ok why are small animal vets so much more expensive than horse?

cobgoblin said:
And this action is the one that ensures many people do not replace their pets.
Just about everyone I know has been stung this way, only one has replaced their dog, those that still have small pets are saying 'no more' or have already given up after keeping dogs all their life.
Hardly a good strategy to reduce one's customer base.
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I agree-I was not saying it was good practice, it is however common in the companies that offer really cheap routine work like the one in the quote I was replying to.
Everything has gone up in price and many people are saying they cannot afford to run a second car or another luxury, pets are a luxury not a right and if people cannot afford them or do not want to sacrifice something else in order to have then they don't have them. I don't expect professionals to reduce there wage in order to allow me to keep more of mine or to have a luxury. Vets come out of university with massive debt and on average earn 27k per year (to start), there are less and less partnerships as the corperate companies move in, it is a massively stressful job and in order to continue to practice they have top up their training continuously.
people can bring a dog that is not registered (owners not registered either) in that has been hit by a car and that dog can be examined by a vet, treated by vets and nurses and x-rayed and on the operating table (if needed) within 40 mins and yet still quibble about the price-regardless of cost that would not be avaliable to a human, and then people say vets are just in it for the money.
I have just rehomed a dog signed over to the vets-the dog presented with advanced mastitis (it involved both back legs), the owner did not want to pay for treatment and was offered the opportunity to sign her over and she be treated and rehomed, the dog was on a drip for three days, meds for 8 weeks, in the surgery for 3 weeks and with me for 3 months, vaccinated, food supplied and she will be speyed all at the vets cost-but money grabbers are they?-don't care about the animals, don't they?
I would love for many of you to spend a month working with the vets and see the stress, worry and tears that are shed for clients and their animals.
 
twiggy2 said:
I would love for many of you to spend a month working with the vets and see the stress, worry and tears that are shed for clients and their animals.
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I did, worked for small animal and equine vets throughout the 90s-I also saw how much debt they carried back in the day when you could still have accounts for SAs and insurance wasn't the norm. Worked with and for some lovely people and certainly purely business minded vets were few.


as for vet earnings-maybe we need less of them to qualify, rather than keep opening new vet schools. The more new grads there are, the less they'll earn.
 
maybe, trouble is they are huge money earner. I know that its an expensive course to run but there's no way Nottingham or Surrey would come about if there wasn't money to be made. Twenty odd years ago we were short of vets-hence my then OH getting consecutive work visas! But the industry has changed, more female grads, more dropping out of the industry or going part-time to have kids etc
 
MotherOfChickens said:
maybe, trouble is they are huge money earner. I know that its an expensive course to run but there's no way Nottingham or Surrey would come about if there wasn't money to be made. Twenty odd years ago we were short of vets-hence my then OH getting consecutive work visas! But the industry has changed, more female grads, more dropping out of the industry or going part-time to have kids etc
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on average vet now only practices for 4-6 years as a vet according to a study my equine vet was talking about a few months ago!!
many go into work as a rep for the drug companies as the work is less stressful, regular hours and better pay.
 
or they go into research-we have a fair few at work. Equine is especially difficult to get in to-there are apparently grads looking to work as equine nurses, to then go in as interns. So that's a pretty poor wage for two/three years before getting an associate's wage plus being worked like a dog (as an equine hospital intern).
 
twiggy2 said:
many vets offer low prices on routine work in order to try and gain client loyalty (we get trained on it) then sting you when your animal is sick and you don't have the time or the emotional stability to shop around.
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I kind of agree with this, when my dog was at the emergency vets earlier this year an overnight stay and 1 set of x-rays cost me £400. On the bill there were loads of drugs that she had allegedly had in the time she was there and no-one explained what they were for (which I would have really appreciated) but I was just so relieved she was okay that I paid it and didn't query it.
 
Our equine vets are "mobile" although given I've paid them 2.5k in the last 4 months, with more to come, my small animal vet comes in a lot cheaper! My vet in Wales did all animals, and would treat strays and wildlife for just the cost of the drugs...operations, spays, the lot.
 
I have a lovely small animal Vet and an equally lovely equine veterinary practice.
My small animal Vet is way cheaper than my equine Vet. When our dog had an attack of Colitis he was prescribed probiotics and antibiotics. He had an allergic reaction that night. I called my Vet the next morning and he said he would change the antibiotics but would like to check the dog over first. I took our dog back and not only did he not charge me an examination fee despite examining him again "I examined him throughly yesterday so I'm not going to charge you again today for taking a quick look over him" were his words! He then charged me only the difference between the first course of antibiotics and the second and asked me to drop those first prescribed in next time I was passing. The whole visit cost me £3.50 - I was stunned at his generosity to be honest!!
 
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