Why do vets charge so much?

[Nethermoor]

I'm a photographer and people complain about costs all the time.

£100 for a 60 minute photoshoot (which is cheap). But the work is after they've all gone home and I spend 3-4 hours processing the pictures. So really it's £20 an hour.

On top of that cameras aren't cheap, and computers, web hosting, memory cards, lenses.

So Vets charge because they have to go through years of training. Mix in overheads and costs of drugs etc.... If we had to pay for healthcare we would be moaning about that too.

 

[Nethermoor]

Pet insurance also gone up,Bluey our Cockerpoo 7 year old renewal with M&S would have been £38 a month up from 28 last year.Found another insurance for 23.

I have a Cockapoo too. She's absolutely mental, but amazing at the same time.

 

[117 M34]

Would you go to college for 2 years and uni for 5 years to work for minimum wage?
They have 7 years of lost earnings that need to be recouped plus all the associated costs of studying and student loans to pay back.
By the time they start working as a vet, they will be around £300k worse off than if they had got a job working in an office straight from school.

 

[xgorton]

I have a Cockapoo too. She's absolutely mental, but amazing at the same time.

Yes absolutely mental also picks everything up and bright as a button.

 

[mexico1970]

Some vets are terrible, just as in any other profession you get chancers.

When you take your pet to the vets you have to put your "I'm going to be realistic" hat on and understand that some vets will milk you because they know you love the pet you have brought in.

Try and choose a vet based on recommendations from people you know, the vet we have for our Cats is superb we have had them for over 10 years now.

 

[MCFCTrick]

One of our Springers, Daisy (3) took ill over the weekend. Lethargic and rapid/shallow breathing. Trip to vets yesterday. Her temperature was 105f. Another degree higher and body would have shutdown apparently. On a drip, bloods taken, ultrasound showed fluid on her lungs. £475 bill .... expected.

Then needed to transfer to specialist Vet Clinic in Wakefield .... (Brand new state of the art hospital, more like a BUPA/Spire type human place.
More tests to see if it's infection or cardiac problem. Either way it means treatment, possibly surgery. Looking at being in there until Friday.

At reception on leaving, they informed me that they don't take full payment upfront, but could I leave a deposit ..... £4000 Four feckin K DEPOSIT!

Still, the free coffee was very nice ...

 

[Nethermoor]

One of our Springers, Daisy (3) took ill over the weekend. Lethargic and rapid/shallow breathing. Trip to vets yesterday. Her temperature was 105f. Another degree higher and body would have shutdown apparently. On a drip, bloods taken, ultrasound showed fluid on her lungs. £475 bill .... expected.

Then needed to transfer to specialist Vet Clinic in Wakefield .... (Brand new state of the art hospital, more like a BUPA/Spire type human place.
More tests to see if it's infection or cardiac problem. Either way it means treatment, possibly surgery. Looking at being in there until Friday.

At reception on leaving, they informed me that they don't take full payment upfront, but could I leave a deposit ..... £4000 Four feckin K DEPOSIT!

Still, the free coffee was very nice ...

Hope she's ok mate

 

[Bill Walker]

One of our Springers, Daisy (3) took ill over the weekend. Lethargic and rapid/shallow breathing. Trip to vets yesterday. Her temperature was 105f. Another degree higher and body would have shutdown apparently. On a drip, bloods taken, ultrasound showed fluid on her lungs. £475 bill .... expected.

Then needed to transfer to specialist Vet Clinic in Wakefield .... (Brand new state of the art hospital, more like a BUPA/Spire type human place.
More tests to see if it's infection or cardiac problem. Either way it means treatment, possibly surgery. Looking at being in there until Friday.

At reception on leaving, they informed me that they don't take full payment upfront, but could I leave a deposit ..... £4000 Four feckin K DEPOSIT!

Still, the free coffee was very nice ...

Holy Fuck
so up to now 4475 quid ?

 

[kaz7]

I watch an american vet show , low cost one , he always has people coming in saying they have been quoted 14 or 15 grand to treat their pets and he operates, xrays and spays for about 800 quid , the rip off is amazing and he takes on the hardest cases

 

[Eebo]

I would say there are two reasons behind this

1. Most vets are now part of large conglomerates or chains who are run to maximise profits

2. People treat their pets more like family so will not put a price limit on what they pay. In the old days the view was that you could always get another dog/cat so you wouldn't pay more than what it cost for a new one. Bit like a car - when the repairs get too expensive you send it for scrap. I work at a farm and they have a commercial and unsentimental view of their animals, and the large animal or agricultural vets fees reflect this. We got a bill for a vet visiting an outlying country farm and then writing a letter to explain to the insurers why the bull had to be put down which came to very slightly more that I paid for a 15 minute follow up appointment with our dog which I took into a local small animal practice a couple of days later!