Matters related to heart murmurs in dogs

[BeverleyP]

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Our 13 year old small dog who weighs 6 kilos, is 13 years old was checked over today by a cardiologist before putting her on heart medication. This involved a 'general health profile', 'haematology', and 'cardiology work-up' . An ECG was not included. This came to £880.00.

Is this fair? What have others paid?

 

[Montysdad]

Cardiologists are not cheap, cost me £830 for a 5 minute scan, and 10 minutes
for the vet to look at the result which was not good.Dont think I was there for 40 mins.
If they ask if you are insured before the examination,you know its going to expensive.
Fraid I have lost all trust in Vets,its all about money rather care and doing what is right
for the animal.Most of the independant vets have been taken over by big companies,
I wouldnt know where to go for treatment now

 

[Tinytom]

When we had our dogs heart scan (last year ) he was sedated a full heart scan and 4 weeks medication was £689 ..
It was worth it as Tom was 9 and it told us how much damage was done to his heart and the cardiologist could tailor the drugs exactly...he was given 6/12 months and he lived 11 months of very good quality of life the only thing we changed was he had one walk instead of 2 ...
Our vets now charge £63 just for the consult ...hence why we will never be able to afford 5 dogs again

 

[excuseme]

We use a small independent practice.
Our vets charge for a general 1st consultation, £49.50. A re-consultation £42.
And I thought that was expensive!

 

[JoanneF]

We use a couple of practices.

One is a traditional vet who uses his knowledge, experience and expertise to make an educated assessment - £10.

The other doesn't even try, they will immediately recommend sedation and any testing available so they aren't relying on judgement - at a cost.

So, I use my discretion. For a basic injury or something I'm fairly sure is minor, I go to the first vet. If it's more serious and/or likely to result in an insurance claim, I go to the second.

But getting back to the question, it doesn't take long for bills to mount up, especially with specialists. And running a vet practice isn't cheap.

 

[Tinytom]

Ours was an independent vet but got taken over by a consortium...unfortunately all of the vets around by us have over the past 5 years ...when I questioned why consults were so expensive I was told they are paying the vets more as there are fewer vets around ?????
We used to have 3/4 vets at our local vets 5 mins in the village and now its 1 a day ....
Before lockdown the consults were £45 ......

 

[JoanneF]

they are paying the vets more as there are fewer vets around

Maybe. But also, they're definitely stretched thinner, because all these greeders that produced thousands of lockdown puppies overtook the capacity for vet care, really quickly

Oh, and produced puppies that were poorly bred, so needed even more vet care ( x 2)