Poor Jakey - Greedy vet :(

[coomber]

My poor Newfoundland dog Jake has partially torn the cruciate ligament in his back leg, took him to the vets yesterday £1035.00 just for investigations. Next week he has the op to repair damage £1800.00. Lucky for us he's insured, but how can vets justify these prices - I know they Train/work hard but

[squashysu]

i am totally with you on that one, poor jake and lucky you for being insured....when rosey (GSD) was ill in oct, my OH took her in and they did all the investigations and then an op, they said £500 which then doubled and the sad thing was she was only 8 and didnt pull through the anesthestic, even though the op was successful (big c) - they then gave us a bill and a dead dog for £1000 (uninsured as she was over 8), we got it down to £700 as they told us the op would be successful and she would be fine!!!

sorry, but its worse than taking your car to a garage when you dont do mechanics, also i think vets have big windows and see us coming!!!

Hope the op is successful (I love NF's, gorgeous dogs)

[coomber]

the sad thing was she was only 8 and didnt pull through the anesthestic, even though the op was successful (big c) - they then gave us a bill and a dead dog for £1000

OMG how terrible for you.

We are worried about the anesthetic because its supposed to be quite risky in big dogs.

[FionaH]

Poor you and poor Jake. I took my cat to the vets on a bank holiday and it cost £95 for some cat paracetamol and an examination.
My beef is with the insurers, I paid out for 11 years in premiums for my pony. When she had to be put down they paid for the treatment but not the euthenasia. They said as it wasnt imperative she was put down that day then they wouldnt pay. They would rather I had let her suffer for a few more weeks until she became so ill she had to be put down!

Hope Jake has a speedy recovery

[flowerofshona]

We had the very same with Mia my big lab girl !! she tore her ligament badly after stepping in a rabbit hole
The whole operation cost £650, we had no insurance but would have paid it no matter what !
To be honest as soon as you say you are insured the vets see pound signs and love to rack the bill up big time !! Why it cost so much to find out what was wrong is behond me !! my vet took one look and told us what it was ! you can feel it so no need for x rays ! If the insurance companys are stupid enough to pay it then thats there problem but as i have said many time svets should be regulated and their prices capped !!!
I hope Jake recovers well hun, we where lucky as our vet was one of the big orthopedic vets from London and Mia went on to have good hip scores of 2/5 !

[squashysu]

OMG how terrible for you.

We are worried about the anesthetic because its supposed to be quite risky in big dogs.

they never told me the risk, they said she would be fine, i am still bitter now about it all and miss her so much.

i so hope jake is ok and i am sure he will be, please let us know x

[Cloud]

Well a girl at work has a Jack Russell and it keeps loosing the use of its front legs.The cost for surgery is.......................................£5,000

[Polly Fouracre]

£170 for five stitches in a Greyhounds side,£29-50p for a tiny tube of eye ointment that I found later cost the vet £2-20p!!
I could go on! Ask your vet. for an itemised bill and you will see how he makes his money.
I now do what I can to treat my dogs myself, including stitching. Brolene for eye infections etc.
Unfortunately,as with car mechanics, one pays for the fact that they can do it and you can't!!
I hope your poor dog is better soon.

[Shortie]

It's not much consolation I know, but that's why we've stuck with our vet even when we moved further away and had a 1.5 hr round journey to get to him.

He's in it for the animals, is very cheap, runs a wild animal charity in his spare time, has 'turned down' work when he didn't think we needed to have anything done.... He's not the easiest to get on with - I was told before I first used him thathe'll talk to the pet not the owner, lol but that's becasue he's very old skool and doesn't really want to hear the owner's waffle....

My Aunt had a cat many moons ago that was a very tiny, weak kitten. She took it to a well known 'chain' of vets who told her it needed all it's legs broken and reset, etc... lots of pain and huge bill. She then took it to Statton who told her it was rubbish, gave her some pretty cheap vitamins for it and any years later when I was old enough to know it, the darned thing was HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE and very healthy.

It goes to show that it really can vary with who you get. I'll be sad when our vet's no longer practising


Btw, anyone in the North london area, I'll pm you his details if you're intersted in using him...

[kirsty b]

I think I'm really lucky with my vet. Last year Boo had trouble whelping (due to large puppies we found) and she needed help to deliver. I was on the phone to him almost constantly for over an hour and he talked me through how to stimulate contractions as well as ringing me back to see how we were doing. When I was not successful, we took her in at 9pm, vet inserted cannula, gave a calcium injection, delivered said puppy while showing us what to do if we had another big one. After we got home he phoned us again to see how things were. We took Boo and puppies in the next day for him to check them all over and thankfully they were all healthy.
It was the longest night of my life (6pm-4am) and I was a complete basket case. I was expecting the bill to be enormous because it was out of hours but all the treatment/help came to £170, which I thought was pretty reasonable as because of us, he didn't get any tea that night.

He's great and he knows about chooks.

[SlugLobber]

I've known some appalling vets, sadly. One lost my cat outside the surgery and had the cheek to ask me to re-word missing posters, as it suggested he was 'in their care'. Well, considering they put the carrier back together wrong and the vet was carrying it the wrong way round...

To Hell with it. It was Oxted Veterinary Clinic. I hope they rot as I never found my cat. I expect noosing him with the pole/wire contraption was enough to make him never want to see another human again.

Last cat vet wasn't much better. When he had a head injury, the stupid cow SHOOK THE CARRIER to get him out. Hello?????

Be thankful the dog isn't a horse. £35 call-out (for a 5 mile drive), then £30 consultation (that's the owner telling the vet what's wrong) and then the fun REALLY starts.

The nicest vet I came across was the one who owned land that I rented, years ago. Sadly, he retired and is too far away, now.

Sorry, hit a raw nerve. I really have very little confidence in vets, now, as do a few people I know. Hate them more than hairdressers and dentists. It doesn't help that round here they're all foreigners over to make a quick buck before going back home, so there isn't that 'relationship' that there used to be.

[nerobot]

Only ever had to see the vet once. Everyother time they ask if I want to see the vet (for a consultation), which would cost £35, or see the nurse, who does just as good a job for free. I wonder why I keep choosing the nurse

The one time I did see the vet, all she did was give some worm tablets, which would have cost £3, but instead charged me £40! So next time I needed worming tablets, I just asked for them to give to the cat myself.

Though at least they do seem to care about the animals, which helps.

Steven

[Polly Fouracre]

Only ever had to see the vet once. Everyother time they ask if I want to see the vet (for a consultation), which would cost £35, or see the nurse, who does just as good a job for free. I wonder why I keep choosing the nurse

The one time I did see the vet, all she did was give some worm tablets, which would have cost £3, but instead charged me £40! So next time I needed worming tablets, I just asked for them to give to the cat myself.

Though at least they do seem to care about the animals, which helps.

Steven

If you have a Mole Valley Farmer or similar near you get your wormer from them-half the price of the vet.

[SlugLobber]

You can also buy them online in bulk. Same with Frontline, which strangely, the vets don't mention!