Hi all how many of you have had a vet that says somthing is wrong with your dog and it will cost you £££££
and then you get a second opinion and it turns out to be nothing wrong or not as bad as the first vet said.

thanks in advance

Yes I have had to occasionally pay for treatments that were not effective but I don't think I have ever been ripped off.  Medicine is not a finite science, sometimes guesses have to be made based on the fact that the most common things are the most common, other times response to treatment (or not :)) will be part of the diagnostic process.  The first reasonable guess may turn out to be wrong but that does not mean it was unreasonable.  Of course if a second opinion is sought that vet has the luxury of a reduced number or choices increasing the chances of opting for the correct one :)

Yes my vet is ripping me off now, disgusting it is!!!  Im still trying to find out what the problem is

Like GP's vets do not specialise in a specific, unless of course they are an orthopaedic, eye specialist etc. etc.  Just think of how many illnesses can occur with very similiar symptoms.  I'd hate to be a GP or a vet, it must be hard.  Maybe that's why they can charge such extortionate fees sometimes :d

Dont you think it is strange where one vet will charge say £20 for puppy injections and another will charge £50, how come there is so much difference is payments?

The overheads of running a surgery in, say, central London and Lincolnshire are going to vary enormously.  Each vet may also chose different mark ups on different thing in response to his local market for instance in less afluent areas he may choose to make "optional" treatments such as vaccination cheaper inorder to encourage more people to take it up. 

can't say i've had any experience of this-my vet's fabulous. Its rare i get charged consultation fees let alone get charged for something i shouldn't!

nicola

(i know someone who has been in your position though. The local vet had one of her boxres on 12 tablets a day, she went for a 2nd opinion, who cut out 4 different tablets straight away questioning the need for them, then ran an allergy test. Low and behold, all his problems were linked to food allergies! The diet was changed, and he was weaned off the tablets, and he's been fine since!)

When I lived in the city, my previous vet had me running back and forth for visits (and thus a consultation fee) for the smallest of things. For example, a dog with a small wound...bring back in 5 days to CHECK wound and then in another 5 days to remove stitches. I find that a rip-off.
My current country vet is marvellous!! He tells me what to watch for, what would necessitate a call and what would mean an urgent appointment. He refuses to treat with antibiotics for the most part thinking these are grossly over-prescribed. At my previous vet, it seemed no matter what I went in for my dog was given antibiotics AND anti-inflammatories!
So, not so much been ripped off, but...well...can you imagine having every pet owner back for a consultation after 5 days to have stitches checked...imagine over a year how many ££££'s that is!!

At the practice I use, follow-up consultations are free.
:)

Yes - same here :)

Daisy

I cant say my vets have ever ripped me off, they have a well pet club and all i do is pay £61 a year for one of my dogs or they charge £115 for two on the scheme, this enables me to free consultations and discounted medication.on the whole i consider my vets to be well priced they charge only £18 for annual boosters and to have a dog chipped its only £12. for spaying they charge on weight of the dog so thats anywhere from £57 to £130.I think they charge the normal for a c section about £450 in a emergency not sure what the price would be without a emergency....

Never been ripped off by my vet - he's wonderful & certainly doesn't charge for follow-ups.
Maybe it's partly because it's primarily a farming practice & farmers are very hard to rip off!

my vets arent the cheapest but they are fantastic, i get what I pay for.... if you think you are being ripped off I would look for another vet, they are not all money grabbers :-)

I dont know if Im being ripped off.... I never get an invoice when I pay....  Im just going to call now to get a print out of all my consultations and a breakdown of the costs

My vets don't charge for follow up consultations nor for removing stitches. Consultations are £19.00. Just checked the price of spaying Maddie, for December, and its £156.00. Can't remember exactly how much for vaccinations, around £20, but it cost the same for the LP only as it does for all three. Must add that although they fumbled a bit on her original diagnosis last March, they finally got it right in June! Apart from that they have always been very good, and I have had some very lengthy 'consults' over the phone for free.

Dee

My vet is a very good one, and we have gone there at silly times late at night xmas eve, and they are very cheep, i am posting for a friend who has a very expensive vet in leeds.

our vet charges £60 to £70 for spaying, his vet charged him £350

I've had a vet try on several occasions! Having shar-pei it's imperative to find a vet that is savvy with the breed and doesn't see them as a walking blank cheque. There ar two veterinary practises that I trust and then there are only one vet at one practise and two at the other I will see.

I got quoted £250 for a double entropion operation along with a lecture on how I shouldn't have shar-pei as they are chronically sick and badly bred. Id' say my choice of breed is none of his business! I went to another, shar-pei friendly vet and he did it for £120. I also got told my other shar-pei was going into kidney failure and they tried to flog a bag of Hills K/D - she's allergic to half the ingredints and is still going strong. Several years later and a consultation with my shar-pei friendly vet - I had the same test done and showed him the earlier results - he said that the elevated levels were LIVER enzymes and they were normal again at that point.

I'm sorry, but vets are onlyhuman and some see pound signs with four legs walking into their surgery.

I just had a right ding dong with mine on the phone. I have never had to claim of my insurance but one of my dogs has a blocked eye duct and even though it is fine now the fees were quite large due to adding this on and that on because they knew I was claiming off the insurance.  I sent my claim form in and  now I am having problems with the claim due to something they wrote on the form. A stupid use of wrong wording. I have insisted they write to the insurance and sort it out or I am not paying them.

Boy have I been raging about it.. :-)

Hi blue i have had that too, never claimed but did one year, and was told i couldnt claim because my new add wasnt put on the computer in time, i told them to get lost, and they lost out on my custom.

Hi Jane, :-)

Mines is something so stupid. They said runny eye visible for several months but they meant from the date of the claim not the date of the date first visible. The claim was several months after I first went to the vets so of course it would be several months after. The wording was unclear and the vets should have noticed this.  They better get it sorted though and I have told them.  I won't be paying it if they don't.  Careless indeed.

I feel ripped off today just paid £56 for vaccinations!!!! and £18 for wormer!!!!! and £12.50 for tablets. Think consultation fee was in there somewhere :-(  but shes worth it :-)

My dogs vets are fantastic, dont charge for follow ups, and when i go i always take all the dogs so he gives the rest a going over while I am there.

When it comes to my horses, its a different story, I think I have been ripped off many times, but I have been so dessperate for my horses to recover, i have not said anything.

I also sometimes feel they do not treat all my horses in the same way, all my horses mean alot to me, they vary in value, i have a shetland who is basically a pet, but I have a stud stallion worth a lot, both have needed treatment in the past. the stallions gets nothing but the best were as the shetland it like "ohh well shes just a shetland this will do" I have had to tell them many times that it didnt matter what they cost they all are to receive nothing but the best, as they are all priceless in my eyes.

Well my vet puppy vaccs are a bit expensive(£53)but I've just got his pet passport & was pleasantly surprised as the total for rabies jab, blood samnple & the titre test was about £110 & I was expecting a lot more !

I do trust the vets which is more important than how much treatment costs

LOL plus they have two rather dishy young male vets one Spanish & one Scottish !

So thats where the Spanish vet from my practice went too??????

I have twice been down to the vets with Zelli my cat as I'm not happy with her eyes, they looked sore.   She has been prodded,poked, green liquid test thing, light shone in her eyes & so on...and they can't find a thing wrong with them - 2 different vets - 2 charges!   No medication.   Now she has eyes that make her look like she's sleepy and tippies should have lovely big aquamarine eyes.

LOL If his name is Pablo it could be ;) the receptionist say he gets away with allsorts of clerical errors. He operatd on my friends GSD when he had a torsion & impressed her with his concern for the dog It was his & the other young vets first major operatiuon & the senior vet oversaw the op in case of problems

I would have expected a referral to an eye specialist for your cat

Well unlike with my first dog that died suddenly where the Vet wanted the bill settled there and then, my Vet last week said, don't worry about the bill we'll sort that next time you come in (I don't go that often usually only to ahve him palpate my bitches for pregnancy).

I popped in Yesterday as I didn't want it hanging over me, and the bill was £58.75 for Euthanasia and Cremation (didn't want the ashes or body back).

WHAT I REALLY OBJECT TO IS PAYING VAT FOR VET TREATMENT.  The £8.75 was the Vat.  I don't consider my animals Veterinary treatment as a Luxury, so why the VAT???

About the only things that don't have VAT on these days are food and books and travel :(

Daisy

Human medicine does not, and why no VAT on books yet on Vet care?

A different (government) viewpoint on what is essential (essential to human beings tho').

Daisy

Moonmaiden where are you from??? When I went for my puppy vacs I was seen by a gorgous vet called Pablo........unfortunatley I looked like I had been dragged through a hedge backward with no make-up and hair that had been chewed by the puppy...........next time I went with full make-up and hair not too badly chewed I was seen by a lovely dainty female vet.......aaaahhh maybe next time.:)

Why don't you take her to Jims, christine. I can't say anything bad about him ,in my view he is a brilliant vet and doesn't try to make a fast buck with you. He has been so reasonable with all my lot this year and he didn't have to be. I seem to have spent a lot of time there over the past months with one thing and another so it could have been expensive.

Its worth checking whether you can get on going.. medication from vet-medic I used to pay extortionate prices for needles for my diabetic cat until I priced them at vet -medic I made a huge saving .It must be even cheaper now that you dont have to pay  prescription charges.

As for my vet we use the Liverpool University small Animal Hospital our vet is attached to them so we get the best of both worlds.
People travel hundreds of miles for thier specialists so we are very lucky in that respect plus they are one of the cheapest vets on Merseyside.

Roni