Dog vet more expensive than horse vet - how/why?

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horsemad32

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Last month, two of my horses had a kicking match. Result: one inch wide chunk of skin missing, vet job with two call-outs, and IV injections, sedation, antibiotics etc etc. Cost? £107

So today my rather small terrier got herself a very similar injury from some brambles (full skin thickness so needed attention). Cost? £150. Um - how does that work? And they've given her enough sedation to sink a ship - an hour and a half after she was stitched up, she's still seriously out of it!
 
I could never fathom that out either, horse vet comes 15 miles antibotics given, dog taken to the surgery in normal surgery hours and it was almost double. Did query with the dog vet and they said antibotics were expensive so I said there is no way the dog has had more than the horse, they then replied they had to employ receptionist, maintain surgery etc Im thinking wtf do I look like Ive just got off the boat.

Sorry its just a pet hate of mine.:mad:
 
Its the overhead costs of running a hospital mostly

For example a digital xray unit cost 60,000 plus pounds to buy.It still has to be serviced ever year by a a trained engineer from that company. around 3000 or so a year maybe more.Most likely will need replacing after 10 years.
It has to be kept in a radiation proofed room so kitted out with barium or lead walls.Everyone who is involved in its use has to be trained to a certain level.Though at least the digital doesnt need a dark room as well to develop xrays.
Thats on piece of equipment,then theres the ultrasounds, the anesthetic machines and monitors.All had to be bought none cheap and all need servicing to pass the legal requirements.
Each hospital will have at least one surgical room and a prep area.Some have labs included.Plus kennels and cattery-and exercising runs,and isolation areas so theres a lot more space out the back then you would think.

The hospital has to be heated and have electricity.There needs to be back up generators in case of powercuts-powercut plus surgery=disaster.The whole building also needs to be kept clean and sanitized to a hospital level,the cleaning, then theres the computer systems and services,the Administration.INSURANCE!you do have to be covered for a several million as a vet hospital-plus your working with the public,unpredictable animals as well as dangerous drugs,...its a hugh risk for any insurance company to take on.
All costs that are factored into the bottom line as well as wages.

Each person who works in the hospital has a salary.The cleaner's,the receptionists,the kennel staff, the vet nurses,the vets.If you dont pay a decent salary how do you keep good staff?people have to get paid.

Then drugs,yes there is a mark up on drugs.They also have to be kept in a specific manner as well and every ml of use recorded.Small animal drugs ARE more expensive than large animal.There are restrictions on the use of drugs in large animals so theres less variety and new drugs.The longer a drug has been around the cheaper they tent to be.
Take flunixin (finadyne) its half the price maybe more of meloxicam (metacam). Theres a triple digit differences in the difference of using meloxicam instead of flunixin in a horse.In dogs the difference isn't as big an issue as they dont weigh as much.So using the newer safer drug is an option and the advances move quicker. Cost is an issue but not to the same degree as in large animal so newer safer drugs are available in small animal compared to large.But they are more expensive.

Vet hospitals are business's they dont charge enough they will go out of business.

The equine vets on the road tend to have less overhead costs.The practice sizes tend to be smaller with less staff.There are differences in wages between large and small animal vets as well.Small in general tend to get paid better.
 
Because dog vets drive posher cars than horse vets :D

I have a friend who was one of the country's early equine specialists. He decided he wanted to earn more money and even though he opened a small animal practice in the middle of a low-income social housing area he made such a mint he was able to put a manager in and go and live abroad.
 
Will just add in a random fact that I had to have root canal last week, one tooth, in room for 30 min, cost £570:(
go figure :confused:
 
always wondered that with the cat!

Aru my horse vets have a hospital too which is much bigger than the small animal one and with more equipment. Fewer staff per vet (if that makes sense) than the larger small animal hospitals I have known though I suppose.
 
As someone else said, the horse practice I use has a full hospital, high tech equipment, a team of receptionists (vs the dog vet's 2), several vet nurses (about same as dog vet), bigger premises, parking etc - plus they have to equip every one of their numerous vets with a car each and pay diesel - so it's not overheads.

I do find the dog vets a bit over the top though - vaccination includes a compulsory 'health check' which is just rotation of limbs to look for pain, eye check and teeth (takes about 2min) and thus the whole thing costs £90! Horse vet checks temp and heart beat for abnormalities then jabs with much more serum - £40! Dog vets insist on follow-up appointments to see if things are healing well after the most minor thing - horse vets say 'call us if there's a problem'. Horse vets get you to hold the horse while it's stitched up and give only as much sedation as needed - dog vets take your dog away to another room and give it so much sedation it's still zonked 6 hours later!
 
I queried why it cost more to pts a 15kg dog than it cost me to have a 200kg pony pts, including call-out (out of hours), vet just laughed. I was charged £19 to have a hamster pts, the day after being charged £21 to rehydrate said hamster.
 
My vets are the exception then!! They are wayyyy cheaper than my horse vet. As an eg I took middle Stafford back for a second check up on his eye ( it had suddenly become very bloodshot)... No charge for second check..

And my annual vaccinations for 3 plus general MOT. Thryroid medicine for eldest dog..£179.00

No I don't live in the middle of nowhere. This is Brelades in Dorking (Surrey!)
 
It cost £30.00 to put my hamster to sleep! It is also more expensive to insure my JRT than my horse! - Annual jabs are also more expensive. Seems quite ridiculous.
 
def more expensive (and I also have the same practise for horse and dog)

A weeks worth of antibiotics for my dog was £50!!!!!! (that does not include consultation which was £20). Horse anti b's are not nearly so expensive!
 
I have the same practice for both, and have never actually noticed any obvious difference in charges. Maybe because I have never had comparative treatments, I don't count vaccinations as dogs and horses are vaccinated against totally different things with different drugs.
Horsemad, £90 for vacc and health check is crazy, ours give a free health check at the time of vaccs, I think the cost is around £30.
 
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