You'll never see a poor vet !!!

LizardKing said:
Pet insurance is probably the worse thing to ever happen for the pet industry.

Its given vets the right to charge whatever they like as they know the owners will not be paying directly.
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You'll find that insurance companies will have deals to pay less than you the public do as they are in the business to pay as little as possible as it affects profits.............
 
Greebo said:
Vet's are just as qualified as Doctors.
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I'd actually argue that Vet's are more qualified than Doctors based on the fact that as you say...

Greebo said:
Did you know that Doctor's can;t legally treat animals but Vets can legally treat people?
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That and a Vet's patients can't usually explain their symptoms :p

TBH OP the prices you quoted there are probably about right given the cost of the treatment, business costs etc. Don't forget when we go to the doctors everything is subsidised by the NHS
 
Both my sisters are vets, my older sister has around 10 years experience, clocks in 60-70 hours a week including calls out at 2 am, working weekends etc, for about 34K a year.
Younger sister has just graduated and started her job, 21k, utterly pathetic- all my graduate friends were earning 30-60% more than that 7 years ago!




The costs charged are not too far from business running costs. Our local vet is struggling to break even.


you got to realize that veterinary medicine like human medicine is expensive. Someone in a car crash having some basic OPS can easily rack up hundreds of thousands of pounds of hospital charges in the US if they don't have insurance. Just the ambulance ride alone can cost 5K A trip in a helicopter is earth shatteringly expensive. Anything like organ transplants are time to remortgage your house.
 
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You are right SilverTongue. My gf always reminds how much easier it is with a Doctor and the patient can describe the symptoms and where it hurts.

Animals can't tell you anything.
 
fadetoblack said:
I think your talking ##### about vets
Like in life you get good ones and bad ones.
My wife is also a vet (mixed practice) 60 hours a week
For £37,000 a year so not really in it for the money
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Same here, although mine is on £33k for 60-70 hours a week. Salaried vets will earn a maximum of £50-60k in their life (and that's after specalising and either going back to University to do an internship later in life, or a certificate in a specialism). Good money only comes into it when you become a partner or owner of multiple practices. The average single vet practice runs a surprisingly tight margin.

Vets get a raw deal in this country because we have free healthcare. If the NHS billed us for an X-ray, it'd be hundreds if not over a thousand pounds - and that's without a doctor looking at it, or a porter service.
 
LizardKing said:
Pet insurance is probably the worse thing to ever happen for the pet industry.

Its given vets the right to charge whatever they like as they know the owners will not be paying directly.
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The ultimate market force is the majority of people, and they're uninsured, and make sure those individual service prices stay down. The most a vet can do to 'take advantage' of the availability of pet insurance is usually to be more liberal with the diagnosis services they select - which is good for the vet financially, and good for the customer as they're getting their money's worth from their insurance and presumably the fastest route to diagnosis and treatment for their animal.

Vets cannot sell a service at one price to people paying themselves and to the insurer another.
 
Last two time my gf has broken bones she has x-rayed herself and taken them to the doctor's but they still needed to do them again as they couldn't accept hers. Funny thing is they ended up using hers as hers was better and they couldn't see on theirs!
 
One caveat is that some mixed practice vets might set a higher profit margin for house pets vs farmers due to the financial problems most farmers are in, equine veterinary medicine will have the highest profit margin which again can help subsidize other business costs.
 
vets are rip offs simple as that, they charged me £80 quid just to look at my dog , my local talk out of their arse trying to tell me my dogs will be healthier with no balls, more like they have a deal with the breeders to give ******** advice


and ONLY 45k a year to some is a significant amount lol
 
Greebo said:
Last two time my gf has broken bones she has x-rayed herself and taken them to the doctor's but they still needed to do them again as they couldn't accept hers. Funny thing is they ended up using hers as hers was better and they couldn't see on theirs!
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My elder sisters tends to diagnose herself and prescribe treatments.
After a climbing accident I had a wound that go infected, decided it was quickest to get her to clean it out and give me some antibiotics and a few stitches. The last time I was in an A&E department it was hours and hours before anyone did anything and there was a large string of mishaps for something so minor.
 
sketchytom said:
vets are rip offs simple as that, they charged me £80 quid just to look at my dog , my local talk out of their arse trying to tell me my dogs will be healthier with no balls, more like they have a deal with the breeders to give ******** advice


and ONLY 45k a year to some is a significant amount lol
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Ever needed the services of a lawyer, used a private dentist or doctor, ever seen how how a labour costs are getting your car fixed by school drop outs with no higher education? Ever owned and operated a business with all associated costs? Ever been sued because you gave a professional opinion which was wrong.

The total net profits of a majority of vets is pretty small, much less than other businesses.
 
sketchytom said:
vets are rip offs simple as that, they charged me £80 quid just to look at my dog , my local talk out of their arse trying to tell me my dogs will be healthier with no balls, more like they have a deal with the breeders to give ******** advice


and ONLY 45k a year to some is a significant amount lol
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It's actually not that much compared to other jobs that require hard qualifications, doctors and lawyers often earn much more than that.
 
And £45k is nothing for somebody senior in practice after 20+ years working. Most vets will earn much less than this, around £30k ish. Bearing in mind that you work 60+ hours for that and the rate per hour is around £8.24. Not a lot for a professional who has your animals life in their hands............
 
sketchytom said:
vets are rip offs simple as that, they charged me £80 quid just to look at my dog , my local talk out of their arse trying to tell me my dogs will be healthier with no balls, more like they have a deal with the breeders to give ******** advice


and ONLY 45k a year to some is a significant amount lol
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No there not...Compared to as well educated jobs 45k is at the lower end. Also if you dont want to pay, dont pay or have insurance.
When you have to start paying a lawyer, you will see how cheap a vet is.

Although a couple of vets in my region which are agricultural vets are earning around 150k. Im sure our farm alone could pay for all the vets holidays :p
 
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