Vet bills

I do wonder if this will drive pet ownership down. We've got a miniature dachshund, so quite known for potential IVDD issues. I think we started off as a puppy paying about £300-400 a year. He's coming up to 6 and last renewal put the premiums at around £900. I suspect this will start to increase rapidly as he gets older, but if it's getting to a point of paying 4 grand a year for insurance then I imagine the majority of the population won't bother.

I've put my foot down to say I won't get another dog, as much of a dog lover I've grown to be. I can just see the majority of people being priced out of pet ownership due to the insurance costs. And I'm very much against those who have a pet but choose not to have insurance. There's nothing more cruel than having to forgo treatment because of the cost.
 
Our vet practice was taken over last year and charges have gone through the roof. Annual cheeck ups and jabs have gone from £57 to £75, consultations have gone from £16 to £27 and the cost of procedures have shot up. I will take a picture of the new price list the next time I am up there. My eldest cat Abby, was attacked by a neighbours cat last November and left a deep gouge in her right eye. This has proved extremely troublesome to heal and we only got the all clear on Tuesday. Up until then we have been prescribed eye drops which poor Abby had to have applied four times a day (at home) and weekly visits to the vet to check progress which involved a drop that numbed the eye, another UV drop that stuck to the wound or ulcer as they call it, a thorough inspection and a rinsing out. The first lot of eye drops at £26 for a 10ml bottle did absolutely nothing and I was worried that she was going to lose the eye then a couple of weeks ago we saw a different vet (saw four different vets over the treatment course so no continuity at all) and he remembered a new eyedrop that hadn't long come onto the market so he askeed if I wanted to give it a go. At this point I was getting more and more worried that it wasn't healing so decided to try it and twoweeks and two bottles later her eye has healed, not completely as she has a black spot which may grow out or she could be left with it for the rest of her life. It doesn't seem to affect her so hopefully she will lead a normal life. The cost, just over £1100!! Throughout this whole ordeal Abby has been stressed out as she hated having eye drops four times a day and the vet's visits with the eye numbing drops and the dye stuff left her really upset, so much that she went around the house doing the most pitiful cry I have ever heard and it broke my heart. Everytime we had a vet visit I spent that night sleeping downstairs on the sofa (I am six foot two and we only have two seater sofas!!) as it was the only way I could get her to settle.

It's all very well people saying you should have pet insurance but at 15 years old it is prohibitively expensive, the cover is reduced and the excess increased so much that there is no point in it at all. The money is better going into a emergency fund for instances like this. I do have my pair of (almost) three year old cats Ozzy and his sister Cleo insured but even their premiums can be ridiculous. The first year I had them covered by Pet Plan who more than doubled the premiums for the second year so I went elsewhere. At renewal time they also hiked the premium but also changed their T&C's so the cover was reduced so I switched again and now they are covered for less than their first year with Pet Plan but have much higher levels of cover as well. I will keep them covered as long as I can but eventually it will be far too much for the cover offered and the excess will make it not worth claiming so I will end up putting money aside just like I have for all my cats in the past. None of my cats have ever gone without treatment or anything else when they have needed it. It can be a lot of money but at the end of the day they are my world and are like family members to me. Abby even has a Solensia injection for her arthritis every four weeks at £62 a time which may also seem a lot but to see her running around and playing again is priceless and heartwarming.
 
At least with pet fish, you effectively become their vet and so avoid these huge bills.

Most fish species I've kept since starting in the hobby in 2010 have lived a typical hobby lifespan (some have even exceeded typical hobby lifespans), but I've had a few disasters on the way (often because the species weren't from fairly hard water areas, unlike Southampton's tap water).

Some of my remaining 12 Upside Down Synodontis group and my remaining African Bushfish I've had since tiny babies bought around Easter '10, now ~15 years old. My male halfbeak was liveborn during the F1 Italy GP 2013 and is surprisingly still around, albeit looking a bit old now.

Four of my five Silver Distichodus bought as babies are still doing well at ~10 years old, as are most of my 12 Dwarf Chain Loaches of a similar age.

My African Butterfly Fish was an adult when bought in '18 as an adult and is still doing well almost seven years later, all my previous ones died before five years of owning, which is more like a usual lifespan. The last of my 25 group of Pareutropius mandevillei (schooling, diurnal, midwater catfish) is now ~12 years old and has outlived the rest of the mob by ~6 months so far.

I've had my Synodontis angelicus and Synodontis schoutedeni for ~10 years and were bought as adults, no idea how old they were at purchase, but can live ~30 years.
 
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I won't have another dog. It's just too expensive.
Can't do anything about it either.
 
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drakioned said:
I have £4000 insurance, but in the small print, they only pay out maximum £1000 per condition. I am cancelling it next year since the premium is over £1000.
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Koda is quite a sick dog.
So although his insurance doesn't pay out much. It is (thank F) per condition per year 2000.

So his allergy meds cost 1200 a year.
His hip care blows past 2000 every year.
He just had a lump checks.. 800 just for the biopsy.

He's had CT scan, heart check, digestive issues.

So no matter how expensive it gets have to pay for it.

But yeah.. No more pets after him. It's just too expensive and stressful.



Just shows how much healthcare would be without the NHS.
 
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I've got a cocker spaniel who's definitely had a rough life previously as a puppy farm before she was abandoned.

Adopted her from the dogs home and after she had a season I took her to get spayed, which the home vet did for free as part of the adoption.

During the op they rang me up:

"Yeah we've felt a very small benign hard lump whilst doing the pre op and have had a little look once we got her open, it's not bothering her and it's shouldn't be causing her any problems. But whilst we are in there we could remove it?"

"How much?"

"£1500"

"Nah you're alright"...

She's been fine since, no dramas and she's fully "retired" from her previous life.

Took her for her boosters at the vet she's registered at and I pay the standard monthly fee (which has gone up already, shock) for worm/flea and appointments if needed. In the fee includes annual boosters.

They tried upselling me a "premium" booster which gives "better coverage" than the standard one.

Again I said you're alright, as when I asked for specifics they said the standard boosters are fine.

Vets do what they want since they have no regulation.
 
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Semple said:
I do wonder if this will drive pet ownership down. We've got a miniature dachshund, so quite known for potential IVDD issues. I think we started off as a puppy paying about £300-400 a year. He's coming up to 6 and last renewal put the premiums at around £900. I suspect this will start to increase rapidly as he gets older, but if it's getting to a point of paying 4 grand a year for insurance then I imagine the majority of the population won't bother.

I've put my foot down to say I won't get another dog, as much of a dog lover I've grown to be. I can just see the majority of people being priced out of pet ownership due to the insurance costs. And I'm very much against those who have a pet but choose not to have insurance. There's nothing more cruel than having to forgo treatment because of the cost.
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I think vets take advantage, anti biotics for a virus, mri brain scan of a 14yr old dog to see if there is a brain tumor, specialist clinic and investigations into an issue with a 15yr old dog are things I turned down.. Also meds are often cheaper online.. Had some that were 50% cheaper, got an old lady 80% 9ff her dogs meds my telling to get a prescription and buy online
 
We brought over six animals with us; from South Africa last year during our move.

Pet insurance isn’t a thing really in SA as costs are generally not bad at all.

After reading this read I am considering getting insurance. We already paid £850 for a minor surgery to one of the dogs.
 
cheesyboy said:
It's definitely taking the ****.

I'll tell you this: our vet bills for horses are absolutely dwarfed by what we pay for our kitten. They charge far, far less on the farm animal side.
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Vets generally make a loss on large animal work these days. Small animal practicing does subsidize farms
 
Pro tips:
Vets will give you prices up front if you ask for them.
Vets will prescribe medication for you to buy elsewhere if you ask them to.
You are not obliged to pursue any particular course of treatment. Vets will give you the options and should be prepared to discuss what is best for your animal. As owners you need to be able to make judgements about your animal’s welfare and not simply throw money at them to assuage your guilt.
 
One More Solo said:
Pro tips:
Vets will give you prices up front if you ask for them.
Vets will prescribe medication for you to buy elsewhere if you ask them to.
You are not obliged to pursue any particular course of treatment. Vets will give you the options and should be prepared to discuss what is best for your animal. As owners you need to be able to make judgements about your animal’s welfare and not simply throw money at them to assuage your guilt.
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I'm not sure this is a reasonable comment.
Like, sure, you can shop around for repeat prescriptions of pills, but like, whilst my cat had a growth visible during ultrasound scan and my vet wants to take a sample to biopsy. How can I shop around for different biopsy providers mid scan? Do I have choice as to which labs they send it to and how much each of them cost?

Edit: or the time I was told about a foreign body blockage in the intestines on a Saturday night.. like, yeah, let me ring around and see if I can find some emergency surgeon to estimate how much extracting that would cost without them seeing anything about it.
 
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Got quoted £400 last week for an examination under sedation (my mum's mental and scary tom cat) last week for a single day (no overnight). That's a cardiff vet.
 
BUDFORCE said:
People just need to stop paying it and let their pets die, or don't have pets.

I know..... howw harsh that sounds, but nothing will change otherwise.

I have a cat and I'm sorry, but I have a limit of about £500, after that I can get a new cat.
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People need to stop getting dogs that have medical issues from the get go too.

I mean things like bulldogs and pugs have a life expectancy of what 5 years!?
 
I would just advise anyone not to waste money at the local vets with anything more advanced, just get a referral straight to a specialist otherwise the local vets will burn through your insurance very fast for nothing.
 
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Have a great vet who looks after our 3 rescue bulldogs (2x frenchies 1x English) but again their part of a much larger bet group rather than a truly independent and prices are indeed eye watering. But unfortunately vets and vet groups know small animal practice is a complete cash cow as firstly insurance is completely rinsable and owners heart strings are easy to tug.
 
drakioned said:
I'm not sure this is a reasonable comment.
Like, sure, you can shop around for repeat prescriptions of pills, but like, whilst my cat had a growth visible during ultrasound scan and my vet wants to take a sample to biopsy. How can I shop around for different biopsy providers mid scan? Do I have choice as to which labs they send it to and how much each of them cost?

Edit: or the time I was told about a foreign body blockage in the intestines on a Saturday night.. like, yeah, let me ring around and see if I can find some emergency surgeon to estimate how much extracting that would cost without them seeing anything about it.
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Did I suggest that at any point in my post, or did I say you can ask for prices upfront and decide whether or not to go ahead?
 
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