Investigation into Vets Overcharging

I don’t agree that vets prey on our love for our pets - at least not all vets do.
It’s a pity that many small local practices have been taken over by large companies , as has mine. But we have the same excellent vets and nurses. My vet is happy to provide a prescription so I can buy meds cheaper over the internet.

I agree, costs are very high. If we paid for our own health insurance privately it would be higher than we pay our vet. I paid £40 recently for a full medical check and examination, for good advice on managing my spaniel’s long term health problems.
I do have pet insurance and have never felt my vet was out to make as much money as possible. On the contrary, they’ve never recommended unnecessary investigations or treatment. It’s all been discussed comprehensively and decisions reached about what’s best for my dogs.

It is the big business conglomerates buying as many ordinary community vet practices as they can. Very few privately owned vets in the county I live. The vets tend to be employees on not wonderful salaries either plus having to follow the Company rules regarding charging. These vets are encouraged to push clients to meet targets for different procedures. My friends daughter is looking to move to a Community Vet. I blame big business.

My experience is the same as Iam’s. The veterinary practice I use is owned by a large company but the care and facilities are excellent and I have never had unnecessary investigations, procedures or medication suggested. The vets I see are very caring and certainly not out to make money. If I wished, they would give me a prescription to buy medication online but I don’t. If we had to pay for our healthcare and the actual price of the medication we are prescribed, we would be shocked.

I agree with Iam and GSM. Because we get ‘free’ NHS treatment we tend not to realise what procedures and medication actually costs. Often vets need to use expensive diagnostic equipment because our pets can’t talk to tell us what is wrong.

I agree with you OldBat (I wouldn't call you that to your face!)

Our local vet was retiring and sold his business to a corporation. The charges have skyrocketed, I would say in the region of 400% for some things, plus they push blood tests, and scans they don't really need.

My son's kitty just this week ate a piece of foam that would not pass through. The bill to remove it came to 1400 GBP.
With our old vet just about any operation would cost around 300 GBP equivalent.

We have two vets in the family who are extremely unhappy working for these big companies. They feel they have to compromise the care they give.
One is on maternity leave at the moment and the other is looking for a new job, probably not vetting anymore.

PamelaJ1 what a shame after all their studying to qualify ☹️

Our vet runs a monthly payment scheme which covers an annual check-up, vaccinations, flea/tick and worming tablets, plus a discount on certain procedures eg blood tests. Our dog is also insured and the cost for the two schemes is £60 a month.
Last year I took him for his check-up and was told he needed £600 worth of dental treatment, with £100 worth of tests beforehand to check if he'd survive the general anaesthetic.
(This is a dog who has a great appetite and crunches up his dry food by the bowlful!)
Needless to say his pet insurance doesn't cover any of this cost as it's age-related wear and tear.

V3ra

PamelaJ1 what a shame after all their studying to qualify ☹️

Our vet runs a monthly payment scheme which covers an annual check-up, vaccinations, flea/tick and worming tablets, plus a discount on certain procedures eg blood tests. Our dog is also insured and the cost for the two schemes is £60 a month.
Last year I took him for his check-up and was told he needed £600 worth of dental treatment, with £100 worth of tests beforehand to check if he'd survive the general anaesthetic.
(This is a dog who has a great appetite and crunches up his dry food by the bowlful!)
Needless to say his pet insurance doesn't cover any of this cost as it's age-related wear and tear.

That sounds awful. Is your dog in pain from his teeth? Did you go to the vet because you were concerned about his teeth? He can crunch up his food with no bother!!! Sounds as if your vet is keen to extract money from you. Surely he would be able to advise you if your dog wasn’t up to a general anaesthetic? Why put your dog through anything he doesn’t need as he sounds elderly. My daughter has had two dogs who lived long lives until recently. She is collecting a new puppy in a couple of weeks time. They are not paying any more insurance as they found the amounts paid out were never any where near refunded. Also as the dogs aged the premiums increased to a ridiculous amount. She has said they intend to put money aside for the dog (sorry Maybel’s) medical needs. We also had a much loved golden retriever who lived a good life but this was in the eighties and having pets insured was something we never heard about and would have had difficulty affording. Now insurance supports the procedures available now like elbow displacia which my friend’s dog had along with other expensive treatments. She has spent thousands on her much loved Labrador who died recently. The money wasn’t begrudged but I couldn’t help feeling that at times she was being offered expensive treatment that was offered simply because she was willing to pay.

No he's not in pain at all, we were just there for his annual vaccinations.
I bought him some different dental sticks which he loves, he also likes crunching a carrot.
He's recently been for this year's vaccinations and check-up, the vet inspected his teeth and didn't make any comment 🤷

From my own experience, I don't think the charges are unreasonable. I have had pets for a number of years, which inevitably means trips to the vet. The care they have received has always been excellent. I recently needed to buy repeat medication and I checked the price on the internet before going to the vet. The price was the same.

Vera - my dogs have a small raw marrow bone weekly. Pearly whit teeth - they aren’t raw fed but people say that helps

Luck of the draw regards pets teeth I think. We have two dogs, brother and sister from different litters, same parents. One of them has had to have many teeth extracted over his 10 years (8 just last Monday), the other still has all her pearly white teeth at 9 years old. Same food, same dental care, same love care and attention - everything the same.

Our pet insurance paid for his dental work. Luckily!

My privately owned vet practice was taken over by a large company last year. The prices have gone up, the care has been good. But it is all business now...
Toby isn't insured as he is a rescue, 13 years old, recently adopted and l couldn't get insurance due to his age. He became ill recently , the vet didn't seem to have a clue what was wrong him ordering countless tests, £800.00 in total. He was finally diagnosed with a B12 deficiency and urine infection.
What really annoyed me though was waiting for a medication that l could have got myself online for half the price.
Luckily l can afford to pay, many cannot but want to have a beloved companion. I don't know what the answer is.

I believe in euthanasia when I am a crippled cabbage and can’t enjoy life they can switch me off, so I extend that to pets as well.
A neighbour had a 16yr old terrier Ive no idea what the problem was, vet didn’t either but persuaded the owner to spend £2000 in investigation, the dog died anyway. How they can sleep at night, they play on emotions, when kindest course was euthanasia and buy a new puppy to love.

Overcharging for medicines is another scam, they do it because they can

Katie59, I firmly believe better a week too soon than a day too late.
I’ve never been persuaded to have unnecessary tests with any of my dogs. They’re my dogs, I trust my vet - we’ve discussed and agreed on the best way forward

Iam64 I did buy him an ostrich bone, which was recommended on here, but he seemed terrified of it and wouldn't go near it!

No dog or cat for several years now, but our lovely vet, who I saw a lot when our dog was getting old, used to rail against the chains that wanted to take over his practice. He said all they were interested in was money - they’d pressure vets to flog as many extras as possible to each ‘unit’ (pet owner) that came through the door, and you’d be in trouble if you weren’t flogging enough.

But lo, what did he do just a few years later, but sell out to precisely one such chain? 🙁

My daughter has just paid £4500.0 for a scan for her very small dog yet my husband had a private scan last week and it cost him £420 !!

Philly don’t they have to anesthetise to do scans etc on animals? Hence the difference in price. As said before an animal can’t tell you what’s wrong and neither can you explain why they need to lie quietly in a scanner.

I paid £2500 for a spinal scan on my spaniel x, 8 years ago. The same year by big doodle had seizures - brain scan £1250. The spaniel aged 6 had an inoperable tumour which exams and X-rays hadn’t identified
Luckily the brain scan on my 10 year old doodle was clear. Meds stopped the seizures. I found a small lump on her shoulder, =my vet removed it, it was cancerous. We agreed not to use chemo but to let her live her best life hoping the cancer had all been removed. She was put to sleep 3 years later after a very short week of ill health. The same vet looked after these two and is currently looking after my current dogs. She does surgery as well as routine care. The warmth love and support she gave to my poor 6 year old cocker cross and his humans won’t be forgotten

Late last year we lost our 16 year old Border Terrier. The care and support received from our vets was amazing. Yes, she did cost us a lot in the final year (we had stopped paying insurance as it had gone up so much). But the vet always warned us of costs and towards the end would offer us choices about the way to go and always said ‘none of these is the wrong choice’. We had agreed that while she woke up in the morning with bright eyes and ready for an outing (more buggy ride less walking) we would support her.

I think we have to keep in mind how many wonderful staff there are who all deserve a decent wage.

I love animals, cats first and then dogs! I know my son and girlfriend have pet insurance for their dog, everyone I know who has a pet seems to spend a fortune on vets bills these days. a couple of thousand seems standard for any procedure. I remember having cats as a child when I was growing up and there were the odd trips to the vet for the various things they had to have done. Believe me my father was as tight as they come somewhat parsimonious as far as outlaying money on anything he deemed unnecessary, because he hummed and hahed before he let us have a cat in the first place, mentioning costs of vets bills, so I can only assume a pet was affordable back then. I think a pet can be a life saver for many and a great comfort, I think it is very regrettable if in future people can't afford their animals because of extortionate vets' fees.

Our veterinary surgery is actually a proper veterinary hospital with a great deal of expensive equipment. They also have the ability to undertake most blood etc testing in house. There are veterinary nurses on the premises 24/7 and an emergency vet is always available on the phone or to come out or meet you at the surgery at all times, every day of the year. These facilities cost money.

We had to take our lovely ginger cat to the vet yesterday to have a blade of grass removed from his throat (2nd time in 3 years). We paid an eye watering £699.95 but what else could we do? He came away with 2 medicines to give for 2 days, costing about £40. I looked online & could have bought them for a total of £12! Our vet is an independent & wonderful but I felt annoyed about the price differential.