High Vets Fees

Just a quick (ish) moan bout vets fees. My cat as a kitten went to the vets for treatment for his diahorrea, it wasn't extreme, just not as i would have liked. He'd had this for a day or so, me being worried at the time, and wanting something to help clear it up.
Really wish i hadn't bothered..... vet was really enthusiastic... wanted tests, pills of every sort etc etc, anyways bill came up to £120.00, now i know most of you guys are in US, but still i'm sure you'll agree thats an awful lot of money.
Ok so i paid up, more worried bout kitty now, thiinking this must be a really serious problem he has. Vet wanted me to come in following week to check up. So i made an appointment there and then.
Anyways, the diahorrea cleared up immediately soon as we were home (typical) didn't even use pills. So i thought i'd phone up vets in a few days time to cancel the appointment.
What i got was a response that made me feel like a bad cat owner, and that if i cared i'd bring in "my sick kitty". Feeling guilty i took him in.

Ended up paying £35.00 for the vet to give him a 30 sec check up and say "great he's fine"!!!!!
I was and still am furious!!! How do they get away with charging such high fees????!!! And they wonder why so many cats are unneutered and don't recieve neccessary care!!! They knew money was tight as i pointed it out, but they said it's all neccessary!
Sorry for long post, had to get it off my chest
If this is in the wrong place please feel free to move it

Vet school takes longer and is harder than medical school. People doctors only have to learn about ONE species.

Setting up a veterinary practice is very expensive, due to some of the specialized equipment needed.

Around here, a routine office visit runs $35-50. Medications and shots are extra.

At my vet's office any follow-up visit is usually free, but my vet has a soft spot for ferals. A typical office visit is $35.00 and that is just to walk in the door, anything additional is extra. If my vet comes here, it costs me $45.00 just to get him to the front gate.

I do agree that veterinary science is a very difficult and specialist subject, and i appreciate that setting up practice is expensive. However i do think there are some vets who are excessive.
I recently changed vets and took three cats fro a respiratory infection, checkup, worming, antibiotics, eyedrops all came to £51.00, whats more this vet was much more informative and took longer time with me. After telling her about my experience with the previous vet she agreed that it was excessive and uneccessary. And these vets are both here in London

Just a thought, some vets do overcharge, and i feel prey on our worries about our babies health, afterall this is a business and will all businesses there are the "cowboy" traders

I guess Im lucky, my vet, who is fantastic, charges 25 dollars for the first office visit and then sometimes nothing for the follow up, the routine charge for follow up is 18.00. She is really good too, not doing too much unnecessary stuff unless it is needed.

I am not sure if all vets are like this, but my vet charges docotrs fees as well as the service they provide...like yesterday, when I took both kitties in...Rocky had a leukemia shot, and Fluffy had her stitches out(that was not charged) but Rocky leukemia shot was $7.00 and the vet fee was $8.00...so all together it cost $15.00...I myself try somewhere else....

LOL Rocks&Fluff, $15??!! for leukaemia jab?
My first vet would have had a field day with you!!!

You are so right about how some vets overcharge, I was with one practice for about 20 years and left because of a dispute with them, I changed to a differnt practice a few years ago and it was the best move I have ever made, they treat my pets as though they were their own, they don't charge consultation fees only for any medication needed and they take the time to explain everything to you. Having four dogs and five cats that makes things a lot easier, you should shop around listen to what other people have to say about their vets and if necessary make the change.

the leukemia was actually only $7.00. but they charge a doctors vet fee that is $8.00 so it added up to $15.00...is this normal? do your vets charge for service fees?

I think most vets do charge service fee, i've been asking around alot bout this so am something of a mini expert her
But $8.00 is very cheap, here the cheapest i found is £22.00 per cat ( i don't know exchange rate to do the math! )
And i know that some, but very few vets do a discount if you take in more than a few cats

I think the thing that riles me the most is that they are charging really high service fees, and i'm finding that the problem rather than medication, as if you actually look at prices of jabs etc they're actually relatively cheap compared.

These people (i assume) went into the profession for their love of animals, but all i see some doing is "cashing in" on vulnerable people who are concerened about their pets health. There are some excellent vets out there, but also some not very ethical ones.

Oh yeah, just wanted to add also, we get our vaccinations done at a military veterinarian, thats all they will do, and then we take our cats and dogs to a civilian vet for everything else. I can get my cats vaccinations, everything, the whole works for 25.00, with no office visit charge. Also they will microchip for 15 dollars. I do spend alot at my civilian veterinarian, but she is pretty reasonable.

I go to a low-cost shot clinic. For the dogs, it costs me about $13 for rabies and 5-in-one. I don't get the rabies shot, for the cats.

I may be looking for a new vet or going to the clinics. My last visit was for rabies shots for 2, 6 month old kittens...$52.00!!!! If I had gone to the clinic it would have been $20.00! I had been told that shot visits were only $9.00 but then they said not for adult cats AFTER I got the shots. I may even give them myself. Is there any brand I should avoid???

I don't know if you can do rabies shots, yourself. Here, I can buy all of the other vaccines but, since there has to be record of the rabies shots (for the dogs' licenses), I can't buy it myself.