Bit of a rant about vets

[barney]

I'm not bothered to much by the amount they charge, I think that when they enter the profession they do so for the right reasons ie the welfare of the animals. And they do an extraordinary wonderful job. Then along comes a drug company rep, say's to the vet if you push our drugs we'll give you ££££ just like they did and probably still do with NHS GP's. I'd much rather the vet charge me an £80 consultation fee rather than he/she be influenced by a drug rep. After the fiasco with A & L all my cats are now insured with petplan, I cannot claim anything for the first £80 I don't have a problem with that however she has now been to the vets at least 8 times for the same problem at the most I've had £35 back, Toffee will be 2 in May and hopefully will be around for another 20 or so. We have now gone full circle whereby the vets are repeating what they said 18 months ago. I'm not sure what the average lifespan of a feral cat living in the wild is, but I'm sure they don't keep taking pills every time they have a bit of trapped wind...

[Bonkers Mad!!!]

my local practice is very good and i've never been charged anything that i've considered unreasonabled.  their standard consultation fee is £22 and i've only ever been charged £17.  i've always just assumed that i get a discount because i'm such a good customer but i've never mentioned it just in case  .  worming tabs are £2 each (i paid £6 at another surgery).  the price of neutering hasnt changed in about £5 years although this yearit has gone up from £35 to £40 for a tom.  there are 4 vets there, 1 woman and 3 men (1 is a locum).  i'm not keen on the woman just because she told me that it would be kinder to have Lupus pts after his accident.  fortunately one of the other vets rang me in the morning and told me she'd jumped the gun.  the one who saved Lupus' life is my hero but i particularly like another, Paul.  he seems to be compelled to kiss all animals when he is finished his examinations, he is so sweet  .  the locum is apparently "the cat man" out of the lot but he seems painfully shy and speaks to the nurse rather than to me, he rarely makes eye contact but is very efficient.  there have been times when i've taken a cat in to be checked and it's taken less than 5 minute to be told as i've left, "no charge".

on the other hand my neighbour's vet was getting seriously ripped off with one of her rabbits.  one bill was £120 for some tests and when i went through the invoice it seemed she'd been charged for 3 different anesthetics and a sedation, all in one day.  i'm no rabbit expert but i know they react badly to being knocked out and also she'd been told that he'd only been sedated.  they obviously didnt expect her go home and do some research.  she now uses my vet.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

I know vets have done 7yrs of training and need to make a living but the prices they charge are through the roof !
No wonder lots of owners never take their animals to a vet....and the cost of neutering is terrible, almost £80 for a female here !!

I was with my last vet for over 10yrs but when he charged me over £120 for 2 cats with earmites i flipped !
The final thing was when i went in for Stronghold and they insisted on seeing the cats...thats when i told them to poke their practise up their bottoms !!!

[Mark]

Any vet - ANY vet - that told me that he'd "chop her up and see what's going on inside" would have been lucky to be alive by the time I left. He certainly would have had wounds from the tongue lashing. AND I would have reported him to the proper professional agency. He may have been trying to lighten things with humour (though I doubt it) but that does not excuse it. Absolutely NOT.

I agree. When the vet was running tests for Alice, he suggested that as a last resort, we may want to consider an exploratory. He didn't make light of it but set out to reassure me about modern anaesthetics were wonderful and that she would be hydrated first and would be constantly monitored. It may be the kind of thing some vets say behind the scenes but certainly not to owners. He sounds like an insensitive  hole.

[Maddiesmum]

Hi Barney

My Dragan (RIP) had pancreatitis and he used to get acid and wind etc.  The vet gave me some Zantac to put in his food which seemed to work.  But it smells very minty so best used, if you are going to try it, on some strong smelling food.  It is ridiculous how some vets seem to work.  A bit like some Gp's really.  I have changed vets twice, one I had been with for 17 years misdiagnosed Dragan and if I hadn't gone over his head direct to the emergency hospital, Dragan would have died.  As it was he was admitted into intensive care.  I think my vet had got a bit blase about Dragan's condition.  He went red when I told him!  I changed to the emergency hospital for the rest of Dragan's lifetime  and they put him on Lactulose for the constant constipation and the Zantac but when I got Charlie I went to Companion Care (inside Pets at Home) for convenience of distance and opening hours.  Best of luck in finding a good vet.

[barney]

My issue with the vets is, is they just seem a little bit to eager to prescribe pills of some sort every time I take a cat in to be checked. As I said Yesterday I took Toff in to  be checked  as I knew she was either blocked up again or had wind, thankfully it was just wind, which over the course of the day went on it's merry way and by 8pm last night she was back to her normal self. So she didn't need pills of any discription, today she is fine and running around the garden and she'll be fine for another 2 months and then we'll go through the whole thing again, I don't want any of my cats popping pills just for the sake of it, it's certainly not achieving anything longterm apart from boosting the vets profit margins. My whinge has nothing to do with the cost of the pills or profit being made from them, but whether the animal actualy needs them or not. After all who am I to question such a profession?

[bunglycat]

My god , what awful vets  !  I would have lost it way before you did -change vets asap.
My vet is fantastic , loves cats , always gives mine a fuss and cuddle before sorting them out.
I went on Thursday with 2 for vaccinations and he said to me after he had done them - i will knock 10% off for you -which was £5.50 . Cost £49 to have 2 boosters -one with Leukemia jab , 1 without it.

[2d]

I'm really sorry about what's going on.

It does seem to be pot luck sometimes with vets.

The one we used for Vlad a few years ago was ok, but I was really not happy with them after he got hit by a car.  It wasn't their fault he died or anything - but they were less than sympathetic to say the least.

I found our current one purely by chance when Edward needed an urgent appointment and that vet couldn't fit him in.  Looked in the phone book and picked one at random. 
And they're fabulous.  But it was pure luck.
When Edward was sick he was being looked after by two vets (depending on their shifts), and after the biopsy, one of them (whohadn't done the op) called us in to check on him and remove the stitches.  As it turned out there weren't any stitches to remove, and she'd misread the notes.  So (despite her doing a full consultation, and checking on his eyes, etc) she didn't charge us.   
Good lord, and I just checked online to see what metacam is going for - they only marked it up by about £3!  Stunned at that.   


If anybody said to me anything remotely similar to "I'll chop her up and see whats going on inside", I'd have to fight very hard the urge to avoid punching them.... (the red head in me coming out).

[Indys Mamma]

my vets are amazing, two of them, one owns the practice and the other is the main clinic vet and a cat specialist.

As they are a training practice they will often do various tests and things at a marked down price as it is a trainee vet or trainee nurse doing the tests, in the rare occasion they make a mistake they rectify it for free. They even treated my rabbit for Myxi for free on basis it was an experimental treatment (she died sadly, despite being vaccinated and the treatment she got a secondary infection) and they even spayed Mabel for free.

I have done a bit of research and they do a 30%-120% markup compared to internet prices and charge £5 for a prescription


however our *old* vet - many many years ago - were so terrible you can't believe it. They had a 24hour callout service with £40 out of hours callout (this is in 1987) and my mums old lab started fitting/having strokes. Mum called him and he said 'I can't be bothered tonight, call me if she's alive in the morning'

Obviously my mum was fuming and terrified and a quick search in the phonebook got our current vet, then not the practice owner, just a vet there, and he came out for free and sedated the dog, took bloods and injected fluids, all for £25 (still a fair amount back then...) and he stayed all night with the dog before taking her to the practice the next day.

Thanks to his treatment she had another 6 months where we could say goodbye (though I was only 3 and don't remember her)

[Kirst]

I am very lucky with my vets - Unfotuatley I haver had a spate of them getting poorly out of hours and then  having to pay a fortune at the emergency vet!!

[Zenith (Liz)]

I'm sorry about your experiences

I was paranoid and took Nova to the vet in january to be told there was nothing wrong with him at all.  We were in the vets office for about 4-5 minutes tops, given no medication and I was charged just over £28 for the 4 minute consult.

My good vets moved offices to the opposite end of swindon but even though expensive she's good, I suppose i'm lucky that way 

[Dark Moon]

Been there, done that ... though not for your love's problem.

Any vet - ANY vet - that told me that he'd "chop her up and see what's going on inside" would have been lucky to be alive by the time I left. He certainly would have had wounds from the tongue lashing. AND I would have reported him to the proper professional agency. He may have been trying to lighten things with humour (though I doubt it) but that does not excuse it. Absolutely NOT.

I have had wonderful vets. Have one now (thanks be!). But I have also had criminal ones. The worst........ My Pip was simply urinating 'inappropriately'. Took him to the vet who 'ran tests'. Told me Pip had diabetes and injected him with insulin. I took Pip home - and then had to rush (and I mean that. Hit speeds of 140 mph with my Mum (who had been visiting) clinging desperately onto Pip. Both to keep him warm and to steady her nerves at my driving!) ....

Long story short, turns out the vet had injected my baby cat with horse insulin at the dose appropriate for same. I know this because I subsequently went back, demanded to see what he( the vet) had given and at what dose (and he was 'dumb' enough to show me!), then wired the info off to my (then) vet here (which at the time was 2000 km away) asking for advice......)

Pip survived. And he was not diabetic. The bill for his survival was astronomical, as you might imagine. And all due to an incompetent vet. Who was paid very handsomely indeed for his 'mis-services'. I was subsequently told by others that this same vet had killed, and almost killed, many other pets. And yet was still allowed to practice. I did report him.

Most are good. Some are excellent. A few are awful.

ALL prices are outrageous. I understand the need to make a living and all, but I also know how little what they use costs. But, see, I can't do it myself so........  And when things go wrong, there is nothing and no one I want more than my vet's soothing voice on the other end of the line (at past midnight when my Clawdette went) telling me to come.....

Get a new vet.

As for your Lady... some problems just don't go away. My Felix has a digestive problem too. Uncontrolled diarrhea. Have tested him for worms and all, but it apparently is chronic colitis. But at least they told me that. The problem persists, as it will, and I expect he feels dreadful (as do we inhaling the air....) when he 'goes'. But otherwise he is well and healthy and happy. And the vets told me the truth and did not try to string it out with more and yet more tests and more and yet more drugs. Told me honestly that the drugs likely would not help and, so long as he was feeling fine otherwise....

See, that's what I want in a vet. Honesty.

There are good vets. There are excellent vets. But if you find one (as you have) who is not - I encourage you all to report them. It may not do any good, but it at least is something. So maybe fewer pets will suffer from their treatments.

[Mark]

I had a similar problem with a money-grabbing vet and ended up dumping him. If it is dietary, the most likely thing is a wheat intolerance so I would give one of the sensitive diets a go. Not Science Plan though. Arden Grange fish & potato might be worth a go. Without knowing all the ins & outs its hard to tell.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I am sorry that Toffee has been ill for so long and I think a change of vet sounds like a good idea.

In regard to the price of meds I think you will find that all vets mark these up well over the top cos they know the only way you can get them is from a vet, or with a prescrtiption from a vet and they are likely to charge £10 - £15 for that!!!!!!!!!!!

WE had a petition link for this on Purrs for ages cos the period of vets not being allowed to charge for prescriptions was due to end and has now. Its not known if the will do this agin, unlikely I suspect, and many didnt know that prescriptions were free, me included until the time had nearly expired.

Having said that some vets are a joke and do absolutely rip you off but you also need one who knows and is good with cats and really wants to help them.

I hope you find a good vet 

[barney]

I've been with my existing vet for over 6 years now, in all honesty I think he is an excellent vet and gives good advice and medical & customer care. However today was crunch time for me and I feel / felt totally ripped off. Toffee my tortie was born here 21 months ago, from the age of 3 months she has always had a problem with her stomach where by she keeps getting constipated or bloated with trapped wind. So far over this 21 month period it has happened 8 times, with the price varying between £180 - £75 to sort her out. Most shocking was the out of hours vet quoting £400 to and I quote his words  "I'll chop her up and see whats going on inside" I told him to go  himself. I was then advised to have blood tests carried out about 15 months ago which I did, this came back as nothing was wrong with her. She has had 3 enemas and untold pills and liquid paste put down her throat. Today I had to see a locum vet, who decided to start brushing Toffee for fleas, I told her in no uncertain terms that my cats do not have or will ever have fleas as they are treated monthly with advocate. So she then started to feel Toffee's stomach "it's trapped wind" she said, "I know" I replied. She then suggested she must have an allergy to certain food products, I agreed with her diagnosis saying to her that this is what the vet said some 18 months previously. So she then pipes up "maybe you should have some blood tests done on her" "I've already had that done" I said, "yes but not this particular blood test" she said. It's definitly a dietry problem Toffee has she said and promtly wrote out another prescription for more pills and paste. At this point my blood was starting to boil. I thought to myself just keep calm and get out of there. Back to the reception "that'll be £85.49 please" I mumbled something like "I think your taking the  now" and one of the veterinary nurses started to laugh at this. Anyway I paid up and started to leave and I just flipped, I went back to the reception handed back the medication and told them to stuff it, "would you like a refund" she asked, "no stick it up your  " I replied telling her that that in the last 18 months Toffee has been prescribed in the region of 300 pills, had 3 enemas and who knows how much paste injected in her mouth. I am paying for the best treatment for my cats always do and always will, yet according to the vet other tests to see what Toffee is allergic to are availlable for some unknown reason they are not being carried out. So in the meantime I continue pay nearly £100 every 6 weeks to the vets and continue to feed her food which she has an allergy to (and the diet has been changed)
Anyway when I got back home I decided to do a check on how much I'm being stung for the pills and paste, well the paste was £7.80 online and I was charged £19.43 with the pills being online £0.31 each online with vets £1.27 each which is nearly a 500% mark up Not that I have problem with them making a profit, but 500%?lol. So I am looking for a new vet who has the animals interest first and formost and does not believe that every animal he/she see's must automatically have a prescription written out. Rant over!