does this seem reasonable?

Maybe I'm not following - last year your cat was in for kitten shots - but I'm not sure you got the whole series? This year it's his first adult set.

I think a lot of practices will discount the kitten series to help ensure people do bring the kittens in for the whole set. But, once they hit adult stage, usually you're in once a year until they're seniors (with any luck).

For what it's worth, I like having an established relationship with any doctor (and their front desk) so if I call and ask for an urgent appointment, I get one; now that I think about it, I like that with my HVAC guy too! My furnace went out a few months ago on a Saturday morning. I called at 7:00 am, whined that my kitties might get cold, and a guy was out by 7:30. Helped to be regular client that day! I've been lucky with my vet - the three times I wanted an appointment same day, I got one within two hours - but it is a multi-vet practice.

I agree you might want to talk to the vet about recommended protocols and which shots you may want and which you may not need. And I'm one that doesn't skip many shots and uses Revolution on indoor cats, so I'm pretty conservative.

I'm going to be fighting my vet over that Friday - well more precisely whatever tech I get. He'll back off but they're more pushy. When I told the last one that Sherman would not be getting a FeLV this time around she looked like the pooped herself and started going on a spele.


Here it's typically $35 per office visit for an adult cat, sometimes follow up visits are cheaper. Then whatever the shots cost on top of that.

Consider yourself lucky, I'll be paying around $180 or so Friday (spay, shots, urinalysis, a few c/d cans).

Talk to the vet when you go in.... may help also if you have last years receipts.. Prices here went up 5-10$ for a exam... with shots one does not charge exam fee but does a very quick eyes , ears and coat check ....

I have gotten a quote over the phone then got the exam and extras and found out the bill was way less because the receptionist added the exam fee that the vet did not charge

Take the reciepts for the office staff( be it a receptionist or a tech) if when you ask the vet he says no ... I would also ask the receptionist for the exam pricing.... Just ask the vet if he raised the prices since last year... it is a innocent question that a client is entitled to ask

I always took a paper with me of what is needed and what I did not want .... just put the shots you want down...

Forgive me for not knowing Jake's complete history (if you've mentioned his mother before), but since you've had him since he was a tiny little thing, he's neutered and not out running loose and fighting. He's unlikely to have FeLV, it happens but usually there has to be risk factors for it.
I only test because I have a multicat house hold and can't risk that coming in.

Its a bit strange and a steep increase from kitten to cat, i know our prices have stayed the same, also our vet wont give the lukemia vaccination unless its asked for and then he will ask if its an indoor or outdoor cat, if indoor he refuses if outdoor he does tend to but he told us its a risky jab (sorry for going off on a tangent there)

Geesh, maybe you need a new vet if you are afraid to ask questions. Or are you always like that...non assertive I mean in general, I mean.

I question everything my vet says and does, not because I don't trust her but because I take an active role in my cats' health care, and she knows it and appreciates it.

Make a list, ask your questions and if the vet won't answer them or blows you off, start looking elsewhere. When cats are healthy a good relationship with the vet doesn't seem that important but when they are sick, you want to know you can count on your vet to communicate with you.

$109 for a check up and vaccines sounds very high to me, but vet fees vary widely by area.

Plus, like was mentioned they may be quoting vaccines you aren't planning on getting.

Since these are Jake's first adult shots my recommendation for an indoor cat would be a three year distemper shot (also called RCCP or some variation) and a one year purevax rabies vaccine.

NO FeLV vaccine (for an indoor cat) and never EVER FIV vaccine.

utopia is a bit younger than some of us, so she's still finding her back bone. But she's better than some who never find it.


Let us know how it goes with the vet the 15th.

and I had a simliar issue with a tech... A talk with the vet about my feelings fixed it, turns out the tech had the same issues with many folks

Maude had a FeLV vaccine only twice once because she was being boarded and then when I moved Attitude and Nuts inside(they are both FeLV pos.)

I honestly would get the test though unless you know the mother(and father) were both inside only cats who were negative. Attitude's positive test took all of us(myself, the vet and the tech) by surprise, it was just a technicality since she was from outside. She had been at Paul's since she was 4 weeks old when the mothers brought them over and she had never shown any signs of being sick. Nuts has never shown any signs of being positive and neither has Attitude.

I would refuse FeLV vaccine, if he is strictly indoors and would never ever get a FIV vaccine.

When it comes time for Attitude and Nuts to get their yearly vaccines I'll ask my vet about what vaccines he thinks they need. They will never get the FIV vaccine(the vac makes them permanently test positive for FIV) and obviously the FeLV vaccine would be wasted money(they are also inside only so they wouldn't need it anyways.) If you aren't comfortable getting your vet's opinion then you might need to find a new vet. I would never let a vet or tech make me feel guilty about anything. I stood up to them(these were techs and one vet, the other 3 vets didn't voice an opinion either way and I really don't like the one vet anyways) when they came down on me for letting Attitude live outside after she came back positive. I told them we had most of the cats in the neighborhood and that everyone in the neighborhood was already positive and even if they weren't one little kitten wasn't going to change a thing when we had 4 positive adult females who roamed the neighborhood, 4 other positive kittens(I hadn't decided to adopt Nuts yet), not to mention the Siamese who I'm sure was also positive and the neighborhood tom who I'm sure was infected by mating with 5 different positive females. I also made it clear that Maude was negative and lived inside and that they weren't coming in to infect her. They also had issue with us allowing Attitude and Nuts to move in with Maude(after time and long discussions on it between Paul and I) who was FeLV negative. I didn't back down on that either, Paul was ok with it(Maude was his cat so he had to be ok with it, since she could become infected) so they had no say in it. Maude was still negative when her liver failed and she had to be put down, so in the end we were in the right, Maude was fine, her liver failing had nothing to do with Attitude, Nuts or leukemia, it was just bad luck. There was no making them happy in that situation, keeping them out they came down on me but taking them in produced the same result.

There are going to be times when you are going to have to stand up for yourself . I went to the mat with an allergist who wanted to argue with me about my son's allergies and that if he didn't test positive on a skin test there was no way he would test positive only on a blood test, among other things. In that case I was right too, he was still allergic to milk and as always he had a false negative on the skin test but was positive via blood test, hmm that is exactly what I told him would happen. My son never went back to that allergist, I refuse to use a doctor that I have to fight with over my child(human or furry) who I know a lot more about than them.

Taryn

Don't worry utopia, I was having the same issue with my vet and I've lived just down the street from him my whole life. I've finally got to the point where I research, write down and print out everything I want to know, and unless he is extremely busy he sits down and looks over everything and is much more personable than I thought.
After actually thinking about it, I never saw any of the techs or the vets but maybe once a year or even less than that sometimes, so I did NOT get to know any of them except for a quick "Hi I need this for this cat" etc. now that I've had to go in there every day for 2 weeks and see them on a weekly basis, I have actually made a couple of friends there, and they all know me, my full name, my cats names, everything he's had done. We actually know each other and I realize they're not "rude" as I judged initially .. it takes time to get to know someone you do not see on a daily basis.
Coming from someone with 27 years of fear about people being mad at her for asking questions/standing up for herself or for her cats, don't worry about that. I've found you can be firm yet pleasant and also have manners
If I wouldn't have written down a page of questions for him to read (He reads faster than I can talk, and he's a busy man) I would have never found out the range of different foods I can try on my cat, since he was only recommending the 1 food that Boo completely refused. If I would've stuck with trying that and not gone off and tried to do my own research and ask more questions of him, my cat would've starved to death by now.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. The rabies vaccine is a law here, and one time when I brought him in for a bladder infection they tried to push that on me because he was due. I told them flat out I did not have money for it (the bladder infection was going to take all of my money that time), he is an indoor cat and I know it's the law, I will do it later (I did, at another vet, and then brought them the papers to prove it)
As for pricing I've seen such variations I don't know what the norm is anymore. My vet charges $45 bucks for an exam, which involves ears, nose, mouth, weight and temperature. Anything else is extra. Another vet I went to charged me 30 dollars for seeing two cats, taking an ear mite swab, two rabies shots and a tube of ointment for their ears. I have no clue what my regular vet's shots run for, but I know 99% of the time I hear other people paying their bill, the lady always says a number over $100 (heartworm meds, grooming, etc) I've never had a tech give me a funny look or a guilty look, no doubt that would probably tick me off.
I hope you can get comfortable with your vets and techs, and if not, don't feel bad about looking for another vet. It is your money and your cat, your choice Good Luck!!!

$109 is about average here for vaccines and an office visit and most of the vets here do give a discount for kitten shots, so I wouldn't see it so much as an increase as a non discounted place.
But speak to the vet, they set the prices the staff charge you so do know about the pricing, and the techs/staff will have to get the vets ok to reduce it anyway

Just a FYI ... Most vets in a multi vet clinic do not always know pricing and will leave it to the reception desk ... I know neither vet at the multi clinic I use knows beyond the exam fee and a rabies shot ... I asked who set the prices and they use a computer program for that.. Of course I say ask as my one vet, one tech clinic they know the pricing or grab the pricing chart and tell you

I just looked back at the shots for my crew... boosters ran 36-70$

At mine they have some large sticky notes stuck next to their main computer - I can see and clearly read the one for basic livestock and dog stuff. Do you know they do mange dips for $25?

Maybe the tech just gave a basic price or rounded up. I always expect a higher price and find the actual bill to end up as much as $100 lower. So if you do plan for $100-120, have that much set aside, and it's cheaper that day than everything is covered.

Btw, when was Jake's last deworming? They might ask about that or want to do a quick fecal. Even if you keep fleas under control he could still ingest one before it dies and get tapeworms.

I agree that on a non-urgent issue, if you can write down a list of questions or topics you have questions on, and get it to the vet before the visit, I'm sure they'll appreciate it and maybe even be able to schedule a little extra time during the visit to address the issues (heck, my human doctor loves when patients can do that!)

I would suggest that quoting a source would be good - just saying "I saw it on the internet" will, I think, drive most health care professionals right up the wall, and, IMO, rightfully so! But if they know you got the data from a reputable source, then they know how to address the information.

Well, there you go. That's the extra cost right there. My vet will do both - I can get them to deworm without a fecal. If they've been on Revolution and I see a tapeworm segment there's no fecal to look for worms needed. My own vet agrees - since you usually won't find evidence of tapeworms.

And since all of mine come to me as strays, we automatically assume roundworms from environment/prey/mother and tapes since they always have fleas. So they're dewormed even if there is a negative fecal. The kittens were negative, for example, but had 'roundworm belly'.

Same with me.
Sometimes the tech prepares the vaccines, and of course I always ask what they are. Once she told me she was including Leukemia and Aids since I took Lucky and Bugsy to the garden with me. I said no, and she said yes... I said NOOO... She said yes, since they go outside and rolled her eyes . I told her I didn't mean to be rude but to please leave the room, stop arranging the vaccines as she was throwing $$$ on the trash, and I would discuss the issue with the vet.

Of course my vet agreed with me, apologized... And if the vet didn't agree with me, I would have just walked out. Nobody is going to hurt my babies under my watch.

Utopia, I just had my vaccines and annual for Hope - it cost me $77
$40 for the exam, $15 for the Purevax 4 in one RCCP, and $22 for the Purevax Rabies.

Here is my plan: I will vaccinate them with the distemper combo for the first 4 years, until the get a pretty good immune system, then I will only vaccinate for rabies. And I don't care what my vet says.

That's the spirit!

It's funny about the FeLV. My vet is just the opposite, she doesn't like to give the FeLV unless the cat is high risk, meaning, goes outside (free roaming) or in a household where cats of unkown health status are coming through (rescue/foster situations) or, of course, in a household which contains an FeLV + kitty.

Well, apparently I found a way to avoid techs or the vet trying to push for the FeLV vac - I caught them very busy today.

For Sherman today:
Wellness exam - $15.40
CVR (they don't do the other multi) - $9.90
Rabies - $12.10
So $37.40 just for that.

They were doing another urinalysis for $30, though, and they added another $20 on for Tanna's spay even though she was not in heat - so they got plenty out of me today.

$109 is very reasonable for shots and exam. I pay more than that here.

My vet only uses Purevax 1 year rabies shot and the 3 in 1 shot every three years. They do felv ONLY for outside or high risk cats. They don't even carry the FIV vaccine because they are so against it. (Because it doesn't work and is highly carcinogenic according to my vet).