Ever refused to pay for medication at the vets?

Yes we always get a prescription and buy everything online. Some of the savings are huge. However if it was medication for a short lived condition and my pet was in any immediate discomfort/pain then of course I would pay whatever the vet asks.

That's for a dog though. If it were a cat I would just compare the price of the medication with the cost of putting it to sleep and go from there. :p
 
Yeah - I've refused in the past. One of our cats had an abscess drained and they tried charging me £25 of a small tube of antiseptic cream. I said no thanks and got one from Sainsburys for £2 instead.

The next abscess I drained myself after watching them do it.
 
My children often ask me for pets. But my wife refuses to get them one because of the cost of maintenance and repairs. Sadly I'm inclined to agree with her.
 
Tosno said:
Because beta. “A lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep.”
― George R.R. Martin, A game of thrones.
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This guy loves the word 'beta' :p

But yeah a vets is a business, aiming to make money or at least pay their staff, insurance might help.

When I rats one of them would get mites, first time I took him to the vet and bought some spot-on from them for £25. After that I would just purchase spot on from a shop around £5 a pop and it did the trick just as well, keeping them at bay. He'd also get respiratory problems and you have to be prescribed that, that'd cost £35 a pop and they'd never give you enough to totally sort it out.
 
shifty_uk said:
I'm sure we've all been there! Today I took the dogs in for a quick look at their eyes as they were weepy with mucusy discharge. All checked out okay, they have a common infection that's cleared up with drops - one tube of drops each of course, as she didn't want any cross-contamination, how thoughtful. One of the dogs also had a scratch on his leg that he's been biting so she recommended cream for it..

Get to the desk 'that'll be £84' mr... 84 quid!! For a minuscule tube of cream and 2 tiny tubes of eye drops - are you having a laugh?

Needless to say I coughed up the cash, as I always do because you don't want to look like a careless owner in-front of a full waiting room.

Does anyone take the prescriptions and get the medication cheaper elsewhere? I'm pretty sure you can buy these eye drops for humans out of a high street pharmacy for buttons...

The pet care industry really does take advantage, I'm £60 a month in insurance alone.
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The thing is I don't believe it's vets at fault here, it'll be the companies that charge them that amount and of course they have to pass that cost on with some addition.

Saw article on reddit that vets have 3x higher than the national average for depression / suicidal thoughts. (In America)

Because it's not as great as a career it's cracked up to be for animal lovers (who are the ones that get into the field).
 
Dynix said:
I can't remember the website but if you get a prescription you can buy from them for a fraction of what it would cost at the vets. A quick search finds this website: https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk
Ive used this mob in the past when my old Rottweiler had joint problems. we got a prescription from the vet and ordered it from them. we used to scan the prescription and email them it and they would post the stuff out next day delivery and we would then post the original once the drugs had arrived. never had a problem with them and as said. we were about £70 every month from the vet yet only about £25 from them. If its a one off thing I dont mind giving the vet the cash but when its a long time thing I would do the same again.
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We have an annual "plan" for our cat with the vet which covers routine check-ups, vaccination and flea/wormer treatment also a 10% discount on any other medication etc. However it's still cheaper to buy some bits such as the oral hygiene gel off The Rainforest than it is from the surgery.

tl:dr Old cliché applies, no NHS for pets, everything costs even the smallest item and there will usually be a nice profit margin added by the surgery.
 
Useful tip about getting a prescription and sourcing elsewhere as I was unaware of this. But as others have said I tend to pay up there and then though I do make life a little easier on the wallet by sticking a couple of pound or so weekly in a jar, my good lady does the same and it helps cover the cost of the yearly injections etc.
 
If its repeat prescription and your paying for pet insurance why are you not claiming on it?

Also as already pointed out medicines do cost this much, there is not an NHS for cats and dogs.

Simple drugs like paracetamol and co-codamol cost the NHS a fortune.
 
Glanza said:
Everytime we go to the vets lately the pricing is always different. Even the normal yearly booster is up and down in price depending what new virus it's supposed to protect against.

I think this sums it up these days, the vet and previous owner of 50 years who retired says selling his surgery onto who he did was the worse decision he's made as it's losing all the loyal customers it had due to the typical we're a business first mentality with charges.
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The problem is the huge cost of buying a practice or even into one. When my other half was a vet in practice, it cost her £1m which she would have to borrow if she wanted to buy into the practice as partner. Its not uncommon for practices when they sell up to chains to sell for £30m or more.
 
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scotty365 said:
Some of the cheaper vet sites ask for a presciption but you can still buy it anyway - we got a really strong flea treatment that was prescription only but it only ask if I had a prescription and I simply clicked yes! I half expected they wouldn't send it till they got proof but no emails were sent and it was here 1st class
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And that is illegal and dangerous.................
 
CREATIVE!11 said:
The thing is I don't believe it's vets at fault here, it'll be the companies that charge them that amount and of course they have to pass that cost on with some addition.

Saw article on reddit that vets have 3x higher than the national average for depression / suicidal thoughts. (In America)

Because it's not as great as a career it's cracked up to be for animal lovers (who are the ones that get into the field).
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And that is why my gf's health insurance is 4 times what mine is. They are in the highest group for risk. Last figures i saw vets were just behind farmers for suicide rate (depressing job treating hurt animals and putting them down and easy access to everything you need for a painless, quick suicide)

Even though she knows it was the best thing for the pet, she was always in tears after putting animal down that day.
 
Greebo said:
And that is why my gf's health insurance is 4 times what mine is. They are in the highest group for risk. Last figures i saw vets were just behind farmers for suicide rate (depressing job treating hurt animals and putting them down and easy access to everything you need for a painless, quick suicide)

Even though she knows it was the best thing for the pet, she was always in tears after putting animal down that day.
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Can understand that as my wife's a vet
 
I have 3 cats and as yet have just accepted the fact that one of them has a medical condition which seems to cost me a fortune. Its a urinary tract problem and means that she needs a medicated diet and more trips to the vet than the others. I don't currently have an insurance policy but do have a policy with the vet that I pay £20 a month per cat for and that covers all visits for all 3 cats, flea and worm stuff as well as X amount off of any work that they need doing and X amount off of any drugs that they need. I keep thinking I will take out insurance as well but as of yet haven't even though I have had several visits over the last few years that have cost sometimes way in excess of £100.

To me they are part of the family and even though at times I have been tempted to refuse the sky high prices on stuff, for example 1.5kg of prescription food at £20 each every couple of weeks, I will never refuse to pay for them to be treated, even if I cannot afford it I will go without elsewhere. I guess it is like having kids in a way, if you sign up to it you better be ready to accept everything that goes with it and sometimes that means pricey visits to the vets.
 
fadetoblack said:
??? Why not????
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Because those I know who are animals lovers lack the ability to turn it off in distressing scenes. Watching animals suffer or having to put them to sleep has a detrimental effect on the mentality and emotional state of the person, they find it much harder to deal with and The vets and the couple of RSPCA guys I know that do it because it's a job don't have that problem. I've seen some of the things they've had to deal with and some of it is really not nice.

it's the same with nurses, I've known a few quit because it's watching people pass away is something that deeply effects them, whereas others just get on with it. It doesn't mean they care less about the job or the subject, just that emotionally they can handle it better.

i'm just talking from personal experience through.
 
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