[claire]

good vets are worth their weight in gold. and while we can moan we cannot and would not change them for anything..
I quote this from one of those change your life thingys,..... ""The money you are paid by the company you work for, will always be in direct ratio to the need for what you do, your ability to do it and the degree of difficulty involved in replacing you""
I on the other hand am instantly replaceable in my job and that's why I average about £4.30 an hour and have no job security from day to day...

[henchard]

I know that there is joke forum but thought that this might 'lighten the mood a bit'

Glenn took his dog to the vets, and laid its limp body on the table. The vet pulled out his stethoscope, listened to the dog’s chest for a moment, then shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, but your dog has died.”

 “What?” Glenn screamed. “You haven’t even done any tests! I want another opinion.”
 The vet left the room and returned in a few moments with a Labrador Retriever. The Retriever sniffed the dog on the table carefully from head to toe. Finally, the Retriever shook it’s head and barked once (meaning “dead and gone”). The vet took the Labrador away and returned a few minutes later with a cat, which also sniffed carefully over the dog on the table before shaking its head and saying, “Meow” (meaning “he’s gone”).

After the cat jumped off the table, the vet handed Glenn a bill for £500. The man shook the bill at the vet. “£500!!!! Just to tell me my dog is dead?!!! That’s outrageous!”

The vet explained. “If you had taken my word for it, the charge would have been £20, but with the Lab work and the cat scan…."

[Kitchen Cottage]

my large animal vet in Essex is £80 an hour.... or was when I last used her last year.  She used to have a converted stable but now she has 4 colleagues and nice offices.... I suspect the rates have gone up!

[honeyend]

There is a thread of thefarmingforum about the costs for agricultural engineers, which go up a£109 and hour, for the bigger firms, then they sell tractors as well.
  The vets of my youth charged a flat rate, plus treatment and would only charge you extra it went over an hour. Vets now have to follow so many regulations, biohazard waste, H&S, staff training etc. There is a level of complexity that the old vets never needed to deal with.
  There is nothing to stop anyone from shopping round for planned treatment, I do. I think most of use would pay extra for someone who is reliable and provides emergency cover. I use two vets, one for small animals and one for the livestock as its hard for a small practice to have enough staff to do both.