cost of medication from vets

B

Bristolboro

Well-known member
Anyone been shocked by rip-off price of medication from vets?

I was charged £45 for a small bottle of ear drops (£12 on-line) and £28 for two sedatives (about 30p each on line). The whole consultation cost £130 for 20 minutes and the vet couldn't even look in my dog's ear because he growled at her. Not surprised.

I guess you can buy your own?
 
Bristolboro said:
Anyone been shocked by rip-off price of medication from vets?

I was charged £45 for a small bottle of ear drops (£12 on-line) and £28 for two sedatives (about 30p each on line). The whole consultation cost £130 for 20 minutes and the vet couldn't even look in my dog's ear because he growled at her. Not surprised.

I guess you can buy your own?
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You can buy your own online much cheaper but if it’s a prescription drug you need to obtain a prescription which they will charge around £20 for. If it’s a repeat prescription it can save you a lot of money. I did it a while ago and the online site ( animed) is part of the same group as the vets ( bridge)
 
Yes, unless it's an emergency always get a prescription and order online. You can fill whole prescription at once to only pay one set of postage.

We've got a 19 year old cat and they were always trying to fleece us. Nearly every visit was metacam and an injection
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
Yes, unless it's an emergency always get a prescription and order online. You can fill whole prescription at once to only pay one set of postage.

We've got a 19 year old cat and they were always trying to fleece us. Nearly every visit was metacam and an injection
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will all vets give you a prescription okay, apparently our local vets will give you a prescription i think but have to bring the dog in each time and they then charge you for a consultation even for a repeat prescription
 
Bristolboro said:
Anyone been shocked by rip-off price of medication from vets?

I was charged £45 for a small bottle of ear drops (£12 on-line) and £28 for two sedatives (about 30p each on line). The whole consultation cost £130 for 20 minutes and the vet couldn't even look in my dog's ear because he growled at her. Not surprised.

I guess you can buy your own?
Click to expand...

That’s quite judgemental to call it a rip off - how do you get to that conclusion?
It’s not about what you can afford

Vets and the nurses are highly trained - more so than an NHS doctor.
`Their equipment is expensive and drug prices have risen.
Their wages will have risen - there is a shortage.
All their costs, like yours and mine have gone up

Now, as in all sectors there will be those who are more expensive than others - do the research

Have you seen the price of a consultation with a Doctor in private practice?
 
1finny said:
That’s quite judgemental to call it a rip off - how do you get to that conclusion?
It’s not about what you can afford

Vets and the nurses are highly trained - more so than an NHS doctor.
`Their equipment is expensive and drug prices have risen.
Their wages will have risen - there is a shortage.
All their costs, like yours and mine have gone up

Now, as in all sectors there will be those who are more expensive than others - do the research

Have you seen the price of a consultation with a Doctor in private practice?
Click to expand...
It's a rip off, no matter how you dress it up.

My cats medication from the vets is £80 a month, I get it online for £18, the vet obviously gets it for less than £18. Same with metacam, it was £50 a time. £3.40 online.

Markup is understandable but most vets are now owned by large multi practice organisations.

Yet you go to France and hardly anyone even has pet insurance because vet fees are far lower than they are here and standard of care is better.
 
Fattyfoggon said:
will all vets give you a prescription okay, apparently our local vets will give you a prescription i think but have to bring the dog in each time and they then charge you for a consultation even for a repeat prescription
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You do have to go for checkups to get a refreshed one but a prescription usually has x amount of refills so for £25 we get 3 refills.

I'd happily skip that as she isn't going to suddenly get new kidneys so is going to need it for the rest of her days.

If they ever need a urine test you can often do these yourself they're like £100 sometimes; it's a paper strip you dip in the urine and it changes colour.
 
Buy most of ours online for our Westie.
We have on-line holistic vets who advise most equivalent treatments in the Westie Advice Group on FB
 
Acklam_Lad said:
It’s the next scandal brewing I’m sure. The first thing they ask now is what insurance you have…then they make it up as they go along.


Whole system needs regulation
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Yeah, that's the real driver behind all the costs. Like I say in France very few people have it and treatment costs and prescriptions are less.

It's the same as US healthcare with insurence and giving birth costs you $35k. The costs are nothing like that, obviously. Insurance has you over a barrel and for most cats and dogs now you need about 7-10k cover as a broken leg can cost you £5k especially if out of hours.

Also if you go to the vets about *anything* you have to declare it and they will then put an exception on your cover, eg if your cat throws up or gets the sh*ts and you take them to the vets, and they say they'll be fine, that's gastro issues now excluded.
 
Bristolboro said:
Anyone been shocked by rip-off price of medication from vets?

I was charged £45 for a small bottle of ear drops (£12 on-line) and £28 for two sedatives (about 30p each on line). The whole consultation cost £130 for 20 minutes and the vet couldn't even look in my dog's ear because he growled at her. Not surprised.

I guess you can buy your own?
Click to expand...

My dog had a skin infection. Took him to the vets two weeks ago and they prescribed antibiotics and a special shampoo to use on him daily for two weeks. The bill was around £80. Fair enough. On leaving I was asked to bring him back in two weeks time to see if it had worked. Thankfully it had. So I took him in yesterday as asked, was in there literally 3 minutes, vet took a quick look at him and said he's fine now, no need for any more antibiotics and I can use the shampoo once a week. They charged me a further £50 for that 3 minute 'consultation'. Even the receptionist shook her head in shock and looked guilty as sin as I paid, and people waiting to be seen with their pets said it was a disgrace.

If that's not the definition of a rip off, I don't know what is. Thankfully I have my dog insured so I'll be able to claim some of it back off the insurance company, but that's not really the point. Charging £50 for a 3 minute chat when they'd already took £80 off me for the actual appointment is a disgrace.
 
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We have our dog on a variety of meds, one of which is a painkiller Pardale. Paying about £35? For 30 tablets.

Few weeks back, phoned vets to get some tablets told they were out of stock and won't be able to get any for a month. But was told it's okay, just give your dog 1/4 paracetamol and it's exactly the same. So £35 month reduced to less than a quid 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Could have told me that 12 months ago ☹️.

Pet insurance is an absolute scandal. Our cat got knocked over a few years ago, smashed his back right leg. X rays also revealed he had arthritis in his rear left knee. So straightaway exclusions were added for any future ailments to his back legs.....even though we hadn't claimed or knew he had a problem.

Sh*thouses.
 
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GazBoro said:
My dog had a skin infection. Took him to the vets two weeks ago and they prescribed antibiotics and a special shampoo to use on him daily for two weeks. The bill was around £80. Fair enough. On leaving I was asked to bring him back in two weeks time to see if it had worked. Thankfully it had. So I took him in yesterday as asked, was in there literally 3 minutes, vet looked took a quick look at him and said he's fine now, no need for any more anti-biotics and I can use the shampoo once a week. They charged me a further £50 for that 3 minute 'consultation'. Even the receptionist shook her head in shock and looked guilty as sin as I paid, and people waiting to be seen with their pets said it was a disgrace.

If that's not the definition of a rip off, I don't know what is. Thankfully I have my dog insured so I'll be able to claim some of it back off the insurance company, but that's not really the point. Charging £50 for a 3 minute chat when they'd already took £80 off me for the actual appointment is a disgrace.
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Yep, another common trick I've noticed they try with me a lot is booking them in for a follow up to give them any sort of treatment. This means you pay the consultation and then they book you in for the injection for example later in the week, but you get a consultation charge each time. That's what made us look online as felt like no matter what we went for they got an anti inflammatory and an antibiotic and off we went £100 poorer
 
GazBoro said:
My dog had a skin infection. Took him to the vets two weeks ago and they prescribed antibiotics and a special shampoo to use on him daily for two weeks. The bill was around £80. Fair enough. On leaving I was asked to bring him back in two weeks time to see if it had worked. Thankfully it had. So I took him in yesterday as asked, was in there literally 3 minutes, vet took a quick look at him and said he's fine now, no need for any more antibiotics and I can use the shampoo once a week. They charged me a further £50 for that 3 minute 'consultation'. Even the receptionist shook her head in shock and looked guilty as sin as I paid, and people waiting to be seen with their pets said it was a disgrace.

If that's not the definition of a rip off, I don't know what is. Thankfully I have my dog insured so I'll be able to claim some of it back off the insurance company, but that's not really the point. Charging £50 for a 3 minute chat when they'd already took £80 off me for the actual appointment is a disgrace.
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Try virgin coconut oil from Aldi or Lidl. Rub it in any hot spots, it does work and also deters fleas.
 
We have 3 bengal cats, one is 19 and too old to insure and 2 are just gone 1 year old

Their cover went from £42 to £55 this year despite no claims, insurer wouldn't negotiate even though I found cover with a well reviewed firm that gives £3k more cover for £35 a month and £80 top cashback, so sacked then off.

They actually suggested I could drop the cover level to reduce the premium, am sure they'd like that as less risk for them. But why would I do that when I can bet more for less?!

So sacked them off, easy to do when you've no claims but once you have some it's harder
 
Insurance - any Insurance, is the only industry where you get penalised for using it. ---well, maybe not death
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
It's a rip off, no matter how you dress it up.

My cats medication from the vets is £80 a month, I get it online for £18, the vet obviously gets it for less than £18. Same with metacam, it was £50 a time. £3.40 online.

Markup is understandable but most vets are now owned by large multi practice organisations.

Yet you go to France and hardly anyone even has pet insurance because vet fees are far lower than they are here and standard of care is better.
Click to expand...

Ahh, you should have said it was a ‘fact’ in your first post.
At least it’s clear now

It’s not expensive to get to France by the way - sounds like you have a solution
 
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