daylight robbery...by my vets !

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mrussell

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Just received a bill for 4 flu innocs, 100 bute and a box of 10 Norodine sachets. £265 !!

Of that, the visit and innocs make £151. Ouch

But the biggest ouch of all is the 100 bute !! £91.78 !! and the Norodine was £30.60. Thats 1.5 times the cost from an online drug company. Why do they need to have such a huge markup ? They are repeat prescriptions so no diagnosis required... }=0[

Moan over...
 
Oh yes, I had to have my 100 bute posted - cheaper than a visit but still left me with £90 odd quid bill. It usually gets muddled up with other random call outs etc but this is the first time that i have fully apid up my bill and only had the bute. Shocking.
 
I posted a while back about the escalating costs of Products bought directly from Vets.
The general feeling from people on here was if you moan about Vet costs you shouldnt have a horse.

What i find odd is that 99% of people shop around & query costs on all different types of products yet when it comes to questioning Vet costs it's not a done thing.:confused:

BTW OP i think £91.78 for 100 bute is not bad i can well out do you with that price from my vets.:p
 
dressagecrazy said:
I posted a while back about the escalating costs of Products bought directly from Vets.
The general feeling from people on here was if you moan about Vet costs you shouldnt have a horse.
Click to expand...

I'm not afraid to be told I shouldnt have a horse ;0) I think the same thing everyday when Im struggling to walk the little dears across muddy fields just so they can knock me over in the gateway !
 
TBH I'm not overly surprised at that figure, doesn't seem massively excessive.
Regarding buying drugs from online pharmacies, just ask your vet for a repeat prescription and buy elsewhere.

I actually find equine charges relatively cheap compared to small animal charges!
I paid £150 for 2 cats and 1 dog annual check up and vaccinations the other day. I took the blumming animals to them and all 3 shared 1 appointment!!!
 
ihatework said:
TBH I'm not overly surprised at that figure, doesn't seem massively excessive.
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which figure ? Im happy to pay call out and innocs but its the "buy one, and pay for half of another" deal on the bute and Norodine Im not happy about.

Serves me right for being lazy and just nabbing from the vet when he came out to do the innocs. Next time I'll buy online.
 
TBH that's about what I'd be expecting to pay my vets for that.

last time I bought a big box of bute it was around £90 odd and that was a while ago.

Vacc £27.75 each + VAT plus call out £25.25 + VAT = £160 for that bit (based on a Sept bill I had)

And I agree about small animal charges too. The 2 cats vaccinations were more expensive each than the horse!!!!
 
Seem to be around what ours charge.
Echo what the others say about the small animal costs! It cost me more to get my cat innoculated (I took him to the vets - no visit!!) than it did for the visit, natter and jabs for my mare. That can't be right? I couldn't believe it, but it seems to be the norm!
 
Confused.com - are there different strangths of Bute? I have a running 'order' for my chap from a very well known reputable equine vet, and it's £49 a box of 100 sachets... and thats been the same for a year or so... :confused: so if the OP's vet is marking up to that extent... horrific!
 
You can just buy online with a prescription as others have said. Small animal costs are horrific, out poor old puss needed PTS, the charge for the drugs was £65, was only £115 for my pony!!!!! They "kindly" let us off the £95 out of hours charge as poor puss was unconcious already & so the vet didn't even get her stethoscope out, so the whole thing took less than 5 minutes total, including paying the bill. Nice work if you can get it...
 
Sparkle14Tobin said:
Confused.com - are there different strangths of Bute? I have a running 'order' for my chap from a very well known reputable equine vet, and it's £49 a box of 100 sachets... and thats been the same for a year or so... :confused: so if the OP's vet is marking up to that extent... horrific!
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What what what????? Who and where??????
 
I don't get mine cheaper online as I feel I have quite a good relationship with my vet. I just didn;t realise the cost of my 100 bute every three months! Usually becuase its disguised amongt the general bill (theres usually a running bill.......)

Also, the vet has to have seen your horse within the last 6 months to give bute so you would have to have a 6 monthly call out in any case - so it wouldn;t really be worth the bother.
 
I've got to stick up for my vets who are rather reasonable compared to others... but then it does help being married to a farmer whose business they are far more interested in! tt really wouldn't do for them to lose the farm work over a couple of horses so I always get a pleasant surprise (or as pleasant a surprise as one can get when opening a vets' bill!).

There is the odd (rare) perk to being a farmer's wife I guess...! :D
 
I know one practice that routinely puts drug prices up by 1 - 2% each month, more if they can get away with it. For £23 I got 12 x vetwrap substitute, 10 x nursing bandages, 12 x Melolin gauzes and 5 Intrasite but I'm not telling you where except to say they are from a totally honest source! Oh and a box (10) of Trimed for £15. Wouldn't like the bill for that lot from the vets though.
 
The problem is vets are sold these drugs and bandage materials at a much higher price than the internet companies as they have to buy in smaller numbers. There is no way most practices can ompete with such companies - much as they'd like to. There is also a difference (and in some cases) a big one! between what different practices pay for drugs. Most practices do not have anywhere near the "markup" you perceive!
 
For all those complaining about drug costs (especially on repeat prescriptions), my advise it to go online and find out how much you can get the drugs for, then approach your vet for a prescription (most charge £10-£15 for one), some may well fine that at that point your vet offers to match the online price you have found.;)
 
Even here in NZ it's cheaper to have my horse treated than my cat! Fortunately all are healthy individuals so not had to visit either for a long time.

My horse dentist is far cheaper than my own - and he has the risk of being squashed, jumped on or kicked - I haven't bitten my dentist for ages! She has lots of ponies and a flash truck so we know how she got those!
 
dressagecrazy said:
I posted a while back about the escalating costs of Products bought directly from Vets.
The general feeling from people on here was if you moan about Vet costs you shouldnt have a horse.

What i find odd is that 99% of people shop around & query costs on all different types of products yet when it comes to questioning Vet costs it's not a done thing.:confused:

BTW OP i think £91.78 for 100 bute is not bad i can well out do you with that price from my vets.:p
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Questioning Vet costs is not a done thing??
Believe me it is - daily............
 
ladybird82 said:
did that price include (i hate this word ) disposal i have just had my aged cat pts and the bill came to £23 but i brought him home to bury him
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No, we brought her home to be laid to rest in the garden, so was purely for the drugs, vet never even got her stethoscope out! No need as Annie was already unconcious.
 
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