Our Vet gives full boosters every year for dogs and cats....having said that, he won't be giving them to my dogs anymore...I've learn't my lesson

Well I've just had Dax have his boosters I didn't keep them up every year on my others as my vet said show dogs who were mixing with others from all over the country & who regularly stayed away from home would pick up lots of natural imunity & he considered every 3 years enough. When I had Dax done it was because I was told by the neighbours who had been looking after him he hadn't had any boosters for at least 3 years & I had moved him to a different part of the country. I said I won't be having him done again for at least 2 years & the vet agreed rhat was a sensible idea.

This is interesting.
I had been late getting Inca & Tonto the dogs their boosters last week.
It was the same with my two cats too.

So, I book Tonto and Inca into the vets.
It was a vet I hadn't seen before.
Inca should've been done in Dec, Tonto in January.
She said Tonto was ok, but Inca had to have a full restart as it was more than 3 months late.
I asked about titre tests and she said it would cost almost twice as much as the boosters to find out if she needed the booster, and then she may have to have one anyway (Cost wasn't exactly the reason I was asking, it was more to do with over-immunising but hey ho).
She then asked if they were insured, and said that as they were recommending she had a full restart, if I didn't and had just a booster she wouldn't be covered by her insurance if anything happened.

So, Tonto had his booster, and Inca a full course and is back a week on Thursday for stage two.

Took the cats in the next day who were both 4 months late. It is our usual vet and I said 'I suppose they'll have to have a restart?'
'Nah', he said 'Four months is fine in cats and dogs', they usually are well covered for more than a year.
I mentioned about the vet yesterday not saying that, but didn't get a reaction.

I know cats aren't dogs, but I knew he's be more laid back that the new vet.
I'll be sure to get them all done 2 1/2 months late from now on!

I`m getting rather annoyed at the number of vets I`m hearing and reading about who seem to be trying to charge what I would consider over the odds for titre testing.

Its the lab, [ mine uses Glasgow ], who set the actual costs, its not at the vets discretion.
The form is designed for each element requiring testing to be ticked and costs are done accordingly.

Are some vets just giving the price for everything on the form being tested, including elements which are nothing to do with titre at all ?

Do some just not bother to actually read the form ?

Are some more bothered about losing booster fee`s to try to deliberately put people off titre testing by inflating the costs over the *actual* lab costs ?

Are some adding an additional fee for their own pockets on top of the lab fee`s but giving the impression that its what the tests really cost ?

Whichever reaon for any individual vet doing it, its just not on, it annoy me to see people be duped or misinformed whether its deliberate or because a vet just has`nt got an understanding of the procedure and its purpose.

For the record, I got out my statement from my vet with the costs for Gremlin and Defa`s titre. Their tests are to check Distemper and Parvo immunity specifically, [ these are the ones my vet feels are the most important - so many people are not having boosters done but not with a titre to confirm they are not needed and thats how areas get hit badly by outbreaks ].

The cost for these two things to be tested for each of my two dogs :

£11.74 including vat [ for each dog ], plus standard consultation fee, [ they had full checkovers as well as the samples being taken ].

If a vet is giving what seems a greatly inflated price, be it for partial test or full titre panel, may I suggest ringing Glasgow, [ or whichever titre service lab is prefered - the client can choose where samples are tested ], and ask them to send you a form direct with the individual elements` prices clearly marked, then take it to the vet, fold arms, tap foot slightly, await reaction - then go to a different vet who is far more titre savvy and less money motivated


Edited to add, my vet just phoned to say the results are in, [ as mentioned previously we were waiting for the results to come in any time ].
Grem needs boosting, Defa does`nt. He is giving me the written results when Grem goes in on Monday so I can post details then, and I got the cost wrong, the lab fee`s were £18 each, [ shock horror - not ! ], I read the wrong bit lol

I quickly read him out what I put above, [ I have a very patient vet lol ], and some of the other comments posted re costs.
He is in total agreement that its right to advise people to check with the lab directly for costs as he is aware of some vets making what he diplomatically called `errors in calculations` when quoting prices for titre testing.
He particularly liked and agreed totally with the portion I have now marked in bold text

HTH

Patch.... very interesting and a good post, reason being, this morning I asked for a copy of the results so far.........

printed at the bottom of the sheet the cost to the vet £30 + vat... my vet charged me £60......

Can I just ask if this effects insurance as I am sure mine says they must have yearly vacs and health check.

You would need to contact the insurance company really I would think, I believe some do happily accept titre results for proof of vaccs cover but it should have absolutely no bearing on claims for unrelated conditions - they cant logically refuse to pay a claim for treatment to a broken leg [ for instance ], if a dog is not vaccinated.

None of mine are insured so I dont really know the ins and outs but hopefully others who do will be able to answer it for you :smt001

I rest my case, but I`m so sorry its cost you money to demonstrate it hun
I`m assuming this vet wont be doing any future titres for you then...

Sorry for the delay in replying to your question, but checked it out and all appears to be ok with the insurance company

My old vets tried charging me £100 for one dogs test results (one of the many reasons they were told to shove it) and I refused to pay that much. When I asked what their mark up was on the lab results, I was told the lab result was £30 the rest was the chasing/postage/admin/consultation fee !

Because my flatcoat has been 6 months without a jab of any sort, when I went to the new vet and explained why there was a delay, I asked if I had to start again and was told No, and that I can just have him boostered as normal, but the way the new surgery does it (lepto every year and the rest every three years) so I'm one happy chappy with my new vet. Blood tests are a 1/5 of the price with them as well as they will routinely titre test dogs (with owners permission of course!) before giving the three yearly booster again.

Old vets wanted to booster everything every year