Why do vets charge so much?

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.
 
xgorton said:
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.
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I have a Cockapoo too. She's absolutely mental, but amazing at the same time.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 ...
 
MCFCTrick said:
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 ...
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Hope she's ok mate
 
MCFCTrick said:
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 ...
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Holy Fuck
so up to now 4475 quid ?
 
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
 
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!
 
KS55 said:
Just paid £7,700 for leg amputation plus aftercare for our cat. Petplan paid £5000, their limit. No doubt premiums will shoot up on next renewal.
Cat doing well. Oi, where's me leg???
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£7,700! Did the cat spend a month in a hotel afterwards and just drink the mini bar dry nightly? That’s fucking outrageous mate.

I’d have thought £1,500-2,000 for a leg off including aftercare.
 
I am in consultation with my MP on this issue and also raised a petition for regulation of the industry. Increasingly, local independent vets are being bought by larger chains and venture capitalists. The signage remains, creating the illusion of independence, but localised monopolies are created with no alternative for animal lovers. There is evidence of manipulation of supply chains, pharmaceutical supply, and insurance collusion - the vet treats the animal, supplies the medicine to treat, gives the price, liaises with the insurance, and so on. The bottom line is that recent years have seen a 5x increase in vet fees, in many cases, and then consequential insurance hikes. The eventual outcome is animal suffering. The issue has now appeared in a couple of national press articles but the situation remains.
 
oldius said:
I am in consultation with my MP on this issue and also raised a petition for regulation of the industry. Increasingly, local independent vets are being bought by larger chains and venture capitalists. The signage remains, creating the illusion of independence, but localised monopolies are created with no alternative for animal lovers. There is evidence of manipulation of supply chains, pharmaceutical supply, and insurance collusion - the vet treats the animal, supplies the medicine to treat, gives the price, liaises with the insurance, and so on. The bottom line is that recent years have seen a 5x increase in vet fees, in many cases, and then consequential insurance hikes. The eventual outcome is animal suffering. The issue has now appeared in a couple of national press articles but the situation remains.
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All power to you mate for doing this. Like you say all massive chains now or cartels at best. Funnily enough was chatting to a mate about it over the weekend and Pets at Home is about the best value for money!
 
metalblue said:
All power to you mate for doing this. Like you say all massive chains now or cartels at best. Funnily enough was chatting to a mate about it over the weekend and Pets at Home is about the best value for money!
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I got a bill for £927 for an X-ray. The Spanish vet who treated her apologised but told me he had to charge what his employer told him to charge. He said that the same treatment in Spain would be about 100 Euros.
 
MCFCTrick said:
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 ...
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good luck Trick
 
MCFCTrick said:
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 ...
Click to expand...
Hope Daisy pulls through.
 
metalblue said:
£7,700! Did the cat spend a month in a hotel afterwards and just drink the mini bar dry nightly? That’s fucking outrageous mate.

I’d have thought £1,500-2,000 for a leg off including aftercare.
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Twas complicated. A stay in the local animal hospital produced an xray which, they said, was baffling. His elbow appeared to have exploded.
Off to a specialist surgeon for 5day stay who diagnosed a bone tumor and removed the leg. She said the bone had turned to dust. Samples to an oncologist who found secondary lesions. More investigations. One report shows clear of cancer but second report to come. He is a pedigree lilac point Siamese which I guess encouraged them to charge a high fee.
Bloody cat has cost me a fortune: he had a congenital condition which required regular vetinary help for a year, then he broke his pelvis playing with a passing car. Mrs KS is Siamese mad, what can you do?
Now he sits there all serene wondering what the problem is. When our kids left home, I thought my bank balance would improve but, no, spend it all on a cat!!!
 
KS55 said:
Twas complicated. A stay in the local animal hospital produced an xray which, they said, was baffling. His elbow appeared to have exploded.
Off to a specialist surgeon for 5day stay who diagnosed a bone tumor and removed the leg. She said the bone had turned to dust. Samples to an oncologist who found secondary lesions. More investigations. One report shows clear of cancer but second report to come. He is a pedigree lilac point Siamese which I guess encouraged them to charge a high fee.
Bloody cat has cost me a fortune: he had a congenital condition which required regular vetinary help for a year, then he broke his pelvis playing with a passing car. Mrs KS is Siamese mad, what can you do?
Now he sits there all serene wondering what the problem is. When our kids left home, I thought my bank balance would improve but, no, spend it all on a cat!!!
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Mrs MB hobby breeds pedigree lilac Persians so I know where you are. We don’t have any insurance simply because it’s outrageously priced for a breeder and quite honestly cheaper to pay vet bills when something goes wrong (which it can do with anything that lives).

Given these cats aren’t cheap for people to buy we even cover any genetic condition that comes up in first year (most breeders give a few weeks at best).

Had one kitten born with eye open which had to be removed, little thing was only a week or so old, died twice on operating table cost me about £1k or so but she made a full recovery and is happy in her new home. I had the last laugh mind as I called her Miss Saigon on the registration certificate. Her sister I called Miss Seymour. Yeah, I’m going to hell but I’m going laughing. That our vet was happy to operate really pleased me, that I was prepared to pay pleased them ;)
 
I’ve had animals my whole life; mainly dogs but a few cats, too.

I hate to say it, but they’re domesticated animals…pets…not humans.

People are occasionally being mugged by those who prey on the humanization of our pets!

Back in the day, off to the vet, a quick shot, pet out of its misery, go get another one.

Today, spend £1,000s on palliative care to make the OWNER feel better, while the pet lives with one less leg, goes through the pain and trauma, and doesn’t have the sentience to understand what is happening.

Maybe it sounds callous, and I have to admit that my wife has spent some serious coin on our family dog, but at the end of the day, much as we like to anthropomorphize our pets, and act like they’re a human extension of us, they’re still pets that sucker us with their puppy dog eyes, their stroking against our leg, their sleeping next to us, etc, etc, etc…

Accordingly, if you can afford to treat the pets medical care like it’s a child, go for it! If you can’t, then understand that going in and act accordingly, rather than overextending yourself and harming the actual humans in your life.
 
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