Investigation into Vets Overcharging

My sister has been through chemo recently and has asked me to have her 2 Yr old dog if any thing should happen to her . Of course I love him but I'm in such quandary because I can't afford him as I live on a low income. I will have to speak with her and tell her the truth when I see her next . I won't be able to care for him because of the costs. Very upsetting for us all

That’s a good point GSM about our own annual reviews. I have had two this week with our practice nurse. Bloods to check levels blood sugar, kidney function, inflammation, liver function and more. Then an aging well review to agree meds continue including height, weight blood pressure, pulse etc. I paid not one penny thanks to my contributions over my working life. We are so fortunate with our NHS - imagine how much my treatment this week alone would cost,

I’m amazed at what you say icanhandthemback. Like Iam’s, my dog has hypothyroidism and has to have a blood test and weigh-in every six months. This is essential to ensure that the dosage of medication is still correct and her condition stable. The original dosage may no longer be right. If she missed her six month check the vet would not provide further repeat prescriptions - to just carry on prescribing would be negligent. I have to see my GP for an annual blood test in respect of two of my medications - or I would be refused repeat prescriptions, quite rightly.

And that annual check up you mention might mean that something requiring treatment is spotted - it’s usually carried out when the vaccinations are given. Do you not have that done? Most vets have a monthly plan which spreads the cost of vaccinations, includes flea and worm medication, annual check up and also nail clipping as necessary.

My spaniel was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 3 years ago. My vet, like the one treating GSM’s dog, does bloods every 6 months to ensure the meds prescribed are effective and her weight stable. Her meds and the 6 monthly health and blood checks all paid for by Petplan. We had the most recent check visit last week. Half hour visit, lots of fuss made of my dog and chat about my other dog. The vet rang me the following day to confirm all was well so next review in 6 minths

I wonder if vets provide people with a list of their charges so they can compare eg consultation fees with different practices? I’m thinking of changing vets to one that’s easier to get to and that has a much better car park.

Germanshepherdsmum

icanhandthemback

This is true, MayBee70, and the vet will only prescribe if they have seen the animal within a certain time. Kerching!

I get my Vet's flea treatment from abroad and I only treat as necessary rather than every month without fail.

Your doctor wouldn’t prescribe if they hadn’t seen you recently. My dog has a thyroid condition requiring medication and this necessitates being seen and checked every six months. That’s entirely in accordance with guidelines. No kerchng about it, it’s proper practice.

That simply isn't true. I have 2 family members who get their thyroid prescriptions by repeat prescription and provided they are not having problems, they do not need to be seen or tested. When they first had thyroid problems, they were tested to check they were on the right dose but no longer need that. The most the GP might do is a medication review but it doesn't require a visit.
However, regardless, there is no real reason to give a dog annual checks for flea medication but even if they do, to charge such a high rate for a 10-15 minute check which is all it takes, is too expensive, especially if you can take 8 minutes to check over 2 dogs!

Which is why they have annual boosters and a check up. The last time my dog had her booster the vet said she would need to be sedated to have her teeth cleaned. He even pointed out that it would cost several hundred pounds. When I asked him about any alternatives he didn’t know of any. After advice from other people her teeth are absolutely fine. My last dog was totally brutalised when she had a lump removed. They shaved her to x ray her which made her skin raw and the scar from the lump removal was massive. It turned out to be a cyst and if they’d suggested a needle aspiration the operation could have been far less invasive. I lost faith in vets after that. When I first had dogs and cats I used to see the same vet for years. I rarely see the same vet twice these days. When I was first married we were really poor but I don’t remember ever thinking that I couldn’t afford to have cats or dogs because of vets bills, and several of them had ongoing problems. Then, when people started to insure their pets I had a Burmese cat who became ill. It reached the point where I could no longer pay for more tests etc. He died anyway and I think no matter what was done he would have died, but the vet criticised the fact that if I’d had insurance they could have carried on. Small pets didn’t seem to cost a lot, and vet fees for my pony were good value, it was treatment for dogs and cats that seemed to go through the roof.

I don’t think any responsible vet would prescribe any medication for an animal they hadn’t seen within the last six months, whatever the medication might be.

Germanshepherdsmum

icanhandthemback

This is true, MayBee70, and the vet will only prescribe if they have seen the animal within a certain time. Kerching!

I get my Vet's flea treatment from abroad and I only treat as necessary rather than every month without fail.

Your doctor wouldn’t prescribe if they hadn’t seen you recently. My dog has a thyroid condition requiring medication and this necessitates being seen and checked every six months. That’s entirely in accordance with guidelines. No kerchng about it, it’s proper practice.

There’s a big difference between thyroid treatment, the dose of which may need to be adjusted, and flea and worm treatment.

In the days when I started keeping pets there were far fewer treatments available. A serious injury or a diagnosis of cancer meant that nothing could be done and the victim would be put to sleep. I started insuring a couple of my cats, but found that the bills for their treatment usually came in at just under the limit for claiming on the insurance. Also as they got older the premiums went up and up. As they very rarely went to the vet I decided I was paying a lot of money for nothing much and cancelled the policies.

icanhandthemback

This is true, MayBee70, and the vet will only prescribe if they have seen the animal within a certain time. Kerching!

I get my Vet's flea treatment from abroad and I only treat as necessary rather than every month without fail.

Your doctor wouldn’t prescribe if they hadn’t seen you recently. My dog has a thyroid condition requiring medication and this necessitates being seen and checked every six months. That’s entirely in accordance with guidelines. No kerchng about it, it’s proper practice.

Grannysmith

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.

There may be a risk with on-line medication. I would research the company first before buying it, just to be on the safe side.

This is true, MayBee70, and the vet will only prescribe if they have seen the animal within a certain time. Kerching!

I get my Vet's flea treatment from abroad and I only treat as necessary rather than every month without fail.

icanhandthemback

A friend of ours has just taken his 2 dogs to the vet to get their flea treatment. He was in there a total of 8 minutes and the consultation bill was well over £150. This did not include any medication but there was £45 for the writing of a prescription for each dog. I personally think it is daylight robbery. If you worked out the hourly rate for this it is over £900. I didn't even pay that sort of rate for a GP's appointment at Bupa for my son.

And you can only get good flea treatment from a vet: the ones that can be bought from a pet shop don’t work. Same with wormer. I’m trying to use natural flea treatment on my dog because last time I used a spot on she itched for days and days afterwards and I’m even more worried about giving her tablets.

Dinahmo

The problem is the way in which the businesses are structured. In the past they would have been partnerships. This meant that whenever a partner retired he/she would have to be bought out and, depending upon where the business was that could be very expensive, especially given the price of property now.

Between 1982 and 1986 I worked in the specialist tax department of one of the top 3 accountancy firms. This department existed purely to deal with the partnership's tax affairs and those of the partners.

One of my tasks was to deal with the mergers that had occurred during the 70's (ie takeovers) with smaller firms. These firms invariably owned their own buildings and so one of my tasks was to do the CGT calculations whenever a partner retired and their share of the building was transferred to the remaining partners.

The firm that I worked for had a brand new building in the City. The offices and all the equipment were rented by the practice. This avoided the complications and cost of the remaining partners having to buy out any retiring partners. At that time there were between 150 and 200 partners. I forget how many exactly.

I looked for information on Noel Fitzpatrick's business. His smaller outfit - oncology and soft tissue - was incorporated in July 2013 and was subject to a management buyout in 2022, with the aid of a small group of investors. The investors will require dividends or interest on their investment which will of course add to the cost of running the businesses.

This has already happened with small care/nursing homes which had previously owned by the people who ran them.
You can't blame the people selling to a large conglomerate when they decide to retire and they want to get their money out.

👏👏👏 Unfortunately most clients don’t understand the realities of a professional practice. Retiring partners naturally want to extract their financial share. That can be very difficult for the remaining partners.

A friend of ours has just taken his 2 dogs to the vet to get their flea treatment. He was in there a total of 8 minutes and the consultation bill was well over £150. This did not include any medication but there was £45 for the writing of a prescription for each dog. I personally think it is daylight robbery. If you worked out the hourly rate for this it is over £900. I didn't even pay that sort of rate for a GP's appointment at Bupa for my son.

Some vets will charge anything because they know people love their pets and will pay up.

At least 15 years ago another volunteer at the charity shop where I helped told me about her very elderly cat. I think it was about 20. She was off her food and sleeping even more than usual. We have always had pets ….. horses, dogs, cats, guinea pigs etc and we always say if they are a great age and off their food, it’s time to say goodbye.

This volunteer got the vet out who said pretty much what I said but she told him she was not ready to let her cat go yet and told him to do all he could for a few more days to keep her going. She said (like a daft thing) I don’t care what it costs!

He did what she asked and she got another 5 days with her cat and the vet charged £1500 and that was 15 years ago!

The problem is the way in which the businesses are structured. In the past they would have been partnerships. This meant that whenever a partner retired he/she would have to be bought out and, depending upon where the business was that could be very expensive, especially given the price of property now.

Between 1982 and 1986 I worked in the specialist tax department of one of the top 3 accountancy firms. This department existed purely to deal with the partnership's tax affairs and those of the partners.

One of my tasks was to deal with the mergers that had occurred during the 70's (ie takeovers) with smaller firms. These firms invariably owned their own buildings and so one of my tasks was to do the CGT calculations whenever a partner retired and their share of the building was transferred to the remaining partners.

The firm that I worked for had a brand new building in the City. The offices and all the equipment were rented by the practice. This avoided the complications and cost of the remaining partners having to buy out any retiring partners. At that time there were between 150 and 200 partners. I forget how many exactly.

I looked for information on Noel Fitzpatrick's business. His smaller outfit - oncology and soft tissue - was incorporated in July 2013 and was subject to a management buyout in 2022, with the aid of a small group of investors. The investors will require dividends or interest on their investment which will of course add to the cost of running the businesses.

This has already happened with small care/nursing homes which had previously owned by the people who ran them.
You can't blame the people selling to a large conglomerate when they decide to retire and they want to get their money out.

I’ve just had to pay £80 for some antibiotics for my dog! She is insured but by the time I’ve paid the excess and the vets admin charge it probably won’t be worth claiming, especially if it pushes my £80 per month premium up!

I don't insure and at one time I had 5 horses, 2 dogs and a cat. I've always used a specialist equine vet hospital for the many horses and ponies we've had and tbh I have never felt I have been overcharged. They have always been professional for the routine stuff and so kind when disaster has struck and they have had to put a horse to sleep for me. They happily gave me prescriptions for my old TB so I could order his meds online cheaper than they could sell them to me and always gave me balanced sensible advice which probably saved me a lot of money and heartache.
My small animal vets are also great, I pay £20 per month for my dog which includes all vaccs, flea treatments, regular checks, nails trims and anal gland checks and I paid £490 this month for a teeth clean under GA with x rays and the removal of 4 teeth, this included a pre op check, and two after treatment checks with medication to control discomfort.
Having said that, I think some of the big companies are really taking advantage of clients and I am supportive of this investigation. We love our animals and when they are ill it is natural to want to do the best we can without questioning the cost. I appreciate a vet who is honest and upfront about costs and benefits. My beautiful and much loved horse went down with strangulated colic, I was beside myself with grief and sadness, to have a vet who answered my question honestly ie is he a good candidate for surgery? and to have an honest answer, No I think we should PTS now, was hard to hear but best for my horse and one of the saddest things I've ever had to do. I'm fortunate as all my vets do what is best for the animal not best for their purse.

It’s probably what it would cost the NHS if your doctor prescribed it. He would also have paid vat.

There was a chap on TV last night saying he paid £20 for Paracetamol for his Dog... That's a big mark up?

philly

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

You are joking I hope

I’m so sorry you have lost your dog. It is indeed sometimes the case that there is nothing which can be done other than to give a peaceful death when quality of life becomes unacceptable. That was the case with my previous dog. The vet came to our house, accompanied by a nurse, and they spent a very long time putting her at her ease before giving her the injection. There was no extra charge for the nurse or the amount of time spent. And this is a veterinary surgery owned by one of the large businesses - the standard of care is first class.

We have 2 practices in town, one was partner owned for over 70 years (mum when she was younger and farming used to say how the one original vet got a whopper bull calf out of a cow, when she asked how to help the cow, 'give it brandy ' which she did!) He took on 2 young lads..... The last one retired 14 years ago and sold his share of the practice to the "current" partner who "promised to keep things as they are", within a.month ALL large animal clients (myself included) were sent letters to pay up all accounts as the large animal section was ceasing due to it being no longer viable, (we're a country town, next closest vet is 30 minutes away, along time to wait if you need lambing help or calving help), so after alienating that section of clients, a lot who thought sod ya, they took their small animal business elsewhere, usually to the same practice who now had their farm animals. About 4 years ago he then sold up to a.big commercial, half the nurses were pushed out and the remaining 'English' vets also left and the practice now runs foreign vets, all trained etc, but you never see the same vet twice.

The other practice in town, they too sold out, to a different biggie and again, different vets all.the time.

An independent owner posted on FB, that he was thinking of opening a branch in town, he asked for peoples opinions, how FB DIDN'T crash, I don't know.

I've been on the floor with a fitting dog during the night, when the meds don't work and you need help, that's when you need a vet the other end of phone telling you he's on his way, NOT "we can't help you!" which is what happened with us!

I will pay for my dogs insurance and treatment, but I'm not stupid, I know prices, previous idiot dogs have seen to that.

My dog vet is the last independent in their area and they are full to capacity as people are flocking to them due to the prices of the practices around them (ALL have sold out)

When we lost our 2nd Rottie in 2011, we were paying £80 I think per month for her insurance + 20% of each claim, she was just over 10 when she died. When I phoned PetPlan for a quote for a new Rottie pup a.couple of months later,.it was £80 per month! It didn't make sense, they said it was due to the breed etc. We saw a Rottie X and bought that, her insurance started at £30 I think, when she died in 2022, it was £110 per month &20%. She became epileptic during her 5th year, she died 11,1/2. Hit the policy limit twice, once with 5 months left. Mums credit card got a.battering several times, but she was our baby.

Her "sister", my beloved, unexpectedly fell ill last year, it.will be a year next month and to be.honest, I still.CAN'T think about her without crying, because I feel like I let her down. I broke down when my farm vet was here a month after losing her and when I told her what she died of, she was.adamant that there was NOTHING I could have done, doesn't make me feel better though.

Vets are a business when it comes down to it, but there does need to be a balance between balancing the books and fleecing the clients!