[sabrina]

Well I am so fed up with my vets at the moment, just paid out £459.62p for the gelding of my 2 Shetland colts, Rory needed more treatment after getting an infection, he was gelded inside something I have never heard off before. Now Jacs one of my cats is in for an operation on one of her eyes where the bottom eyelid hair has started growing inwards. What gets me is this, she has had seen the vet three times over the last few weeks, been given differnt treatment each time and yesterday when I took her back it was one of the other vets and he spotted the problem right away, hence she has gone for the operation today. Will I get a refund for the other visits and wrong treatment, I doubt it very much 

[doganjo]

That sounds like entropion and it should have been diagnosed at the first visit.  i would tell them that if that is what it is.  And only pay the difference.  Let them sue you for the rest, and change your vet.  That sounds an awful lot of money to geld two ponies.

[Roxy]

£256.55 is what I paid at the end of April for last years colt to be gelded.  Thankfully, we have a good horse vet and it went smoothly.
Vets can charge what they want, and we have no option but to pay!!  Took our big dog, as he has chewed his paw, he has always done it, heals up, starts chewing it again.

Vet looked at paw, held it for about 10 seconds.  Gave us some cream, and some antibiotic tablets, no lampshade on his head to stop him chewing at his foot, or bandage.  No, he will not lick the cream .....oh no?  Well, oh yes, he is licking the expensive stuff off.  The bill for two minutes at the most, and that included the paying bit, was £64.00.  And we still have the red raw paw of course.  Will have to take him back, and get another large bill .......

[sabrina]

Vets and blacksmiths the two people it does not pay to fall out with, they blacklist you 

[Hermit]

Roxy..We had a dog with a self chewing problem and the expensive prescribed treatment was useless. We just used calamine in the end and it worked. Plastic hoods dont stop them chewing their paws though, just body wounds. You can buy boots for dogs , maybe that would be the better option.
 Shetland vets are excellent, they are subsidised up here which keeps cost down. My thorougbred mare had an overeach accident which cost two thousand pounds in Engalnd, there were complications though. Up here she did it again and it cost £220.oo 

[doganjo]

Will have to take him back, and get another large bill .......

Spray it with elastoplast spray.  They hate the smell and the taste, and it'll do no harm.

[Rosemary]

I had our two dogs and two kittens at the vet on Friday for their boosters and annual check. The vet noticed something amiss with Tess's left back leg. She's been licking it a bit but she's not a dog that tolerates manhandling!! Tess had a TPLO to correct a ruptured cruciate ligament in 2007 on that leg (2008 for the right leg!!).

She's been in today for an xray and exam (with anasthetic). I'm just off to pick her up. She's to go in Monday to see the orthopaedic guy. She may have to have the support plate put in at the TPLO removed. The TPLO cost £2500. I don't think my insurance will cover it - not looking forward to the bill 

[doganjo]

Oh dear, Rosemary, I hope not. Poor Tess.  Hope it's something simpler - and cheaper!

[Rosemary]

£344 and we've got Monday to go. I'm gob-smacked - she only had an Xray and a swab to check the infection. I actually said to the receptionist "You're having a laugh" but the joke's on us.

God knows what Monday's will be. This time I'll ask. If it's something extortionate, I'll tell them to either take the bl**dy leg off or put her down.

My nephew has a dog and he's on benefits of £51 a week. How in God's name would he manage a bill like that?

[Hermit]

If someone is on benefits,even a pension they can get treatment from the PDSA .They tell you how much it would have cost and ask for a donation if possible. My mum uses the PDSA in Huddersfield and mainly is able to pay the full amount. I find insurances are not worth the bother as have never been able to claim from one, always a catch!

[Rosemary]

I find insurances are not worth the bother as have never been able to claim from one, always a catch!

I can't agree with this. We've had a few claims - actually more than a few, since Cassius had a few things wrong and Tess's 2 TPLOs, so I wouldn't be without it. Only thing we've been refused was Felix's eyes, which are a problem arising from the chronic cat flu he had when we got him.

[egbert]

My cat had an issue with her stiff back leg, bad limp etc. She was about to turn 8, so I registered her with insurance, waited for the required 14 days then went to the vet    The vet diagnosed something (I cant even remember now what it was) age related, x rayed her, gave me pain killers and said she would need to be on them for the rest of her life. £300_+ vet bill. I got the insurance to pay for it - after my hefty initial payout - and they would have had to fork out for the next £7k. However, I noticed after a few weeks the cat was not limping or stiff, and I dropped the dosage - still no stiffness. So, took her off the meds and 3 years later she is still bouncing about catching anything that squeaks. Saved my insurance company a fortune there. Got to wonder whether vets just make the illnesses up  

[Hermit]

I know of a couple of vets in west Yorks that were actually investigated and found guilty, by what body I dont know, of doing uneccessary blood tests and charging over the odds for exagerrated illnesses.

[Roxy]

I do wonder sometimes, if the treatment vets give is necessary in all cases.  I know quite often the treatment is definitely necessary ...but .....if we are told our cat or dog needs this or that, we nod and pay up, don't we?

Some time ago, one of the farm cats disappeared for two days, and when she returned she had the most enormous abscess on her face. Our vet was closed, so took her to the next nearest.  Fortunately she was one of the quieter feral cats, and we could actually hold her still. Vet kept her in to drain the abscess, and cut away the bad bit.  Fetched her home next day, with lampshade on her head (yes, she loved that ...not!)  lots of tablets, etc. etc.  She had to go back twice a week for about a month.  I think the bill was about £400 altogether, and we are not insured for the cats.  When we went back, the vet only looked, told us to carry on bathing it with hibiscrub and keep on with the tablets, and that advice was another £20 each time!!

Then, another of the cats came with a large swelling. My OH said there was no way we were forking out another £400 - and I could not get near it to catch it anyway!!  This abcess grew as big as the other cats, but my friend who is into herbal remedies, told me not to worry, it would go down .....I did worry, but not alot I could do if I could not catch her to take her to the vets.  Meanwhile she told me to give her crab abble in her feed.  I did this for a few days, and was so relieved when the abscess started to shrink.

So that abscess cost me a fiver.  Wish I had done the same previously!!  I have treated another cat the same way, and she too recovered ok.

[Jackie]

The aboved postings is generally why dog breeders get to know the whys and wherefores and little tricks with treatments.

I for one wouldnt hesitate to question any vet and if the answer wasnt saitisfactory for either the treatment or the cost I would complain loudly to the BVA