Does this seem expensive to you?

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chocolategirl

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Hi, so daughters pony came in on Wednesday last week with blood stains down leg and on inspection I discovered a kick wound approx size of a 10p piece on the upper part of the inside front leg. He was very sore on it and it was slightly swollen. Don't think it had been done for long as he was only out from 7am to 1pm. So as I didn't think he was quite safe to travel up to vets which is only 10 mins from yard, I got vet straight out and he said it needed stapling. Sedation, antib's and painkillers. He came back next day took 3/4 X-rays showing no damage to bone so continue with meds, redressed the wound and said he would be back tomorrow to redress and staples would be coming out on Monday next week. I knew this wasn't going to be cheap, but was horrified to receive a bill already this morning for £645!!! This doesn't include the redressing to be done tomorrow and the staples to be taken out! I was thinking it would be realistically about £400 so far so was quite frankly close to collapse when I saw the amount racked up so far. Does anyone else think this seems a lot. I've only just paid a £600 bill for sarcoid treatment and pts of one of my old ponies so this is hard to take so soon after that and we are only 7 weeks into the year! That's over £1200 already to date. I did ring the vet to question it but he went through all the detail and said there was no mistake. Pony is fine btw! Very perky, totally sound no swelling after the first day so that's a positive at least ! Takes another glue of red wine! Purely medicinal of course!
 
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That does seem excessive; in fact over twice the amount I would have expected to pay. Have you had an itemised bill?

Very glad pony is doing well and yes, think more glugs of wine required!
 
thats shocking! i had an out of hours vet to my boy last year. he had a sedation, anasetic, stitches, antib's and it came to less than £200!
 
Yes have had an itemised bill but most of the stuff on it may as well have been written in Swahili! What did tick me off a bit was I had my own vetwrap but he said he couldn't use it as it wasn't the right type, it was NAF product so reputable make. Thing is I paid £1 a roll for that he has charged me £5 plus for his stuff! I just feel a little peeved as pony is only out with 3 others, one of which doesn't have any shoes on so you would think he would be safe. I guess not? This wine really is helping to numb my pain!
 
Sorry the wrong type of vet wrap. Surely vet wrap is vet wrap? Also what would you use if you had to bandage yourself? **BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL**

Re the items you don't understand what your paying for, speak to vet and ask them to explain. My mum did this with her old dog and she managed to get £60 taken of bill as it was just rubbish and them adding silly things on.
 
Flyermc said:
thats shocking! i had an out of hours vet to my boy last year. he had a sedation, anasetic, stitches, antib's and it came to less than £200!
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That's what I think! Glad it's not just me thinking this is a hell of a lot of money for 2 visits, not out of hours either btw, and subsequent treatment. Just trying to figure out a way to hide from OH, I'm worried he may just shoot the pony to make sure there are no further bills lol! Think it may be time to try another vet for future visits? Mine has had a hell of a lot of money off me over the years (5 horses,was 6) and I always pay on time etc. so just staring to feel a little like I'm maybe being taken for a bit of a ride. Perhaps not, but that's the way I feel right now. Maybe the wine will help me to see things a bit clearer!! LOL!
 
Seems expensive however my horse was kicked in the head requiring stapling (& probably antibiotics- can't remember!) it came to just short of £500 & that wasn't even out of hours & no X-rays etc. the vet wrap thing is strange- I would have queried that!
 
I would say that is way over the top. The problem these days is we can buy things cheaper over the internet so vets have to make their money some how.

£5 for vet wrap that is way over. Xrays may be about £200.

What was on the itemised bill
 
el_Snowflakes said:
Seems expensive however my horse was kicked in the head requiring stapling (& probably antibiotics- can't remember!) it came to just short of £500 & that wasn't even out of hours & no X-rays etc. the vet wrap thing is strange- I would have queried that!
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Hahaha we probably have the same vet!��������
 
Britestar said:
I imagine its the X-rays that have really pushed up the bill. 3-4 X-rays seems a bit ott.
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Any X-rays seems a bit OTT to me, for what sounds like a fairly minor wound, especially as the pony was sound the following day!!

OP - my vets are not the cheapest (but only a few minutes away so handy in an emergency) so I'm used to whopping bills but wow! £645 for two in-hours visits is shocking! And the vetwrap thing is nonsense. Does the vet really need to re-dress tomorrow? Can't you tell him you'll do it?

Wine definitely helps. And/or cake.
 
Gulp... £5 for a bandage... Was it interwoven with gold.... Good 2 hours work, wow... Defo take bill in and enquire about the double dutch
 
Vets fees are expensive and soon add up.
If they have given an itemized bill and all is correct then there's not much you can do..
Apart from find a cheaper vet, I've heard large animal vets, rather than equine vets are often.more reasonable, but do you want to forefiet the expertise?

Call out, x rays, stapling etc, I think you bill sounds normal and not excessive.
 
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smellsofhorse said:
Vets fees are expensive and soon add up.
If they have given an itemized bill and all is correct then there's not much you can do..
Apart from find a cheaper vet, I've heard large animal vets, rather than equine vets are often.more reasonable, but do you want to forefiet the expertise?

Call out, x rays, stapling etc, I think you bill sounds normal and not excessive.
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I guess I'm just having trouble equating what was a very small wound and not even a very lame pony, with £645 worth of treatment? I just think vet went way over the top with it. The amount of antibiotics is incredible and I know infection is a real danger but I've had horses with injuries several times in the 40 years plus I've been an owner and with cleaning and ointment no problem. The powders are sooooooo expensive? The only reason I called vet out at all was because of where it was right over a bony area otherwise I would have just treated as I usually do. Definitely going to look at moving vets ��
 
Buddy'sMum said:
Any X-rays seems a bit OTT to me, for what sounds like a fairly minor wound, especially as the pony was sound the following day!!

OP - my vets are not the cheapest (but only a few minutes away so handy in an emergency) so I'm used to whopping bills but wow! £645 for two in-hours visits is shocking! And the vetwrap thing is nonsense. Does the vet really need to re-dress tomorrow? Can't you tell him you'll do it?

Wine definitely helps. And/or cake.
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If the pony was lame and it was a kick then I would want x rays. My horse came in with a tiny kick on his radius, he was a but sore on it son was xrayed. Thank goodness he was as he had fractured it, had to immediately be splinted and cross tied.
 
I'd got to about £480 - 500 with my expectation of what it might come to with my guesstimation, definitely ouch.

(eta, oh, and I missed out the staples so I should add a bit more!)

I got a batch of £1 "vetwrap" from the poundshop, thinking you know...adhesive bandage is adhesive bandage, and it was utter crap and a waste of time (short and didn't stick very well), so maybe the vet has experienced problems with the same sort of stuff?
Actual vetwrap is a couple of quid a roll so a decent mark up on it there!
 
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I think also vets are so used to horses being insured & costs not being a problem. I always point out to attending vets mine are not insured & have found it makes them think differently on what is "essential" treatment.
Vets also mark up all items they supply - my dog is on permanent pills (rimadyl) £92 for 100 from them £ 55 delivered via internet, so a major saving even with the £ 10 prescription charge.
 
As ouch as it is I can see how it will add up.

I can imaging that if they came out to xray that will have been an extra "set up" charge.

I would be wanting to re-dress myself today and just have them back next week for staple removal.
 
WinkingWillow said:
It was £645 inc VAT. Not finished yet though. Wound was redressed today, which tbh I could easily have done myself, and staples are coming out on Monday so that will be a separate bill for those two items ��
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so tell them you are happy to re-dress it, remember though that when they re-dress it they assess the wound too.
 
So it was two separate call out....one to assess,clean the wound out staple and bandage and the second for xrays and a bandage change and recheck the next day or have I read that wrong?
What time was the first call at? out of hours calls are extremely expensive. Could be the guts of 100 there alone.
The second call out and milage for xrays the next day will likely also be added on as well....
was he sedated both times?sedation is another serious expense.
How many xrays were taken? 3 to 4 views are normal to look for bone chips properly,miss an angle on the bone surface and you can miss the chip unfortunately....but xrays are usually a hugh expense.
two wound redress' as well...Im guessing he got pain meds and antibiotics as well...It adds up.
yes thats a seriously expensive bill but Id say broken down the biggest expenses will be xrays, the outofhour's call out and the sedations...

Honestly I would faint at the thought of that bill coming through my door! Vets in the UK have quite a different level of pricing to what I am used to!But you would still be getting the guts of 400/500 euro for that here...if you could find a vet with a digital xray.

Could you bring the pony to the clinic for the redress/recheck and redress yourself at home or is he very lame?that should drop the callout and milage part of the bill down.
 
I'd definitely be getting an explanation for any items you're unsure of. I'm guessing two lots of call out and examination fees will prob be pushing at least £100, then your x-rays will likely be in the region of £200-300 depending on what they charge per plate and if they slap an interpretation fee on that, then there will be the sedation fee (x2 cos I'm guessing they sedated for his x-rays and redress as well?), fee for the staples (hey staplers cost money and are normally single use only), fee for vets time for cleaning and stapling the wound, fee for dressings and dressing materials (x2), then there's your abs and painkillers... depending on how their charges all add up and what they do and don't charge for then if they do charge for all of the above (which are just suggestions of what they MIGHT have charged for) yes I can see how your bill may have come to that. As for the vetwrap, I personally don't see why he couldn't have used your vetwrap to save some pennies as long as you had enough of it to do the job and it was in date and clean but vets can be odd sometimes (I've had a vet during an op ask for a replacement instrument cos the one in the kit was "wrong". When I asked what was wrong with it so I could make sure the problem didn't happen in future vet couldn't actually tell me!)
 
Xrays would be £100 for the first one then a tenner for each thereof, so £140, then call out charges and mileage (guess £60 in total), the dormosedan and torbugesic to sedate would be about £30, then the stitching about £50, then bandage costs about £15, were there antiobiotics they would be about £25, plus vat, so i would say about £360 total cost 2 visits. Obviously i dont know how far your vets are away from you with the mileage. Definitely question the cost of xrays.
 
Woah putasocinit! If you know a vet who could charge like that they won't stay in business long! You have left out exam fee, x rays are usually double that (and in the practices I have worked in, if we were to charge those fees they would never cover the cost of buying and maintaining the equipment) and antibiotics would be 25-50% more for 5 days - not including iv antibiotics. Staplers themselves aren't cheap and as someone said are single use. As for bandaging stapled wounds - lower limb wounds have greater skin tension therefore regardless of the type of closure, bandaging is indicated. Individual cases can be treated as necessary.

The risks with wounds over boney areas are obviously fractures, hairline fractures and sequestra - all of which generally require x rays for diagnosis. Any experienced equine vet will have come across at least one horse in their career that has been PTS following an undiagnosed hairline fracture and it is something they all want to avoid. At the end if the day, you could have refused if you so wished.
 
I never grudge a single penny I pay for veterinary treatment. It's so reassuring having these dedicated people on call 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, should we ever require them. They have studied for years to qualify and don't earn anything like as much as doctors. Vets have huge overheads to pay to run their clinics.
 
Scatterbrain said:
I never grudge a single penny I pay for veterinary treatment. It's so reassuring having these dedicated people on call 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, should we ever require them. They have studied for years to qualify and don't earn anything like as much as doctors. Vets have huge overheads to pay to run their clinics.
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You sound like the OP's vet!!
 
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