I was totally happy with the vet and their charges for treatment. My problem was with it being a life long ailment the cost was immense. Any help to make it more affordable was welcome.

After some homework it appears they are seeming to make their profit from the drugs, which is why between 2005-2008 the vets could not charge for prescriptions, just to ensure vets were not able to offer what looked like cheap consultations only to hike it onto the drug costs.

What annoyed me was interference from the E.U. We used to get a prescription from the vet (about £3) for enough Phenobarb to last 3 months, which cost us about 1p a tablet. The (unprintable) E.U. then banned vets from prescribing human meds for animals. This was to prevent drug residues from reaching the food chain, supposedly. If anyone in the EU countries eats dog or cat, they deserve all the residues they get, IMO. It would have been so easy to insert the word "companion", but the Brussels tw*ts never thought of that, they were too busy wielding power for the sake of it. Berks (and I don't mean the county). All it did was to bring year-round Christmas for the drug companies.

Snorri

That kinda makes sense I guess. But it's another of those not so well thought out reasons for doing something. I work in local gov't and it's full of stuff like that.

It usually just takes one person to say "but what about... ?" by then it's already in place!

I know where you're coming from! I used to work in an HQ branch of a Government Department, and it was full of idiots, most of whom were management and made "Yes Minister"'s Sir Humphrey look sensible. This is territory where people are promoted to the level where they can do least damage.

Snorri

My vets are expensive They charged me £300 to sew a cut on my dogs leg the time of the operation was 10 mins he was in and out in 3 hours.

Plumbers - £60 - 100 per hour without materials

Lawyers - £150 - plus without materials

Doctors (NHS to foreign patients) - £400 per hour

The vet above £100 per hour including materials drugs, buildings. etc etc.

What rate exactly should Vets charge? They have the same educational status as Doctors and Lawyers. In comparison to lawyers the fees stated seem reasonable!

Note - figures are estimations from a quick web surf

They are greedy pure and simple, you have a choice as to if you do or do not use a lawyer etc but by law you do not when it comes to animal welfare.

If a private patient wishes to pay out such money for their private medical care then great knock yaself out. I've yet to find a plumber or electrician in my area who charges such amounts more like £100 per day!

I had a rescue rottie who needed cruciate surgery, private to the rescue £1,500 to the insurance company £2,500, thankfully I had insured her the day I knew she was coming otherwise she'd have been a PTS as neither I or rescue had that sort of money.

Prescription charges cannot be over £15 from the vet, so I'd be looking to get a yrs supply on said prescription or at the very least 6mths worth. If it is more expensive from the wholesalers then why are vets using them at all, there's nothing stopping them from ordering from the same companies that we do to my knowledge - I will check that with my own vet.

I do not think vets are greedy , if all they were interested in was making money there are far more lucrative jobs they could have done . They talk on the phone for hours to clients for free , you try getting any lawyer to talk to you for free !
One of the reasons that vets are charging thousands of pounds for operations is that there are advances in vet medicine all the time and maybe ten or fifteen years ago they could not have done half of the stuff they can do now .
If people don't like paying vet fees they do have a choice and that is don't have any pets .
People don't mind paying a £60 call out fee for a plumber in an emergency but when vets are charging this they are seen as ripping people off

I am perfectly happy with my vet. He is reasonable, fair and helpful.
I have posted fees here before and folk cannot believe how reasonable they have been.

I do know where you are all coming from though and I think those of you who are unfortunate enough to live in one of the big cities are paying the most.

I'm sorry to say I disagree. Not entirely, but many vets make unreasonable mark ups from things other than their services.

I'm very happy to pay any vet a reasonable hourly rate to cover their services. So they can afford to stay in practice, cover heat, light, admin staff etc.

But when they are charging double the cost of a medication obtainable online for half the price, then a) they are greedy or b) they are trying to make their service seem cheaper than it actually is.

In fact I'd be happy to pay to talk to a vet, same way as you would a lawyer. Why should I expect you to fund the cost of my time taken with your vet? That's what I'm doing. By calling your vet for free, their service costs go up to cover their time.

Sad thing is, they've got us all by the heartstrings. We'll pay up, because we must. I could rant all day about prescriptions and drug charges.