22 for him to palpate my bitch, but I was shocked at how much I was charged for Hip scoring (£170, of which his fee was £140), but then it is swings and rounabouts.  He charged me around £450 several years ago for an early evening C section and spay.

Vets are at perfect liberty to charge whatever they wish - like any other company :) They can charge more on medicines or on the hourly charge. So much depends on the location of the premises and the standard of the equipment, staffing etc. Like everything else in life - if you don't like the price, go somewhere else - and if you can't afford it, you shouldn't have a pet. Vets can only charge what people/insurance companies are prepared to pay :)

Daisy

Edited - sorry, I worded this a bit badly :) The comment wasn't aimed at Brainless - but a general comment :)

We CAN afford the vets bills, plus insurance doesn't cover pregnancy and c-sections, but I can't see how two different vets can charge such a difference in price.  My original vet charged the £780, she has a small practise, not up to date at all and yet charges the earth, whereas my new vet is very modern, very up to date, you would expect higher bills from them.

The only thing that you can do, if it's like that, is to vote with your feet, which you have done :D

Daisy

>> I use 2 vets - one for medically important stuff and one for vacciantions as the second one charges less than half for vacc than the other one but they are further away and their premises aren't as good!

Do you have your records with two vets then? I'm just curious as I moved house over a year ago now but still take my dogs to our old vets (approx 45 minute drive on a good day!) However I have spoken to our local vets (10 minute drive) and they will see our two if there is ever an emergency with them. I don't want to transfer completely as my existing vets are very good.

I do yes. :) But they vary of course, as one has just basic stuff on it like vacciantions, the other one has all the details of illnesses etc.

Marianne

i am having my yorkie spayed next week and i am expecting the price to be £140 spray op,removal of some puppy teeth about £60 michrochip £25ish.it would help i suppose if you knew what the price was and so many days like 14 days to pay i am taking her for a puppy check first then dicuss the price with the vet then .

and if you can't afford it, you shouldn't have a pet.

I used to think like that Daisy,until my cat fractured his shoulder,the fee took me nearly 1 year to pay off!  One cant plan for emergencies and some people,like myself dont have any spare cash to put away each week for just incase things :(  I really think that was an unfair statement to make,you dont have to be rich to own a pet,not everyone has cash lying around for emergencies,does that mean we shouldnt have pets??

i forgot to add in my post all my yorkies are insured with rspca insurance

daisy,that comment was unfair.i do see your point but at the same time,alot of people on benefits,low income etc have pets.i personally have recently fallen upon hard times and i now receive vet care from the PDSA.so all my pets get the care,love,devotion and any medical attention they need.without me having to have 'spare' money for unexpected vet bills.

I think if people find themselves on benefits then obviously they should be able to obtain veterinary care from a charity but for those of us that are not I think you should be able to put a little away every week/month or pay an insurance premium, after all if you end up having to borrow it you are going to be forking out anyway you may as well put it away and earn a bit of interest rather than end up paying interest :)  I think what Daisy is meaning if you don't fall under the umberella of benefits and yet believe there is no way you can save/pay for vets fees you really have to think about whether that is going to cause suffering to any pet as accidents and illnesses will occur.

isabel,she should have worded it better,just like you have.it doesnt sound so awful how you worded it!

How do you find the attitude of the PDSA towards you Rachel?

Not having a go at them, or anyone who works for them, but many years ago before we had my dad used to keep and breed snakes and we fell on hard times and therefore we used the PDSA when one of the snakies was sick and my mam remembers one particular vet being quite 'snotty', basically saying that they shouldn't have had the snake if they couldn't afford medical treatment for it.

We visited a PDSA hospital with college, but unfortunatley I spent most of it outside with a class of water as I nearly fainted :D Don't do well with blood(unless it belongs to me or my animals ;) ) and it was BOILING, but most of the nurses seemed very nice....won't say what I thought of one of the vets :D

Just wondering how people find them to be with their animals

Emily

ive found them to be friendly and informative.they are no different to the private vets i sometimes use(for vaccinations etc) i have only met 2 vets who were both very friendly,they both had a positive attitude.i did worry about it as i thaught they may not be as thorough as a private vet,but i was proven wrong!

Sorry - but I'm not going to reword my post. Far too few people think of the commitment and money that is required in keeping animals. No-one wants to see an animal suffer because the owner hasn't got the money to pay for it's treatment. When Animal Hospital was on the television, there seemed an awful lot of people who just had no idea how much treatment would be before they got the animal.

If people can afford such things as holidays, evenings out etc etc then they can afford to pay for their animals treatment - it is just a matter of choice and priorities, before getting the animal.

If people's circumstances have changed through no fault of their own (pensioners for example), then I have no objections to them getting free treatment from the RSPCA or PDSA etc.

Getting an animal if you can't afford to pay for it's health is just irresponsible in my opinion

Daisy

I'm more inclined to agree with Daisy on this one as I don't think you should have a pet if you can't afford to keep it and look after it.  The price of insurance isn't much and if a person cannot afford approx £15 a month for insurance it makes me wonder whether they can afford the general upkeep that a dog requires.  I read a story in a magazine recently about a woman with a staffy who wrote in to the true life section about her dog eating a hairbrush while it was playing with her three young children.  She wasn't in the room with them and the dog managed to eat a 6 inch chunk of hairbrush and the hair from it was wrapped around its stomach and it needed a very complicated and expensive operation.  She went to PDSA who paid for it all and the woman was in mag saying what a lucky escape her dog had. I'm not sure if she got paid for the story but i was raging that the mag could put someone who was so irresponsible in their paper as she left a dog alone with 3 young children, left things around the pup could eat and didn't have the money to fix the damage that her carelessness had caused.  In my opinion she was not fit to own the dog and hope any payment she received from the magazine she used to take out an insurance policy.  It really pees me off that when I gave money to charities like the PDSA it went to fund the vet bills of irresponsible people like that.
Rant over now but thats why I choose the charities I give to more carefully now.

Our vets do advertise prices for basic ops etc. I'm really happy with the vets I use for my pets (dog, cat, rabbit). Not the cheapest vets in town but I'm confident of the care they give. They have even rung me at home out of the blue to make sure that things are ok following treatments.

i agree,but as i said,ive fallen upon hard times and currently cannot afford vet care.at the time i got my pets i did not know my circumstances would change for the worst.without the pdsa,my sheltie probably would be dead.i think giving money to them is worthwhile and i always make a donation each trip to the pdsa vet.i am organising a fundraising event for them to show i am grateful.this way i could give some money to help them.

i agree with daisy. If you are going to take any animal on, you have to think about vets bills surely...? I know you can't predict what'll happen, but what you would do should the animal goes to the vets needs to be considered before getting a pet...? Granted some people have less income than others, so yes it can make life difficult, but to me my animals health comes first-before mine. They're all insured which sets me back about £40 a mth (3 cats 2 dogs), but i wouldn't have it any other way. They're my babies, and i'd rather miss out on a few nights out, a new pair of shoes etc, knowing that (heaven forbid) anything should happen to them, then the cost (or part cost) of their treatment has been taken care of.  Its the least i can do for what they give me in return.

back to the original question re vets prices.....my vet displays them in reception, including the variations if there are any, for example price of bitch spaying medium breed and large breed etc. I have a lab bitch was spayed at 9mths classed as medium so only cost £80, which i thought was amazingly cheap!! I wouldn't care if it was £280, i love my vets, and can't praise them enough....just a shame my dog doesn't like going (except the reception area...not that i want her to go more often, but it would be nice to see her not sit cowering while the vets sits on the floor chatting to her)!

nicola

Hi Nicola - would your vets object to you taking your dog into the waiting room, giving her a few treats, then just going home again? Our vets are perfectly amenable to this, because it helps dogs realise that the vets' surgery isn't always a horrid place! (Our vets always give dogs treats at the end of a consultation, so the dogs finish in there on a happy note.)

nope they wouldn't. Although i must admit, i hadn't thought of that! She was absolutely fine and loved keith (the vet-always see the same one as he knows the history, although we have seen the lady vet, and she was the same) until she was spayed. She was done in the morning, and was supposed to come home that afternoon, however she didn't come out of the anaesthetic properly, bruised quite badly internally etc, so had to stay in. I can only assume she was a pin cushion, and hated her stay! Since then, she loves the waiting room and drags me in, jumps up to say hello to the receptionist, trots down the hall, than realises where shes going!

i think i'll do that (go and leave)! I'm going to take her when my pup goes back for his second vacc just so she can go and sit and watch, and not be touched. When the vet just talks to us, the does go up to him which he ignores. After a whilehe might put his hand out, but she just scurries off. Poor baby.

thanks for the suggestion jg, i'll definately give it a go.

nicola

It's worth trying - vets, being kind human beings, would rather dogs were happy to see them rather than being people to be feared.
:)