Vet charges

I have just been to the vet with Sonny my 10 year old SBT. Because of his age they wanted to rule out any problems with Kidny and liver failing so the did blood tests.

Cost £81.71 Fair enough
consultation £28.08 fair enought
Various injections and medications which brought the bill to £160.74

One of the tablets they gave me was Zantac 75mg exactly the same as we would buy for humans from Boots only difference is from the vet £8.21 for 7
Boots £3.45 for 12

I don't know how the vet kept their face straight.

Note Zantac tablets human form fine to give your dog if it has an upset stomach.

Vets aren't allowed to give out human versions of medicine unless there is no animal version though I believe - and the animal stuff has gone through further licensing. They also cannot buy it in bulk like Boots do. Often the profit made on medications go towards covering overheads like wages (a vet costs more to employ than a shop assistant!), electricity, equipment, rent, and all the other expenses in running a veterinary practice as opposed to a shop.
Some vets are out there to rip you off, but if you took a look at the cost of private medical care, vet fees would start to look very reasonable!

Well what ever, this is exactly the same package and dose as I bought from boots.

They may not be able to buy in bulk but even if they are buying theirs from retail they are still charging me 4 times more for that one item. It was the only item on the bill I could compare.

I will bet they don't pay retail prices

Tell me about it, i called at vets this morning for a case of K/D - 12 cans of Food & it cost me nearly £25. Katies food bill for the month is over £90. Im not complaining - these vets are reasonable but its a lot of money for one dog for food. Its helping to keep her alive & no, insurance doesnt cover it. Worse of it all is she doesnt like it & half time turns her pretty little nose up, either that or shes too sick to eat it

Are you aware that you could ask your vet for a prescription so that you could purchase items like this elsewhere?

However, they may charge for this too.

Just a thought.

I lived overseas for 15 years and I can tell you people here in the UK do not know they are born re the NHS! If you saw the bills I had to pay when I was pregnant and when I gave birth and the cost of doctor's appointments and jabs for my daughter!

I still have a bee in my bonnet about my vets charging me for a whole tube of manuka honey and only having 2 applications out of it! I didnt even get the honey to take home! It was only 6 quid but they're making alot of money out of a single tube if they do this all the time (apparantly they have to charge for a full tube no matter how much you get out of it).

Probably not making that much - I would imagine they have to dispose of the unused portion once it's open. My vets have been very honest about me telling me I'd have to pay extra if I wanted them to order in certain medications because they just wouldn't be able to sell the remainder of the pack and the shelf life isn't that great. Heard the same with vets in terms of vaccinations - if they don't have enough clients to use up all the doses before the expiration date, they have to make up the money lost in the wasted doses.

Well to add insult to injury I have just checked my packets and they are both short. They will send out the missing bits but my vet is a 50 min drive round trip for their mistake.

I have been with this vet since I came back from Canada in 1992 and I would say customer care has been sliding down over the years I think it is time I looked around I think.

I suppose i could get a script however by time i spent £10 on it, ordered online & paid for the carrier, dont think it would be much cheaper plus i would have to wait in for it..... Anyway i'd still have to go for the script so might as well get it from the vet so Might as well give them the money - probably all sounds illogical - lol

I agree re the NHS, ive worked in it over 30 years, think folk take it for granted.

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