I've just had to have my Whippet in to have a warty thing on her leg looked at.   It has been there for a very long time with no problems other than I kept thinking it should probably come off, started to bleed, a lot.  She may have caught it on something, but obviously that meant a vet trip - the first in 4 months since the loss of Frankie.  Anyhow she was taken in, the area bandaged prior to surgery in another week, and I asked him to check her heart and teeth (she has a broken one which I knew nothing about, to my shame).   The bill came to £67.85 inc. VET.   The consultation charge was £30 which is up from previously.  The antibiotics, fine but £8 + VAT for the bandage.   So another £11.31 overall to the Government.

OK, I've had 4 months without a vet bill, but what is your vet charging for a consultation?

I'm anticipating somewhere around £400 if not more, for the wart removal and the broken tooth extraction due to be done end of next week.  Plus the redressing done yesterday which I told them to add to the surgery bill!!

Bearing in mind I'm retired with only a Government Pension plus some savings, the remainder of inheriting some money from my husband's mother which is now bringing in pretty much nothing in interest.  My Whippet will, God willing, see her days out with me, but after that I can't see being able to afford much more than a goldfish.   And that's a very depressing thought.

last time I went for an illness consult it was £47 .

last time I went for an illness consult it was £47 .  some of the vets local to here do health club plans which cover consults, wormer, vaccination and a small discount on drugs required. not cheap either though- think for a whippet they wanted £30 a month

Our consultation charge is £41.14 inc VAT.

Count yourself lucky, I had foisted into my hand some wipes, 40 in a pack £25 & of course cant be returned once out of the surgery, even though they are unopened!!

My vet charged £45 for a consult. I think yours is cheap mamabas

My vet consultation fee is £37, so your vet is good.  I'm on a pension too, living alone with my dogs, so couldn't be without their company. 

My vet costs this year alone have reached £5,000 already.  No, I didn't have the money, and paid with a credit card which I'm struggling to pay off.  I just can't be without my dogs though.  When I'm dead they can sell my house and pay off my debts.

Ours is £37 inc. of VAT. My boy has a regular in-house blood test to monitor his thyroid hormone levels. This time I was charged as normal for the test, but there was an additional £20 on the bill - for taking the blood! Does this mean that I have been getting away with this charge for five years, or is this a new charge? However, we do have a very good service, there is no problem in getting non-emergency appointments, or free remote advice, so I didn't query it.

Looks like I have to be thankful then

I have been told that I go to the most expensive vet in town.  I am sure that if they know you have insurance they increase what they charge. Insurance is a rip-off as well.  I used to go to the cheapest.  You get what you pay for.  The cheapest was useless.  The dearer has better premises and customer service.

£35 here for consult although that has remained constant for so long I wouldn'tbe surprised if there was an increase
I've had follow up appointments for free as well.  Also they are happy to give me prescriptions if it works out cheaper for me . .
I know I've said it before but we are so used to the nhs we forget how .much it costs to have private human  trsatment which vet costs are comparable to in many cases .
Vat is just what it is , as much as I don't want to pay tax the country has to paid for some how and cant see that reducing after this disastrous year. Just hope we can all manage some how

My vet charges £23 for a prescription.

I have been told that vet charges will vary around the country, this was from a vet but it was in the 1980’s don’t know if it still applies.
We were living in Yorkshire at the time and I told the vet we were moving down to Gloucestershire and his remark was that we would find it much more expensive at a vets down south. Mind you he was a dyed in the wool Yorkshireman which could have had a bearing.

Vet costs are no different to other costs, such as house prices and council rates - they all vary around the country.

I must be doing pretty well as the last script I got was £14 and that was last month . We live in Croydon which isn't the cheapest part of the country at all . London prices

> Just hope we can all manage some how

Indeed!   I would say our excellent vet up East would make no charge for a consultation when it was going to lead to surgery.   This one I use does, hence the £67 + pence I had to pay for Teazel's check (admittedly needing a bandage and antibiotics) which is going to lead to surgery at the end of this coming week.   This former vet (and as I recall) made a small repeat consultation charge, when a repeat visit was needed.  

My current vet charges (was charging) £18 for a prescription so I can buy online, something I never had to do when up East.  Metacam is most certainly cheaper to buy online - when I told them what that cost me online, they said they didn't know how these online chemists could afford to be doing that!

VAT is almost guaranteed to be going up, going by today's headlines.  What bugs me with that is the Chancellor threw money around at the start of the lockdown and beyond and yet the taxpayer is going to have to pick up the tab.

And now the cereal harvest is hugely down this year = higher cost for importing flour which impacts on bread, cake and biscuits.  If we thought we'd worked through austerity before, we've not seen anything yet!

Trouble is no one could have foreseen a pandemic and the costs both in financial terms and human life

>What bugs me with that is the Chancellor threw money around at the start of the lockdown and beyond and yet the taxpayer is going to have to pick up the tab.

All Government spending eventually has to be paid for by taxes.

As you say, the harvests are down this year, following the wet winter (too wet to get any machinery on to the fields to plant anything) and hot early summer (lovely for those furloughed, but it meant nothing grew properly). The wheat harvest is down about 40% in this area, and hay about 70%; everything is going to be a lot more expensive if people are to stay in business. And this has nothing to do with the pandemic or Brexit (although both will undoubtedly be blamed!)

>My current vet charges (was charging) £18 for a prescription so I can buy online,

That's what we charge as well.

Vet prescription cost £23 Tuesday 25th August 2020.  5 days ago.  We have no NHS as we are over 70.

Consult fee on its own £65 here. Everything else extra

Why no nhs if over 70 if u live in the UK? Or have I misread

hello furriefriends, no you did not misread.  Even before lockdown doctor appointments were non-existent.  Hospital appointments were made and then cancelled at last moment.  Everything is private and needs paying for.  For example "loss of hearing? don't do that go to Boots"  "bad feet? don't do that"  so off we go to find private person who actually works for the NHS but on her day off has a private clinic!

got you . Yes those services via the nhs are difficult to get at the moment ,under some circumstances you still can but long wait. I thought you meant you were unable to access any NHS treatment due to your age .   Sorry your GP isnt able to see you more quickly and was bad even before lockdown. That really shouldnt have been the case . Ours are working as normally ,except in most cases are phone consults as are hospitals.
I have blood test booked for this week , unfortunately that does need me actually there lol  and have also had  scan two weeks ago  and phone consult for results . Hopefully you will soon be able to get back to a more normal NHS service too