Thats what its like though now Malka. A friend of mine was in arrears with her vets because her OH came out of work and she was unable to pay off some money she owed them.
One of her dogs became ill, she took it to the surgery and they refused to treat the dog until she paid, she couldn't pay, so went home with a very sick dog, who she really thought wouldn't last the night, the dog did recover, but no thanks to the vets. I really wouldn't have believed this could have happened, but it did. Where they live there is no PDSA or RSPCA clinic so she had no other recourse, it was the Practice Manager who made the decision, no idea if the vets were involved in it or not.

Some years ago Ram put up a notice stating that he would no longer accept cheques. It was cash or credit/debit card only. And I do not blame him. But - he will never refuse to treat an animal in distress even if he knows he will not get paid - and he accepts credit cards up to 12 months payment if the cost of treatment is that excessive.

Both Little One and then Pereg were spayed at a reduced cost because they both had had their rabies shots therefore were legal in so much as the rabies shots counted as a dog licence. Registered under my ID number. And the Ministry of Agriculture paid the excess.

I will pay Ram whatever is needed for Pereg's treatment - actually the cost of her medication is more, but then she is my girl and I will pay whatever I have to.

But I also know that Ram would never refuse to treat Pereg, just as he would never refuse to treat an animal in distress.

He will never become a millionaire but he can sleep at night.

Dillon is with vetsmedicover we now pay £40 a month for his cover. It was less when we insured him with them in 2012 after his free insurance run out. We continued with them even though at the time we couldn't really afford it.
They paid out over a £1000 for his hip x-rays and hydro treatment no quibbles and he is covered for life with them and the mild hip dysplasia is now on his records so that would be excluded if we went anywhere else. So opted to stay with them and so far we can't fault them for their service or paying out.

When Ollie was very ill the receptionist at the vet school mentioned how wise it is to have insurance now because she was saying they had cases where people had no insurance couldn't afford treatment so the dog was put to sleep. Some have surrendered their dogs to the vet school and they are taken on by vets or nurses and get the treatment they need. It all seems very mercenary now.

The days of James Herriot are long gone. But the same in most walks of life. And the reason is the changing public perception of service and life I think everyone is "me, mine, give me" and I suspect the majority of vets have been "had over" bills and have to draw the line.

I suspect insurance companies insure for the worst possible scenario of cost. I suppose some people could insure a dog say £35 a month pay twice and claim £££££££thousands.

Fair point Kazz, maybe that's why our vets only take payment at the point of treatment, then we claim it back from the insurance company.

A few years ago a new person took over and decided to stick on a £5 charge for every insurance claim you asked them to process. So every time we made an insurance claim we had to give it to the vets to put their stuff on and they charged us to do so.

I wrote to complain because this would have been a lot of money for us with Loki's condition but got nowhere. I was horrified because vets like you to be insured, don't they? The new owner wasn't interested. I went to another vets to register Loki there and they contacted our vets for his health records. Only then, did we receive a call from the vets offering a reduced charge so we stayed with them.

Yes people can make a few payments and claim thousands, my mum paid £300 7 years ago to insure her border collie puppy, 8 months later he needed 2 leg operations, at just over £1000 per leg, then again I know people who have paid even larger amounts per year and never claimed once, it's how the insurance market works, unfortunately with pet insurance it's harder to shop around, as if you move any previous illness won't be covered, which other insurances don't have.

See that would nark me greatly and I would be tempted to report the vets to the great Vet God in the Office or where ever they are.