Vets bills

[onesea]

So our lovely rescue mutt today, developed an eye problem.  He couldn't open it, it was weeping. He had been for a walk, so anything could of happened. No visible exterior cuts.

 

My misses took him to the vets, it took 20 minutes.

£240 consultation fee, after grooming about the dogs activities. She explained he's a 40 kg hind his play ground is the New Forest, on walk a he spends half his time barely in site galloping about. So yes he could of done all sorts.

 

She got a diagnosis of Conjunctivitis.

 

He then went on again quite rudely telling her what she had already told him.

One ear canal is smaller than the other with floppy ears its prone to infection.  We clean it daily and trying various potions. We are just constantly cleaning muck out of it.

 

By the time we she left with 3 tubes new tubes of potion.  

 

We where £388 total poorer.

 

If you want to get rich, don't become a Doctor.

[Bianco2564]

The main reason I don't want another pet, had cats before and fortunately were lucky with visits to the vet's.

A guy at work had a cat that ate the bloodied mat in the bottom of a meat tray, cost him over a grand for the operation. Cat died naturally about 18 months later....

[S-Westerly]

A lot of folks have pet insurance but that's not cheap either. 

[onesea]

20 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

A lot of folks have pet insurance but that's not cheap either. 

I should off added we do have insurance, regardless that’s allot of money for 20 minutes work.  We also have to to pay first to get back later.

[Mr Fro]

Think yourself lucky, one of the guys at work had his dog's teeth done - £3.5k that set him back!

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

@onesea I hope your dog is better soon. I love dogs but I work crazy hours so it wouldn't be fair having one. I'm not sure I could afford to anyway at that rate. 

[S-Westerly]

There's a few reasons my wife and I decided against having a pet ourselves again. The family have dogs which we regularly end up minding so it's not as if we are totally deprived. My job means the dog becomes entirely my wife's responsibility which is unfair on her. There's the costs involved which despite access to a very cheap (family member) vet are still considerable. Finally There's the purely selfish reason of (in pre Covid times) being able to hop on a plane and go wherever we please at short notice without having to arrange pet care in advance.

[KiwiBob]

Just remember that if we didn't have the NHS you would be paying these sort of figures every time you see a doctor!

[fastbob]

If you are offered medicine by a vet on an ongoing basis , take the first issue because obviously it needs to be administered straight away . But also ask for a rolling six month prescription . They may charge you for this but it's going to be worth it . For example , the vet wanted to charge £37 a go for Bob's medicine but with a prescription you can buy it online for a mere £11.23 Inc vat . I use a company called Vetimed . 

[manxie49]

I feel your pain, we have pet insurance, but I'm with s-westerly on that one,  as soon as our dog reached 5yrs of age,  the yearly insurance premium has sky rocketed.  

[Tiggie]

Just to lighten the tone.....

 

When I worked at a Jewellers the saturday girl told me how when she was 15 she found her guinea pig dead in his hut. She was distraught and put him in her bag and got on the bus to take him to the vets hoping they could resuscitate him.

 

The Vet:  "Sorry, he is dead, there is nothing we can do now"

 

two days later her mum got an £85 bill from the vets for their diagnoses  

 

 

[S-Westerly]

54 minutes ago, KiwiBob said:

Just remember that if we didn't have the NHS you would be paying these sort of figures every time you see a doctor!

Funnily enough in Germany they have no NHS, no fees and a damned sight better health service than we do. There are alternatives to the NHS as it is but because its "burn at the stake" heresy to ever mention this it never gets addressed.

[Bender]

2 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

Funnily enough in Germany they have no NHS, no fees and a damned sight better health service than we do. There are alternatives to the NHS as it is but because its "burn at the stake" heresy to ever mention this it never gets addressed.

I think there is a statutory fee levied on wages for German health care, couple of friends live out there, options to have extra uber service via private insurance, very good service though by all accounts. 

[S-Westerly]

50 minutes ago, Bender said:

I think there is a statutory fee levied on wages for German health care, couple of friends live out there, options to have extra uber service via private insurance, very good service though by all accounts. 

That's exactly what they have, much like our national insurance contributions (which don't seem to provide much.) My brother has been living in Germany married to a German, for the last 12 years. His family's experience of health care is a lot better than mine. TBH from what I've seen from other first world countries our NHS is really poor, certainly not the envy of the world. Even the USA is really good treatment wise IF you can afford it. If you can't its an utter disgrace.

[DuRavary]

I lived in Germany for 26 years before moving to France. The health care there is very good but the contributions are high. The health care in France is even better but only about 70% of it comes from contributions from earnings, most people have mutuelle policies to cover the rest. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I once saved money by having a pet.

 

Our daughters' hamster died so on my way home stopped at the local pet shop to get a replacement. It was in a little box which fitted in by bike jacket so that was handy.

 

A few days later it gave birth to four baby hamsters. 

 

Buy one, get four free. Best deal I ever had.

[fastbob]

3 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

I once saved money by having a pet.

 

Our daughters' hamster died so on my way home stopped at the local pet shop to get a replacement. It was in a little box which fitted in by bike jacket so that was handy.

 

A few days later it gave birth to four baby hamsters. 

 

Buy one, get four free. Best deal I ever had.

I actually know someone who did the very same thing with a horse !  They bought mare to ride and the thing started putting on weight straight away . It eventually gave birth to a lovely foal which was sold on for a profit . 

[DuRavary]

4 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

I once saved money by having a pet.

 

Our daughters' hamster died so on my way home stopped at the local pet shop to get a replacement. It was in a little box which fitted in by bike jacket so that was handy.

 

A few days later it gave birth to four baby hamsters. 

 

Buy one, get four free. Best deal I ever had.

We weren’t so lucky. We bought my daughter a hamster for I think £4:50. A few weeks later it’s fur started falling out so we took it to the vet. No problem it just needed some special ointment. That worked out at about £5 a month for the hamster’s life. 

[MikeHorton]

Its a case of shopping around with pets. We have to travel a little bit more to our vets instead of the local one but we have a policy with the vet rather than a company it doesn't cover everything ie the medication bit they normally tell us if it's cheaper to buy from petdrugsonline who are good and deliver within 2 days. Our mutt is 15 and they are really good and doesn't cost us masses. Pet insurance just got silly otherwise