I despair at vets :(

[Yoshi]

My dog, porky (some of you will have met him before) cut his tail really badly in the back of one of the cars.

Phoned the vets i have been with for the past 4 years (he has been a regular in there as he has a long term problem) and they wouldnt even see him unless we paid them £25 up front.  I explained to them i dont get paid to the end of the week and yet they still wouldnt see him unless i paid them there and then :(

I thought people like that were supposed to be in it to help animals, not to make immediate money.  Its not as if i was refusing to pay either, i said i would sort it out at the end of the week when i got paid.

Well the bad news is he now needs a £300 operation and i am going to spend the next couple of hours looking at pet insurance.

Sorry, just had to have a rant.

[JumboBeef]

Have you looked at the PDSA ~ they can help sometimes.  Info.

[Yoshi]

I had the pdsa cover when i wasnt working, it was great, but i didnt renew it as i started working and could afford his meds each month.  Its me own fault for not taking out pet insurance when i stopped with the pdsa, but i honestly thought the vets would be more helpful.

[Jas278]

Maybe the vet has been down that route before........and not got payed...once bitten twice shy................sorry about the pun... :-.

[Yoshi]

Yeah i can understand that. 

Been reading through some of the RSPCA stuff and apparently it is a criminal offence for a vet to not treat an animal that is suffering.

Going to ring them in the morning though as they can offer some level of assistance towards the surgery he needs.

[diggerdog36]

Take your dog elsewhere and tell the new vet what the 'old' vet has done, Im sure they'll be happy for your custom and to get the dog fixed!

[Yoshi]

Well we are hoping to get the dog in with another vet today for a consultation and then hopefully he will get his surgery on Thursday.

One of the things the vet said was that he wouldnt book the dog in for Thursday.  He said we had until 9.45 this morning to raise the money for the surgery or he wouldnt do it.  We asked if it could be done on Thursday when we had the money and he said we couldnt.

[carbore]

My vet just sends me a bill at the end of the month. Maybe vets in more urban areas have had bad experiences. Hope you get it sorted.

[strapping young lad]

this 25 quid thing, did you call outside normal working hours, and wanted the emergency vet, that would explain the fee.

i owned a kennels for many years and have had dealings with numerous vets and now know who to use and not within our area, cheapest is not always the best, you get what you pay for.

i know im teaching you to suck eggs but pet insurance is very much a high priority when buying any pet, cos you never know when you need it and no matter what value your pet was when you bought it, the vet's bill will be big if owt goes wrong!

[JumboBeef]

pet insurance is very much a high priority when buying any pet

Sorry, disagree!  We have three dogs (and others before) and have never had pet insurance, and have hardly had a vet bill either.  If we had had insurance, we would have paid something like £10,000 out by now, and never made a claim!

Remember, insurance comapnies only offer pet insurance because most people never claim.

[strapping young lad]

10k?

we pay 110 a year for it, and have had 6k of surgery covered.

the amount of times ive met people who say they wont bother with insurance till something goes wrong and the vet bill kicks them in the teeth.

[Discopoo]

Once your dog reaches 8 the premium will double also you pay the first 40%.

[Yoshi]

Just gotten home from the second vets and i can safely say i am alot more confident with her.  This one actually had a look at his tail instead of just throwing a bandage on it and unfortunately decided the tail has to come off  :(

However its for the best and he is booked in for Thursday.

£368 all in inclusive of the follow up visits for dressing changes etc...........

Strapping Young Lad - it wasnt out of hours, however it was an immediate appointment.  The problem wasnt that he wanted to charge us, we have no problem paying for it, we just didnt have any money at all at that particular time.  The new vets said that had we called them first they would have quite happily seen him as they know they can get a voucher from the RSPCA (which is what we did for todays consultation) to cover the emergency visit.

But at least we know where it is at now, and weirdly when i told the boss at work he handed me a cheque straight away so i have the money on Thursday to get it done.  Which isnt bad when you work out i am self employed!

[landroverkeith]

Glad u have it sorted with a new vet now dan, had the same kinda experiance with so called vets just after xmas needless to say that they wont be getting anymore of my money ever again..

[bravo669]

have always had dogs but never have pet insurance. ive always put a little bit of cash aside every month instead, that way ive always got enough to cover what i need to have done and nobodys got my money. obviously its upto you, i know a friend of mine who prefers to insure the dog because hed only spend the money he saved. hope the dog gets better. cheers

[Yoshi]

Thanks.

Unfortunately i am just like your friend, it would get spent when i got desperate for money and thus would be no good for helping the dog.

[Bishops Finger]

Hmm

We got a cat @ 12 months ago and took out insurance...from being out of the loop regarding how vets treat animals I was appalled how the way money has taken over from animal care in the veterinary industry..that said local vets are good but its money money money....

Could say more but ........... 

[CaptainColourful]

But at least we know where it is at now, and weirdly when i told the boss at work he handed me a cheque straight away so i have the money on Thursday to get it done.  Which isnt bad when you work out i am self employed!

Well done "boss"  :clap:

Hope Porkie soon feels better.

[bigfatsi]

It does seem to be money, money, money now.

My dog got bitten by a neighbours last week. Had a cut under his chin that needed 4 staples and a shot of anti-biotics just in case.

My wife took him to the out of hours place so I expected it to be pricey but when the missus rang and said £300 I nearly crushed the phone! Turned out to be only £160 as they didn't have to sedate him made up of £100 out-of-hours appointment and £60 treatment!

Now some will say that they have premises to pay for etc etc but so does everyone else. It's crazy. Wish I could've pulled such a fast one when I ran my chippy. Imagine it: Fish n' chips £4.00 (£18 after 6pm)

Grrrrr. So Badgers, I feel your pain  :x  The thing is - They know you'll find a way to pay whatever they want as no-one wants to see pets in pain. Vets in pain, however, is a different matter......... :twisted:

[lambert]

One of our dogs is 16 and suffering. So every 2 months or so he is bought 50 quid's worth of pain med's and an 80 quid once over.
 
Or a 25 quid injection one off no more pain, ever.
 
Yet when we go to the vet he seems to play on the wife's inability to let go and uses it to line his bank account!

[Yoshi]

Well the break down of the costs were approximately:

£91 anaesthetic
£120 for dressings (that includes one when the surgery is complete and 4 dressing changes)
£35 for 14 days anti biotics

the rest of the money is the pre-op and the operation itself

[simdeb]

when our lab pulled the hard cover  off his claw i took him on a sat morn, they sorted it out while i waited and charged me £30.54 which i think was pretty reasonable, our vet too will let you pay at the end of month

[K2]

I think this was shocking and if any vet pulled that stunt with me I would probably be arrested. I must admit I have never had this problem with vets around here they are all pretty good ( touch wood). I hope everything goes well for Porky.

[Yoshi]

Well he is home now and seems happy enough.  Vet had to amputate further back than she wanted to as he has a deformed tail which we found out was because the bone had fused together.

But its not too bad.

K2 - I am the same which is why i am not allowed near the old vets now, they have sent a letter requesting £35 for drugs, which is all good and well considering they didnt give him any!!!!

[K2]

Very glad to hear your boy is doing well, I am sure he will still be very handsome :)

God your old vets are cheeky bleeps, sound like you are well shot of them. Bet I know what you are going to tell them regarding the bill,were the sun don't shine me thinks

[Yoshi]

Very much so K2, although somewhat more polite!

Going to definately write to them though and request a list of all drugs that were given to him and how long they stay in his sytem for - the new vets did a pre anaesthetic blood test on him so it would show if said drugs were in his system.

[Blippie]

Once your dog reaches 8 the premium will double also you pay the first 40%.

That depends on your policy.  We pay £5 a month for each dog and in the last two years have had over £4,000 in bills paid for by the policy (our Jack Russell had an eye injury and then a gastrointestinal problem) by Tesco insurance.

I haven't a clue about the horses, Mrs Blip handles the insurance for them, but you 'd have to be crackers not to have equine insurance unless you have a lot of cash stashed away.

Remember, insurance comapnies only offer pet insurance because most people never claim.

Absolutely, but if you don't have insurance, you need to plan for what you'll do instead - be it the "putting a bit aside a month" policy or the "money I've put away for a rainy day" policy.  If you don't have either of these, you need insurance!

We've had good service from our vets.  We've had two occasions where we've phoned up and said, "It's Mr and Mrs Blip here, the cat/dog is fitting/haemhorraging and we need you to see 'em straight away, we're loading 'em in the car now!"  We've arrived at the vets big practice ten minutes later and they've cleared a consulting room and one of the vets has been waiting at the door and we've been ushered straight in through the busy waiting area.

As for treatments, they've been "clinically aggressive" (i.e. thrown everything at the problem) when we've wanted it, and caring and palliative when it's not been worth getting our hopes up.  They've arranged home visits for euthansia so we can have old pets put down without stressing them out.

Bloody pain these furry creatures, aren't they?!  Wouldn't get rid of them for the world, though.

Cheers

Blippie

[bravo669]

equine insurance is definitely a must!my dad got well and truly cleaned out by his hoss!  lets hope it doesn't get like it again, hes only had it 5 minutes! next time its the glue factory!