Vet/prescription fees

Took Murphy back to the vets last night for his 3 day post castration op and the vet noticed some swelling (other than normal swellling) at the wound site and said that Murphy wouldd need some antibiotics/anti-inflammatorys/pain killers (although he did have a long acting antibiotic injection after the op !!).

So Murphy has been given Rymadril (sp) which he has to take 1.5 tablets twice a day for 7 days and Suraphol (I think that's what its called, its a big pink tablet) 1 tablet twice a day for 10 days and the cost was...................................£78.00 (incl vat)

Does anyone else think thats a lot of money ??? Murphy is a Rottie and I know that he'd probably need a bit more than your average sized dog but blimey, I'd already paid £150 for him to be neutured.

I suppose I look at it as if it were me at the docs needing anitbiotics and painkillers, the prescription cost would be about £15.00 !!

If the infection is to do with the neutering/spaying, I don't get charged anything, it's all in the cost of the initial op.

Sounds quiet expensive Stephanie.

All Stars post of checks and treatment was included in the spay price.

Yes anything arising from the operation was covered by the initial fee for all of mine - sounds very expensive to me. If they are saying it is not a consequence of the operation would it be covered by insurance ?

That is expensive, we got Harley done a couple of months ago and it cost just over £50.

The initial fee £150 sounds about right for around here it's the antibiotics that sound wrong.

I'd let them know what you have discovered and say you think they have made a mistake as you believe it should have been covered in the op.

If they say its no mistake then I'd say you have no choice but to report the matter to an independant online watchdog as you believe you have been overcharged.

I think we get ripped off alot!

I don't know about the antibiotic, but when Snorri hurt a toe, he was given Rimadyl; the price was £20 for 10 tablets.

I haven't had either of my boys castrated, but I believe that our vet would have a "cover-all" price for the job - op and post-op.

Medications for pets (any species) always cost more, because human prescriptions are always charged at the same rate, regardless of the "trade" cost of the drug.

Snorri has to have phenobarbital for his epilepsy, permanently. What we do is ask the vet for a private prescription which we get filled at Boots; including the price of the prescrip (£3), we save about a half of the cost over buying the pills from the vet. I am not at all sure if this would work for one-off animal medicines, though - it works for Snorri because the pills he gets re the same as the human variety anyway.

One amusing thing about this is that his pill packets now carry a warning saying that he should not drink, drive, or operate machinery!

Snorri

Vet prices can be high. But at the time it's the last thing you think of isn't it?

Karen

ROTFPML