Going to the Vets: Daylight Robbery

RideOnTime

Our elderly cat has just been to the vets. Liver cancer. Fairly easy to diagnose. Prognosis put him down. Cost £63. £63.

bernithebiker

I have an alternative, much cheaper solution;

DeVlaeminck

RideOnTime wrote:

Our elderly cat has just been to the vets. Liver cancer. Fairly easy to diagnose. Prognosis put him down. Cost £63. £63.

Vets are getting much more expensive. What tests did they do' if any, to be honest if I got out of a vets with a bill for £63 I'd be thinking I'd got off lightly. When our old Staffy was ill the bill was over £100 just to walk through the door because it was early Sunday evening. I know vets will tell you they have new procedures they can do which are more expensive - but it seems to me procedures they always did are now much more expensive too.

Commiserations on the bad news about the cat btw.

team47b

Sorry that you are losing a long term companion, but at least the vet is able to take your mind off this sad event by getting you to focus on his well being.

RideOnTime

Yes I greatly heartened that the Vet has got something out of the sorry situation.

arran77

Robbing bastards the lot of them :roll:

morstar

It's possible that insurance being more common also facilitates higher bills.

cedargreen

£63?????

I didn't believe Cameron when he said we're all in this together, but now I'm not so sure. Just imagine how much it's costing this poor vet to fill up his Audi estate for the drive down to his villa in the Dordogne, never mind the exhorbitant school fees. At that rate he's going to have to put down every moggy within a ten mile radius to keep him in the lifestyle to which he's accustomed.

rjsterry

DeVlaeminck wrote:

RideOnTime wrote:

Our elderly cat has just been to the vets. Liver cancer. Fairly easy to diagnose. Prognosis put him down. Cost £63. £63.

Vets are getting much more expensive. What tests did they do' if any, to be honest if I got out of a vets with a bill for £63 I'd be thinking I'd got off lightly. When our old Staffy was ill the bill was over £100 just to walk through the door because it was early Sunday evening. I know vets will tell you they have new procedures they can do which are more expensive - but it seems to me procedures they always did are now much more expensive too.

Commiserations on the bad news about the cat btw.

Sorry to hear about the cat.

I'll declare an interest up front: both parents were vets. So in response to the above, £63 doesn't sound too bad for a consultation, plus euthanasia. Just a general checkup at the dentist will cost you not much less if you don't qualify for free treatment.

For the Staffy above, surgeries are normally shut on Sundays, so you pay a premium for the out of hours service. If it was an emergency, then fair enough, but it was surprising how many supposed emergencies turned out to be "he's been off his food since Tuesday before last" or an urgent need for worming tablets.

One side effect of the free healthcare is that very few people have any idea how much medical care actually costs.

Anyway, I'll scuttle back to Commuting Chat, now.

DeVlaeminck

Yes an emergency, he couldn't wee and was in pain, needed a catheter to empty his bladder and I think they gave him some medicine. Full bill was a lot more than the £100 - can't remember exactly but more than twice that at least. To cap it the vet (a newly qualified locum) suggested it was partly my fault for not having had him neutered, not good for them apparently, the fact he was 16 was neither here nor there.

I then had to have him put down later in the week - turned out to be a serious condition. After some further scans etc must have cost about £500 all in.

A previous experience was with a dog on tablets for a thyroid condition. Tablets were cheap but they insisted I take her for a check up every 6 months to continue prescribing. I wouldn't mind but this entailed looking at her and weighing her - something i don't need to pay a vet to do. They then changed this to a three month check up - that was nothing more than taking advantage.

bdu98252

I am not sure which planet people live on. I am a engineer with a degree in engineering and my company charge out rate would not get you a lot of my time for £63. My sister is a vet and worked hard an Uni for the privilege for 5 years and get paid considerably less than me as and engineer. The only vets who make significant money are those with a practice hiring staff and running facilities. The money they make is probably comparable to the last guy who ran a successfull building company owner with a workforce of 10 guys giving you a quote for your last extension.

If you are not happy I would suggest you get the books out and give it a go with illegal drugs off the internet and your no doubt steady hand. Good luck.

mamba80

£63 is nothing - he diagnosed the condition, will put the cat down - humanely and dispose of the body for you, what more do you want ?
If your poor, you can go to PDSA and they ll do it all for nothing - alternatively, dont get a pet, they arnt compulsory.
To put it in perspective, 3 fillings at my dentist (there are no nhs ones in cornwall) have left me £350 less in the pocket, took her about 2hrs in total

the comms company i work for charge engineers out at £125per hr min 3hrs + Travel.

secretsam

Sorry to hear the bad news, you must be heartbroken.

We've got pet insurance which covers all this sort of thing, and also covers for us to receive some sort of 'bereavement' payment - don't you have the same?

Frankly, £63 isn't that much IMHO, given that a simple check on our cat was £50. We bought a pet plan in the end, bit of a no brainer...

Again, condolences on your loss.

feltkuota

The last time our cat went to the vets he had an operation, 4 nights stay and the bill was 4k.

Make what you like of that....

Pross

mamba80 wrote:

£63 is nothing - he diagnosed the condition, will put the cat down - humanely and dispose of the body for you, what more do you want ?
If your poor, you can go to PDSA and they ll do it all for nothing - alternatively, dont get a pet, they arnt compulsory.
To put it in perspective, 3 fillings at my dentist (there are no nhs ones in cornwall) have left me £350 less in the pocket, took her about 2hrs in total

the comms company i work for charge engineers out at £125per hr min 3hrs + Travel.

Exactly. The medication for putting the animal down won't be free, nor will disposal. Then you've got someone doing a job that is one of the hardest to get into in this country and requires probably the highest grades for any university course. There was probably also a veterinary nurse present and a receptionist to book you in. Allowing for time to sort out paperwork that is probably over an hour of combined time. Sounds pretty cheap to be honest.

team47b

Taking a kitten (5months) to the vet tomorrow to have her speyed, I will ask how much it is to put her down to see if it's cheaper :roll:

Bryn_Mawr003

RideOnTime wrote:

Our elderly cat has just been to the vets. Liver cancer. Fairly easy to diagnose. Prognosis put him down. Cost £63. £63.

The vet is making a killing out of that.

goonz

Personally dont think thats too bad. Compared to stories I have heard of £00 and £000s its acceptable. Sorry you had to have your cat put down though.