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Vet Fees

Happy to sign, my two small dogs are generally healthy but we pay a tidy sum with Vets bills and insurance each month - genuine question, does PetPlan and other insurance policies cover these costs?
 
To my mind the biggest problem with pet insurance is the fact you can’t opt out of life insurance. So with older pets, even if healthy, premiums start to go exponential.
In the current climate with the spectacular rise in dog purchase prices, I expect that renewal premiums will go through the roof.
 
The treatments available for our pets is part of the issue with insurance costs...all sorts of sophisticated scans, blood tests and operations are commonplace now. Having gone through over £10k in vet bills with our previous dog during his last 18 months I wouldn’t be without good insurance. It may seem expensive in the middle years but the later years is where you’ll often get some of the value back.

Meds are scarily expensive, this must be where a lot of profit is made..mostly by the suppliers, I’m guessing.

Our dog is 50kg, lean and a particularly large Retriever.

Signed
 
This week, I have been charged £920 by my vet for an x-ray. The explanation I was offered was that Blue was a larger dog and that she needed hospitalisation. Now, both of those explanations don't ring true - she weighs 30kg so less than a Labrador, for example, and the hospitalisation meant just staying in the vet from morning until evening, as is normal for an x-ray. This led to me looking into the issue and finding that in the last five years, many practices have increased their fees by upto 5x. As a consequence, I started a petition for a regulatory body in the industry. If you also think this is an issue, I would be grateful if you would sign and share my petition:


http://chng.it/wk6gfTJxjL
Signed
 
A lot of Vet owned single practices have been taken over by large groups over the last few years - ours is a case in point, the partners sold out to Medivet three years ago as one partner wanted to retire and the other didn`t want the entire admin hassle. We still use them because we like and trust the Vet and the service is still very good but the prices have increased alarmingly. We have never had pet insurance on the basis that if an insurance company thinks it can make money out of you it must on average be cheaper not to bother and we have never had big bills until recently but as the Cat (Higgs) is now 15 he is becoming more expensive to run.

Not really a choice though, is it?
 
We have never had pet insurance on the basis that if an insurance company thinks it can make money out of you it must on average be cheaper not to bother

Do you bother with house insurance, they must be making money? Self insurance is fine, until you have a major problem and animals can be very expensive. My lab ruptured a cruciate ligament (tearing around in the hills). £4.5K for the TPLO. A year later the other one went, which very often happens (another £4.5K). Pretty common in labs but she’s right as rain now. To be honest, I’m quite pleased she’s got that issue out of the way before she gets older, for her sake. Insurance at the time (M&S) were fantastic.
 
Reinventing the English language? Nice one.
You are though, living in Fantasyland with the petition.
Pets - I have kept everything from mice upwards, barring cats - nothing against indoor cats. I am 62 now and can't remember any time without, although there must have been spells.

I also think that you will find that you are talking abiut Vets For Pets? The chain.

The chain opened a branch within a mile of my friend's practise about 4-5 years ago and he had no concerns whatsoever. The practise was still busy well after it opened, and presumably still is.
Reinventing the English language? Nice one.
You are though, living in Fantasyland with the petition.
Pets - I have kept everything from mice upwards, barring cats - nothing against indoor cats. I am 62 now and can't remember any time without, although there must have been spells.

I also think that you will find that you are talking abiut Vets For Pets? The chain.

The chain opened a branch within a mile of my friend's practise about 4-5 years ago and he had no concerns whatsoever. The practise was still busy well after it opened, and presumably still is.

The issue is too big for a squabble and I've not heard of the practice you're referring too. I have 200 signatures in 24 hours and in 7 days, I will write to my MP. All the best to you.
 
Exa
A lot of Vet owned single practices have been taken over by large groups over the last few years - ours is a case in point, the partners sold out to Medivet three years ago as one partner wanted to retire and the other didn`t want the entire admin hassle. We still use them because we like and trust the Vet and the service is still very good but the prices have increased alarmingly. We have never had pet insurance on the basis that if an insurance company thinks it can make money out of you it must on average be cheaper not to bother and we have never had big bills until recently but as the Cat (Higgs) is now 15 he is becoming more expensive to run.

Not really a choice though, is it?

Exactly my circumstance.
 
The issue is too big for a squabble and I've not heard of the practice you're referring too. I have 200 signatures in 24 hours and in 7 days, I will write to my MP. All the best to you.
Hi Geoff, so sorry to hear of your problems with your dog and sad to see some thinking that it is an excuse for an argument.

I think I was fortunate, at least financially, last August bank holiday when my beloved cat had a blood clot in the middle of the night. He was uninsured but in the moment I didn’t care what a call to the vet would cost. They opened up the surgery with a vet and nurse in attendance and were probably onsite for in excess of an hour. Sadly it was a one way trip for him and, due to covid, they had to put him to sleep on my lap in the car park. The practice was very kind and sent me a bill for just £74.60, so their is some decency in the world of vets. I must confess that hearing of vets’ fees lately, I am hesitating about giving another rescue cat a home, so best of luck with your petition.
 
Hi Geoff, so sorry to hear of your problems with your dog and sad to see some thinking that it is an excuse for an argument.

I think I was fortunate, at least financially, last August bank holiday when my beloved cat had a blood clot in the middle of the night. He was uninsured but in the moment I didn’t care what a call to the vet would cost. They opened up the surgery with a vet and nurse in attendance and were probably onsite for in excess of an hour. Sadly it was a one way trip for him and, due to covid, they had to put him to sleep on my lap in the car park. The practice was very kind and sent me a bill for just £74.60, so their is some decency in the world of vets. I must confess that hearing of vets’ fees lately, I am hesitating about giving another rescue cat a home, so best of luck with your petition.

It is no word of a lie that my vet was utterly embarrassed at the cost of Blue's treatment. In simple terms, she told me that they have to charge what the company has told them to charge.

My wife is a psychotherapist, and veterinary surgeons are very high on the suicide risk list for professions. Of course, they are surrounded by highly emotive circumstances and life and death, daily, but much of the feedback is about the financial hardship of their customers who have to make choices on finance rather than care. Being told what you have to charge and witnessing the impact of that must be incredibly stressful when you entered a profession based on care.
 
A lot of Vet owned single practices have been taken over by large groups over the last few years - ours is a case in point, the partners sold out to Medivet three years ago as one partner wanted to retire and the other didn`t want the entire admin hassle. We still use them because we like and trust the Vet and the service is still very good but the prices have increased alarmingly. We have never had pet insurance on the basis that if an insurance company thinks it can make money out of you it must on average be cheaper not to bother and we have never had big bills until recently but as the Cat (Higgs) is now 15 he is becoming more expensive to run.

Not really a choice though, is it?


same here. Our local 3 site vet was swallowed up by the CVS group a few years ago and prices been rising since.

CVS say this about themselves
  • More than 480 practices
  • More than 1,900 vets
  • In excess of 2,300 nurses
  • Year end 2020 – Revenue £427.8m
CVS closed our most local site, just 5 minutes drive. Now the closest is 20 minutes drive and Ziggy and Marley hate being in the car.

our new vet, about 2 minutes away is a group called Village Vet. Village Vet group is owned by Linnaeus group which is also massive. Globally Linnaeus is owned by Mars Vetinary Health (of the Mars group of companies of Mars bar fame) there is big money in vets and pet food.
 
It’s what happens when private equity firms are allowed to buy up the majority of small businesses, create a monopoly and charge what they like. This is where regulation of monopolies needs to occur.

I suspect there is another layer to it too. The vet I use is an independent, not a chain, but I get the impression that they have locked-into an exclusive pharmaceutical supply-chain, so they can’t shop around for various products.
 


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