Vets Bills.

[KateLMead]

I am shocked at the charges made by vets...a cross obtained from a rescue centre became the most adored
Member of the family and had an incredible bond with their seven year old son.
During their morning walk a lorry came speeding toward them mounting the pavement, it would have hit
The small boy who stood transfixed and the mother was desperately moving the pushchair with her two other children in it in a panic to avoid it being hit by the lorry that sped off.
Their beloved dog had sprang into action leaping forward onto the child's chest and pushing him out of danger. Sadly however
The dog was hit seriously to a point the vets diagnosis almost broke the families heart, he had sustained a fractured spine
Serious internal injuries and broken legs and little chance of survival. The family were bereft.
This working class family inspite of the frightening news went ahead to attempt to save their beloved pet. cost of £17,000 plus, he has survived...following public support the vets bill was lowered to £8,000. They had paid the £3,000 from the pets insurance. And are paying the mammoth £8,000 bill off monthly.

[Workingman]

My landlords do not allow pets so I am pet free. I have to say, though, that I still would not have one even if allowed because of the cost of vets and pet insurance.

[KateLMead]

Shocking Frank...Gus and I both have a dog.. We rarely get away with spending less than £60 when we go there for worming etc and medication for her cats
Consultation fee etc. another article claimed this working couple had a bill of over £20,000. They saved the dogs life, had they not however they would still have had to pay this outrageous bill.

[Workingman]

Kate, I wonder how many people abandon their pets once they get to realise how expensive they can be? Could it be time to go back to licensing pets, and not just dogs?

[shazsha]

Kate, I wonder how many people abandon their pets once they get to realise how expensive they can be? Could it be time to go back to licensing pets, and not just dogs?

I think they should be licensed and chipped so that the owners can be traced if the animal is abandoned.

Vet fees can be horrendous and many people don't know that if their pet is on medication they can get a prescription from their vet and have it filled online- this can save a huge amount of money.

[JoM]

Vet fees are shocking.

We had to take Billy to get a cut stapled two weeks ago. Our usual vet was closed as it was a Sunday so we ended up seeing the instore vet at Pets At Home. The cost of the consultation, wound treatment (cleaning and stapling) and 2 types of medication was £140. We've put in an insurance claim and at our usual vets they place a £5 admin charge on all claims but the PAH surgery didn't make a charge.

Kate, there's a way around paying them so much for worming/flea treatments though. Our vet recommended Advocate, which is available on prescription only, for Billy at a cost of around £40 for a 3 month supply. I found an online supplier - Animed Direct - who were selling it at around £23 for a 6 month supply but obviously I needed a vet's prescription which our vet would issue at a cost of £10, and this could be used twice within 6 months so has covered a whole year's supply. Working it out, to buy directly from the vet it was costing us around £160 a year. Buying online it's cost us around £56 for the year's supply which includes the cost of the prescription.

[Suff]

We've noticed that Vet's bills in France are about half what they are in the UK. It's hard to think about it without being callous but pets have become luxury items so they attract luxury prices for services.

Not a position I would ever have liked to see.

Our last dog, after we bought it from the breeder, only had to see the vet twice. Once when she glued her teeth together by savaging a circular which came through the door and the second time when we had to have her put down. She was healthy all her life and we never had to worm her or de flea her. Probably a benefit of living in colder Scotland.

I'm just glad that our current dog is in France. Bills are quite modest in comparison. It is not a time to be a poor pet lover.

[KateLMead]

Thanks for helpful replies, the thought of abandoning dogs and indeed any animal is heartbreaking, poor animals left
Confused and alone.. Our dogs have been loved and cared for. I wonder what vets salaries are, £17,000 for treatment Like the majority of people and pensioners, I would find it difficult to find a couple of hundred. Thanks for info regarding Advocate.. I truly cannot see How Vets Can Justify Charging Such Outrageous Costs. Dogs are often a lifeline for "the elderly" walking helps keep them fit and the love they give is un replaceable for the lonely . Yes I believe one should pay a licence.

[Kaz]

Vet bills can be scary. Ironically the pet that has cost me the most money was a rabbit that belonged to Becks when she was little! Twitchy cost £25 to buy, her hutch and run cost nothing as a friend made them, but she cost me hundreds when she got an infected tooth which made her very ill After that I tried to get her insured but all of the companies wanted to put in an exclusion for any condition from the neck upwards, because of the tooth, so it wasn't worth it! The little thing died of an unrelated kidney problem a year or so later

Both of the dogs were insured the day we got them, but so far have been extremely healthy, and I hope that will continue. Pepper is 6 and apart from the yearly jabs and check up she has only been ill once, with a minor urine infection. We've only had Fraggs a year but he's as robust as anything, the term Hybrid Vigour might have been invented for him They are both neutered of course

I do worry that they might get an expensive long term illness, or that they might have a horrible accident like Debbie's Milly, but even if the costs exceeded the insurance limits we would pay out, being lucky enough to be able to just about afford to do so, but with insurance, food, jabs, worming etc pet owning is not the cheap option it once was

I knew about the meds being available online , that must be a godsend with chronic conditions

[debih]

Vet bills here are shocking, particularly for medication.

When Millie had her accident we realised there was a chance she could be on one particular medication for life. A bottle of the medicine cost £60 and would only last a couple of weeks.

One of the mums at school runs a pharmaceutical manufacturing company and she mentioned that they produced this product. As a manufacturer she couldn't legally sell it to me but did ask one of the companies they supply, who then supply to vets, if they would be prepared to sell it to me at cost. They agreed and it was going to cost me £7.50 a bottle - what they sell it to the vets for.

Fortunately we didn't need it but I did get the same product in tablet form from our vet to keep in case Millie had an upset stomach. That cost me £30. When I looked inside the box the instructions for taking it were for people! When I spoke to the chemist next she told me it was very common for dogs to have human medicine and the same tablets (but with different name for humans) would cost me just a couple of pound.

Absolute rip off.