following on from Vets post

Bettyboo1976

Bettyboo1976

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Just wondering why do vets charge for an examination and call out.. Surley if you call them out then obvioulsy (sp?) they would have to examine the animal, also why do they charge the earth for things like vetwrap (my last vet bill had 1x vet wrap £7.50, then they charged to put it on.. ) when you can buy it for what £2.50 seems a little excessive .. so all you vets out there.. come on explain yourself!...

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please dont have a go at me.. i'm just being curious
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Regarding the call out and exam..... I suppose they have to devide it as you could in some cases take the horse to them.... then no call out fee would be necessary.

I have been charged on these occasions though, and its listed as admission to the hospital!!!!! all he did was stand in an empty box and have an x-ray........ they can come to me next time as it was more expensive than the call out fee!!!

Havent a clue about the profit on the bandages etc..... I will try to supply my own in future!!
 
Having looked at my most recent vets bill. £180 for digital x ray set up and interpretation. But to be fair the vet was there for over 2 hours. I think the bill for that visit was about £500 in total inc call out. £30 for 11 miles!!. 10 xrays, sedation and £5 for CD/email of xrays
 
If there is more than one horse to examine it would be harder to work out
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Also they can charge more if they do it like this cos it breaks it up a bit
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Re vetwraps - didn't you know the ones the vets use are gold leaf????
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Though it would appear from some of these posts that some vets fees are excessive, I think what we have to remember is that we are paying for expertise, and vets do have to earn a living. As I understand it call out covers travelling costs, vehicle running costs etc, and examination fee is just that. My vet will ask if I have any vetwrap etc before he supplies it, and I know from experience that drugs like pergolide cost the vets more to buy in than I pay at the chemists. Will be interested to see if any vets do answer this post.
 
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Though it would appear from some of these posts that some vets fees are excessive, I think what we have to remember is that we are paying for expertise, and vets do have to earn a living. As I understand it call out covers travelling costs, vehicle running costs etc, and examination fee is just that. My vet will ask if I have any vetwrap etc before he supplies it, and I know from experience that drugs like pergolide cost the vets more to buy in than I pay at the chemists. Will be interested to see if any vets do answer this post.

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True....but I also thing that some people may be put off calling the vet out as it costs sooooo much, when it may be in the horses best interest to see the vet.
 
I'm not having a go at vets earning a living, as we all have to do that.. however I think its unfair that they seem to "overcharge" on certain things.

it almost makes it laughable when you can buy certain products over the counter (companies tend to mark up to get a profit of around 40-60% ) but the vets seem to mark it up even more than that! (not all.. there are some fantastic vets out there) I just hate being taken advantage of for having a horse.

Its also products in general ie you can buy cider vinegar (sp?) cheaper in tesco than you can at feed merchant normally,(it think ) basically people think oooh horse.. then slap more money on it...

I know we all need the vet at some point.. its a service we all have to pay for and will always pay for.

dont get me wrong.. the whole post was just to hear a general opinion of peoples thoughts etc.. just thought it would make an interesting topic.. I hope it doesnt offend any vets out there and if it does i appologise its wasnt meant to as i thing you all do a fantastic job in keeping our pets /horses going.
 
Challenge your vet on the costs of drugs if you are not happy. My local vet charged me £39 inc vat for a box of Danilon. Another local vet charges £54 for the same box. I found it on the web for £25 so I told both vets - the first has agreed to supply it at £25 and the other has reduced their price to £35.

I never query the vets call out and examination charges - except in one instance where the vet who came out was truly useless and I had to do the diagnosis and request the treatment and drugs - but I complained to her boss and refused to pay for her expertise as she had not provided any.
 
I agree that some things ( such as bandages ) are far more expensive from the vets than you can buy yourself. Bear in mind though that larger companies can buy in things much cheaper than small ones. As an example, I work in a shop that sells gents clothing (lots of inside leg measuring
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). Big stores like matalan are selling certain brands we stock at less than we can buy in from the manufacturers
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Nothing we can do about it, the big companies just have so much more power.
ETS. I realise you aren't trying to get at vets, it will be quite interesting to see if any vets do reply, and also to see what vets in different areas charge.
 
Not a vet, just living with one...

As Murphy's Minder said, purchasing power makes a big difference. Vet practices will buy far less vetwrap than a large chain of suppliers, so they will be charged more by the makers. I think some vets in an area may form a co-operative for buying drugs, but they are still relatively small, particularly for dressings - I think that the "at cost" price for staff is generally higher than buying from a big chain!

As for call out charges, petrol prices are high, wear and tear on the car is high (drives, rural single track roads, yards down tracks etc) and the time the vet spends driving to the call is time he can't use for anything else. The examination charge pays for the vet's time at the call. Solicitors, Doctors, Accountants etc all charge more for their time than a vet does, with far lower overheads (no x-ray machines, scanners, operating theatres, consulting rooms). The mark up on drugs effectively means that the call out charge is less.

The other issue is that in the UK we are used to the NHS with free GP care, free treatment in NHS hospitals and subsidised prescription charges. Some drugs are cheaper than others, the cheap drugs subsidise the more expensive ones, and hides the differences. A prescription for basic antibiotics cost the same as a prescription for the newest drugs!

Small animal practice is much more lucrative than large animal practice - the vet sits in the consulting room, and there is little or no dead time, they are either consulting or operating. With most large animal/equine practices it can take up to 2 hours to get from 1 side of the practice area to the other. Obviously most calls aren't this far but assuming 10 calls/day, even 15 minutes between calls (more if there are tractors/tourists driving slowly and being unable to reverse to passing points) is more than 2 hours of non-chargeable time per day.

Vets aren't paid much, when training is taken into account, far less than doctors, whose training is most equivalent. Also less than accountants, lawyers, and other professionals. They take more risks, an accountant's client is unlikely to try and bite or kick him.
 
i'm a small animal vet and still dont earn much because overheads are huge running a big hospital like ours. equine vets often dont have so many overheads in terms of their buildings, but have to run their cars and waste half their day just driving.

there needs to be a call-out fee so that it can be shared if going to see more than one horse, or waived if horse is taken to the vet instead. the exam fee is normally the same as what i charge for a small animal consult (£27.61 for 10mins at my practice) - in reality, you normally get a lot longer than 10mins in a horse consult so they work out very good value for money. this is often why bandages and drugs etc have a big mark-up - vets have a long history of under-charging for their services and over-charging for consumables. in reality, this normally works out in your favour. if you ask a solictor for their hourly rate and compare it to a vet, you're getting a very good deal!
 
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