[Closed] Unexpected very high vet bill

Joint responsibility though, surely. If your friend didn't ask the vet beforehand, how much did they expect it to be?

Folk I know with dogs wouldn't quibble about almost any price - and have insurance in any case.

In my experience as a dog owner whose dog has been in overnight (twice) is that the estimated bill was discussed and payment method agreed upfront. First time was a relatively small amount, second time was much more expensive (relative to the first). £300 for the first time and in excess of £900 for the second. But this included moving to a second vets and their costs.
But, we are covered by our insurance.
Impossible to say why this wasn’t the same experience your friend encountered. In my opinion as a dog owner, insurance is vital, but also understand some people may not be able to afford the monthly payments, ours is approx £50 a month. (Choc lab with history of rear leg problems)

Guessing over 1k?

I always ask a cost, and to be informed if it's going to be £££s - mercenary as it is even my dog has a spending limit.

Probably a good few hundred quid or more. We’ve spent thousands in various investigations and treatments for one of ours who has arthritis in quite a few joints and heart problems  luckily PetPlan have picked up the bills for those and for the regular drugs he’s on for the last 7 years now.

I’d be amazed if the vet didn’t ask if they were insured and then if they said ‘no’ tell them what it would cost up front. We’ve never had otherwise from either our vet or the various specialists (cardiologist, orthopaedic etc...) ours has been to.

Having been through similar with our pooch, I'd say around £2000.

But as above they normally ask if you are insured, as it is a tick box that is pulled up every time an animal is taken into the vets.

Not complaining as it is our choice to have pets, but our dog costs more to insure than the house and its contents !

Human surgery.

Complicated, needs a lot of skill and is a well rewarded profession. NHS covers most costs but is lusted after by foreign health providers & drug companies

Animal surgery. Not far off. Lots of training needed and an animal is as highly regarded by its family as a human. Without insurance it is massively expensive - hence why every pet owner pays it

Bargain compared to how much we’ll have to pay for healthcare

Did they get a cat scan & a lab report?

Houns makes a good point there. We have private medical through work and I cost them £130 a month (and me some tax, but it's worth it for the times I needed to use it)

My best guess based on experience of a similar thing around the £1k mark.

We've got insurance so dont really ask about costs but for anything out if the ordinary the vet usually gives us an idea or what to expect

This needs a wider audience...

Did they get a cat scan & a lab report?

I'm guessing £1456

Insurance claim Shirley.....

A vets priority is to look after the animal, not whisper pleasantries into the humans ear and give a shoulder message when giving the expected cost.

The owners should have insurance and should have asked for an estimate.

I always wonder how eye wateringly expensive it is to get treated by the Supervet, Noel Fitzpatrick.

Folk I know with dogs wouldn’t quibble about almost any price

I always thought they basically rip you off blatantly but as alluded to above, the nhs gives us a false idea of costs where humans are concerned. 😦

One meeeeeeeellion dollars?

£800.

Assuming his pet insurance will cover the bill?

Our pooch required a double perineal hernia op last year (new arse in layman’s terms). Referred to Fitzpatrick referrals with bill in excess of 4K. Insurance paid most of it but we were still left with a sizeable chunk. They did a good job though - we’ve nicknamed him Kim Kardasian.

Took our dog in, listless, didnt want to move etc.
The Vet said he'd have a look.
2 hours later, we got a call saying they'd operated and cut out a tumour from his stomach. £800 please.
That was rather a shock.
It was reduced eventually to £600, as the S-i-L worked there, so got a staff discount. Even so, it stung a bit.
And the cancer came back, he died a year later.

When Jake wasn't well and required more and more tests I'd kept asking the total of the bill after each visit so there was no shocks, £850 it cost for him but by having a conversion it wasn't a shock.

We've had our cats in overnight etc loads of times. The vets are always super clear about costs, we have to sign a form with the costs outlined before they'll take the cat in. Normally a few £100 for over night plus all the blood tests / xrays etc. I think £900 is the highest single bill so far.

We also get an itemised bill, each item seems pretty reasonable, just a lot of things involved in basic stuff eg a single X-ray involves sedation, the x-ray, time to interpret it and reviving the cat etc, so a lot of ancillary work which takes time and money...

"I always wonder how eye wateringly expensive it is to get treated by the Supervet, Noel Fitzpatrick."

A friend remortgaged his house to pay his Visla's bill...

A cat scan at the supervet's oncology dept on my late Jack Russell was nearly £3k...

Our vet did suggest a £2k MRI for one of our cats who had neurological issues. I asked them to list every possible diagnosis and what they could do e.g. stroke, brain tumour etc. They were all inoperable, so the MRI would only have been to put a name on the condition. Poor thing had to put down shortly after than as he decided he no longer needed to eat or drink.

I always wonder how eye wateringly expensive it is to get treated by the Supervet, Noel Fitzpatrick.

https://www.fitzpatrickreferrals.co.uk/veterinary-professionals/price-guide/

Seems about average.

We had the 'unnecessary scan' offered also for a paralysis disease in our old dog, suggestion being she'd eaten something bad or been bitten by a snake. We'd already done the emergency care vet overnight stay at that point. The only benefit of the scan would have been to say she'll die or not die. We didn't go for it, she recovered over a period of weeks with home care (at times very messy) and went on to live many years longer. The vets were great and very open about costs/benefits.

x rays, and some tablets and injections and a night in a cage at vets

If it was just that (x-ray but no scans) then should be around £4-500.
£50 for tablets and injections
£150 for overnight
£300 for x-rays

Vets that have in house overnight care tend to cost more as they have to cover the costs of providing it.

After we had a puppy hit by a Land Rover I was asked by the vet if we had insurance. We did, he mentioned they had a two tiered pricing structure to help out people without insurance. Not sure how I feel about that.

Having said that the surgery the dog needed was well over £4.5K and this was 15+ years ago, without insurance it was still going to be so costly we would have been left with a very difficult decision to make about the value of a dogs life.

1970s style hessian bag,bricks, pond
Or
Spade over the head

Much cheaper !

*for the record we’re a house hold of dogs and cats and wouldn’t choose this method.

Couple of times it’s been mentioned “that’s why every pet owner has insurance”. Well we do for a horse, but haven’t ever for dogs. I insure things where I have to such as the car or the mortgaged house, or where I can’t, or don’t want, to pay the biggest likely bill.

I understand that insurance does spread the risk across those insured, but there is also decent profits made by insurance companies and, where I can afford not to, I don’t want to be part of paying towards those.

We have a direct debit to put the equivalent of an insurance premium into a separate account each month. So far we are quids in and could cover the biggest feasible bill for a dog twice over. Obviously this wouldn’t have worked how we wanted if our first dog had been sick in the first couple of years of its life, but that was a calculated risk.

As the to OP’s question. No idea I’m afraid, we’ve been pretty lucky so far.

I seem to have missed the answer, or are we all still playing the ‘lets have a wild guess’?

Perhaps the OP’s friend can’t afford the internet anymore after paying the vet bill?

Couple of times it’s been mentioned “that’s why every pet owner has insurance”

Yup I don't either never have paid some big bills but over the lifetime it's been cheaper than insuring.

I seem to have missed the answer, or are we all still playing the ‘lets have a wild guess’?

It's probably the word "unexpected" in the post title that's the issue.

+1 to no insurance, just self insure.

Well it is insurance after all. You have winners and losers. I have two dogs that have a few conditions (one has an auto immune issue) and the average cost of vets bills per year for the last 3 years has been over £2000 for each dog.
Self insure doesn't really work too well if the illnesses are in early life rather than later.

I am glad I insured them...

Just to put some perspective on it, I have a number of surgeons as clients and I was told not long ago that an operation room costs over 60 euros a minute to run. Many vets surgeries have equally high tech machines and equally highly trained personnel.

Our dog was in last month for an X-ray under anaethetic done as day patient followed up with consultation with vet and prescription. Can't remember exact cost but around £270. Cost for the experience and facilities seem reasonable to me. For something involving an initial consultation, prescription, then follow up check a week later the second check is free.

For OP add cost of overnight stay to £270 and £400-£500 would seem reasonable. As cost is thought a rip off I'll guess £1000.

We have had the same vet for 29 years now. Self insured for 3 past dogs, 2 current dogs, 1 past cat and 2 current cats. Miles ahead over being insured.

Am I being really thick here? I still can't see how much the bill was. Are we still guessing?

How much?

A leg and another leg?

Having picked up a puppy a few weeks ago and had a similar experience on it's first trip to the vets, i'd say £900 ish.

We asked the price before they took the dog away, because you know, we're not silly and know they are trained professionals and there time and expertise are costly.

Come on then?

You've played the rip off vets card and been given some honest responses, how much did you pay?

A vets mechanic's priority is to look after the animal car, not whisper pleasantries into the humans ear and give a shoulder message when giving the expected cost.

The owners should have insurance and should have asked for an estimate.

people aren't always thinking straight in these sorts of situations. the professional involved should be.
the vet should have given an approximate estimate of cost unprompted. would you expect anyone doing work for you to assume you'd just write them a blank check?
hope the dog is OK.

No pet insurance here.

Booked an appointment for our cat as he has a chipped tooth. Took him in, vet gave him a thorough examination, said tooth was OK, no need for further treatment. Guess how much that check-up cost - I'll reveal all at mid day 🙂

Was it unexpected though?

When we had our first dogs about 25 years ago, insurance premiums were £100/year - these days, it's £100/month. We stopped paying the premiums when the excesses / exclusions started to rack up - we buy premium bonds instead and the account sits somewhere north of £10k. We did have an overnighter recently - elderly basset hound with suspected bloat, X-ray and intubation came to £1200.

Doesn't matter how much the bill was. The norm today seems to be to get other people to pay your vet bills by exploiting their levels of compassion via crowfunding.

Was it unexpected though?

Yes, very much so.............

I didn't expect our last dog to break his leg, run into a thorn bush and stick a stick through his eyeball, or get run over. All of those cost a lot. All of them were paid for by Tesco Value Dog Insurance without quibble, right up to the limit cost of £3k each condition. Medicine is expensive. Mind you, insurance got expensive when he got older, too.

Each time the vet has asked about insurance and given a guesstimate of cost based on what they are about to do. Not having insurance would have changed what we agree for them to do, to a certain extent.

When does the cost of the OP’s bill get published??

we're expecting it any time soon

It was £500+ Vat.

It was his brother-in-laws dog.

£850 it cost for him but by having a conversion it wasn’t a shock.

CofE to RC?

The vet/mechanic comparison is a good one. Some folk are very particular about wanting to approve any costs but many will say "just fix it". As a mechanic you then have to make a judgement about expectations, and it's possible to get that wrong.

We also self insure, have done for the last thirty years and also used the same vets. Fin has gone in this morning for an operation that was picked up on her annual check up a couple of weeks ago. We were given an itemised list of everything they would be charging for but to be honest if they had just given us a figure it would have been fine.

Bill for our cats check-up was nothing!! Vet said it was a pleasure to see him 😮

Currently we have spent around £2k with the vet this year since January. One drug is £120 a month (we are on the second month), the other two are £150 for 3 months for the rest of his (shortened) life. The regular ultra-sound scans and check-up appointments add £300 and £80 to the bill respectively. He's covered to £4k a year and I expect next years premium will be delivered without lube unless he dies before renewal time.

It's for ongoing treatment of Dilated Cardiomyopathy and he's worth every penny that we spend.

two tiered pricing structure to help out people without insurance

That's one way to spin it i suppose.

two tiered pricing structure to help out people without insurance

That’s one way to spin it i suppose.

The other way to spin it is that when the customer says it's on the insurance the bill goes up, similar to car body repairers, the the insurance companies are milked and the cost is passed on via the premiums.

£1500.

Last time we had to take our cat to the emergency vet, we were told if we'd left it another two to four hours it would have been lights oot.

Blocked ureter.

TFF pet insurance...

We were warned the older cat could cost a grand for an unexpected overnight. Took her in with a bad chest, no, needs to go to hospital now, might be over a grand if chest needs draining. Fortunately the hospital took the excess and sorted rest with insurance. Nearly £500, back home next day after oxygen and anti-biotics.

The rescue cost us a grand over a few months, after blood tests, etc, etc. Cat flu and gingivitis that the charity didn't pick up on. Ah well. 3 of the 4 are covered by insurance, and Mr Rescue has a health plan instead.

Our vet dropped the cost of the rescue cats treatment as he had cost loads already. The big cost was all his teeth out, and she said if there was any further issues these were free. It fixed him and he is a very healthy 4kg ginger ninja now.

I've just got back from the vets with our 10 year old cat that needed a dental clean and check over total so far £260, "we found some bone thinning and some pus in part of the jaw, we can send it off for analysis for £170", no we'll see if the antibiotics work first.

Same cat a few years ago cost best part of £3K for removing a polyp for her ear, an old school vet would have just removed it but the pet hospital had to do loads of investigations and discuss advanced surgical methods. She even had a cat scan that cost £1200, my cat scan on Bupa only got billed at £800. In the end the vet decided to just remove it with the old school method!

Just picked Fin up and the bill was exactly what we had been told.
She is now feeling sorry for her self and contemplating the scrambled egg.
She also has a cool pink plaster over where the needle was in her leg, I wonder if the boys get blue ones 🤔

[img] [/img]

So? Has the OP forgotten he posted this? Or realised that it actually wasn't that expensive?
We have insurance for 2 spaniels that's about 15/month each. Never claimed for the 7yr old but the 2yr old has been in twice with cuts, one of them on her rear knee that just split open and needed a lot of stitches to hold it back together. She's obviously a lot more adventurous/careless then her sister!

I think they've realised training, setting up, running and staffing a vets is not surprisingly expensive and that you can actually ask for the costs before or during treatment.

We have insurance for 2 spaniels that’s about 15/month each. Never claimed for the 7yr old but the 2yr old has been in twice

I'd say in this case it was worth the insurance rather than self insuring as the 7 year old has cost you £1,260 so far. This saving would probably be wiped out and then some for an overnight stay plus a few tests etc. from figures quoted in above posts. Saying that we self insure our cat. Perhaps I need to rethink our strategy.

Totally forgot about this thread, cost more than 800 quids. not cheap.

Non pet owner here, but if we ever get a moggy I would buy insurance.

What I do know is that some vets in the past have benefited from insurance companies paying out things like 100% of the cost of MRI scans and suchlike. So much so that some vets bought mobile scanners from the money they charged from the scans.

Make of that what you will.

Totally forgot about this thread, cost more than 800 quids. not cheap.

Sounds cheap for x-rays, injections, medication and an overnight stay.

Is this thread actually an elaborate stealth ad for a reasonably priced Vet ?

One of my dad's friends was a vet, and he openly admitted modern vets have a license to print money, mostly due to owners with more money than sense. He's been dead for a good few years now, and things have certainly not got any cheaper.

My sister's black lab ended up needing emergency treatment one night after he split his leg open, and after phoning the emergency number on the forms they had, which they assumed was for their regular vet, they were told to got to a different vet. The total bill was over £600, just for a few stitches and a bandage.
It turned out the number was for the insurance provider, and the regular vet said they would have charged under half for what was done.