Are All Vets Cash Orientated?

[lalena]

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in june this year my staffie girl started whelping. however, it was taking an alarming amount of time (full blown baring down for nearly 4 hours before she produced her 1st pup) which the stud dog owner told me could endanger her life. i took his advice and phoned the vet just to let him know that we might be bringing in our girl.now, i'm no expert, but shouldn't a vet actually SEE the patient before passing judgement? as soon as i said 'staffie' his response was "right, she needs a c section". my oh and i discussed this at length. after all, this was her 1st litter, she was in peak condition, and aside from the time it was taking, she showed no sign of distress, in fact seemed alert and chilled out.after 45 minutes, we thought 'ok lets take her in'. once we got there, my oh went in to tell the vet while i remained in the car with her and the puppy. after he went inside our girl had a 2nd pup, on the drivers seat! bless her ! we finally got the 3 of them into the surgery. our vet told us she should have the c section asap. we actually had to TELL him to give hormone injections a try before such drastic measures. after the jab she had another puppy. he then told us again she needed the op, and worked out the cost on his pc. my oh noticed that for each medication that came up, the vet always clicked on the most expensive option. once he was done, the vet calmly informed us the final cost, not inc vat, would be £889.38 :rant: thankfully, his shift ended and the next vet said the op wasn't needed for simple uterine inertia. she went on to have 7 in total, and was a great mum. should such vets be allowed to practice? i've read that c sections can be very traumatic, and that some bitches reject their puppies as a result.

 

[mally]

The rates that vets charge now is just a joke. And in my veiw you have pet insurance companies to blame. The vets have ripped them off for many a year and know they will get paid. So it becomes the price for everyone.

I'm quite fortunate and have a very good vet who charges realistic prices. He charged me £14.51 to check my bitch and her ten pups and give her a penicillin injection.

The best advise i can give anyone is get your dog insured whats £11 a month after all.

 

[mazza]

With no disrespect to Vets it's the consultation fee that stings most.

Even visits for minor ailments are costly.

Usual charge is about £25.00 just to assess the dog before any treatment costs.

I sometimes think too that however small an injury, antibiotics seem to nearly always be given. Makes me wonder if they are always as necessary as we are led to believe or just another reason to make money. <_<

Could also be the psychological aspect here too, if pills are prescribed the owner is going to hope it's the cure even though unknowingly it may just be a placebo.

Doctors are usually reluctant to prescribe antibiotics unless absolutely necessary for us humans. :blink:

 

[Seraphina]

That is why it is a good idea to find a vet you can trust and stay with him/her. i am so lucky, I have been using the same vet for over 20 years. I know if he says something is necessary it definitely is so.

But unfortunately not many vets are like that anymore.

Lida

 

[maggymills]

I work as a vet nurse and in some respect i agree to the comments that some vets are greedy, but i dont think they would prescribe drugs an animal wouldnt need, they may prescribe precautionary drugs such as antibiotics though.

I had a sick kitten and the vet wouldnt give her antibiotics as she was too young and they would cause her to be less receptive to her in future.

Vets find it a huge relief if peoples animals are insured, this is because they can go ahead and take all precautions such as blood testing, x-rays, exploratory operations etc to find out the problem. Whereas if the owners weren't insured the vet can only do so much, and feel like the animal isn't getting the best treatment it could be getting.

But be warned-there are vets who will carry out unnecessary treatments on a not so ill animal if its insured- so that he claims more off the company, one vet has recently been caught out.

But my boss- who is owner & main vet, is one of these modern vets who does charge £22 for first consult- but she lives for the welfare of animals, and is definitely not rolling in £ !

 

[lalena]

The rates that vets charge now is just a joke. And in my veiw you have pet insurance companies to blame. The vets have ripped them off for many a year and know they will get paid. So it becomes the price for everyone. I'm quite fortunate and have a very good vet who charges realistic prices. He charged me £14.51 to check my bitch and her ten pups and give her a penicillin injection.

The best advise i can give anyone is get your dog insured whats £11 a month after all.

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the thing is, we have k.c insurance (£30 pcm) but they will not cover anything to do with whelping etc...which is all good and well(not really,but i digress), what companies do insure the reproductive side of things?

 

[mazza]

Too late to edit but wanted to say also

Glad everything worked out well in the end for your staffie.

 

[lalena]

Too late to edit but wanted to say also Glad everything worked out well in the end for your staffie.

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thank you, i dont know what we'd do if we lost our little nanny dog!

 

[kris]

i had exactly the same thing happen years ago with a bitch that was whelping.this vet wanted to do a c section immediately,i held out and said no i want a pituitrin injection.the injection worked,she didnt need a c section.i changed vets not long after this. :- "

 

[ILoveKettleChips]

The rates that vets charge now is just a joke. And in my veiw you have pet insurance companies to blame. The vets have ripped them off for many a year and know they will get paid. So it becomes the price for everyone. I'm quite fortunate and have a very good vet who charges realistic prices. He charged me £14.51 to check my bitch and her ten pups and give her a penicillin injection.

The best advise i can give anyone is get your dog insured whats £11 a month after all.

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Totally agree, the mistakes of a few small-minded members of the profession has endangered the provision of pet insurance for a generation - unless vets draw in the reins, there's likely to be a massive increase in insurance premiums shortly, leadi8ng to a drop in take-up of pet insurance. Devastating for the pets who will be the ones who suffer.

 

[ILoveKettleChips]

I sometimes think too that however small an injury, antibiotics seem to nearly always be given. Makes me wonder if they are always as necessary as we are led to believe or just another reason to make money.

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The routine pen/strep jab that a 'randomly sick' patient gets (ie one that is poorly but has no 'clinical signs', ie shows no physical evidence of illness) costs about 15p/10kg - not a big money-spinner! But stops the vet getting sued if the dog is brewing a major case of septicaemia! :unsure:

 

[bappit]

Maybe I'm being thick (always a 1st time :- " ), but I thought insurance - mine anyway (pet plan), does not cover any treatment needed as a result of breeding or complications arising from it. Know a couple of friends (who only breed a litter every few years) pay for a different 'breeder' insurance so they are covered. So a little confused :wacko: Any clarification ILKC?

 

[anslinmcg]

My vet is very reasonable and also I have a lot of faith in him.

He performed an emergancy op on my GWP at 2am on Sunday morning for a gastric trusion. The whole situation was about £300 which I thought was good!!

When Bracken when to the bridges the fee was £100 (this included Bracken being cremated), yet my father in law was charged £230 the only difference was the vet had to come out to send Jet to the bridges and take him away?

 

[ILoveKettleChips]

Maybe I'm being thick (always a 1st time :- " ), but I thought insurance - mine anyway (pet plan), does not cover any treatment needed as a result of breeding or complications arising from it. Know a couple of friends (who only breed a litter every few years) pay for a different 'breeder' insurance so they are covered. So a little confused :wacko: Any clarification ILKC?

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Most 'pet' policies don't cover for breeding-related problems - basically because it's the owner's choice to embark upon a potentially risky journey. It's like the difference between insuring your granny's old Nissan Micra and insuring a Securicor van! I believe there are specific breeding policies available but am not sure how these work - perhaps some of the members here have more idea about that?

 

[bappit]

Thanks ILKC - thought that was the situation...just some people had mentioned insurance, and I felt that since the original post cited the case of a bitch in whelp and the potential vet fees, I'd seek clarification. :thumbsup:

No plans to remove my bitch from her spinster of the parish status, just wondering.