Research into vet prices - need help pls!

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packwood

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I would be very pleased if people would either post on here or pm me with what kind of prices their vet charges. Do they charge for a visit and then another charge to examine the horse? How much to inject a horse intravensously and how much for a sachet of bute. I am writing an article on vets charges and how they vary. All information greatly appreciated.
 
I have a bill from last year which had my jaw dropping. Horse had a patch on her leg that refused to heal completely after mud fever. I called the vet out (visit fee £37), she LOOKED at the leg (and I mean looked, she never even touched it it), cue another £36.50 for examination fee and then gave me a tiny tube of (human) steroid cream that was £4.90!
I have no objection to a visit fee but I do feel that should incorporate the "examination" too.

Mind you, I have seen vet's bills that charge extra for syringes and hypodermics (mine don't) . . . . . .
 
When I was time rich and money poor i used to take the pony up the road to the vets for his inoculations to save the visit fee. Now they have zone days for non-urgent appointments. You book in advance and thy plan the vets day to reduce driving and be more efficient, then they phone you with an approximate time. I think it's a great innovation.
 
My last vet bill, for a nasty overreach was £1023 - and that's just so far, I'm expecting a further one next month. I couldn't believe it!
I'll not itemise the bill but the initial visit (out of hours) was £56 and 'Equine Professional time' was £202. He was there around an hour and a half.
Although the overreach was quite nasty and needed stitches it didn't affect tendons or joints. He hasn't even been lame on it. It was just a bad cut.
Thankfully I'm insured but it's not surprising that insurance premiums are going up when they have to cover charges like this.
 
Ours charge about £35 plus vat to come out then about £30 odd for a first examination/treatment.
After that subsequent visits may come under a reexam which is about £20 and I once saw a brief exam on my bill which was £10 ish.

Out of hours call out is double so it costs about £100 just to get them out and look.

This would include injecting and treatment but not the contents of an injection.

Then treatment wise they charge for everything, not just bute or other medication but cotton wool, distilled water for flushing out wounds and duct tape when a vet bandaged a foot.
 
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Thank you all - keep them coming. Blimey Badgerdog, I should think you are glad to be insured. With premiums so high I bet lots of [people (including myself it has to be said) are taking the risk of not insuring for vets fees.
 
i wont put everything on my bill as it £1746.63 and there is a lot on it this is about 3 years ago but here we go

to remove a shoe cost £7.48
30 acp tablets -£7.94
with a £2.88 dispensing fee - WTF?
she then charged me for visit c (3rd visit 2 times?) but they were £40.25 each
to remove the plaster cast cost £38.78
to check the wound cost - £16.20 - just a quick glance
to examine, dress and bandage was £77.62
domidine (anti biotic injection) - £10.86 per day
to check the dressing just looking at it- £29.38
nerve block - £41.12
change bandage and dress wound etc again- £79.31 (i dont know why its different)

other then below these were the general things other then a lot of medicines and tape and crap every day for 3 weeks :o and then he had it once a week for 6 months

this is only a 3rd of my bill at £1746.63 :(

out of hours emergency call out - £52.88
time - £176.25 for 1 hour 25 mins
 
Thank you to all contributors. Keep your messages coming! It seems that therre is no control over what vets charge and absolutely no similarlity over different vets charges for the same thing. Its turning out to be a very interesting subject!
 
I shop around... Flu & tet this time was £38.50 with a joint call out (so only paid half of the call out fee). Our local vets also do a 'free' call out day... but after phoning around I found it cheaper to go elsewhere if you do pair up as the costs are higher to cover the 'free' part!
I know a pratice that you can take your horse to for jabs and check ups and they only charge for the cost of the drugs (the cheapest I found too) and a £12 charge for any examination (even if you have 2 horses) but unfortunately for me they are over 2 hours away :(
 
I don't even look at my vets bill anymore, I just keep sending them money!!!
WIll check what sort of charges are involved, but I know the blood tests get broken down to show charges for each individual part
Call Out, Taking the blood, packaging the blood to send away, lab fee, analysing the results, think it comes to just over £100 for each blood test (she's got cushings so has had 6/7 tests in the last 13mnths!!!!).
Pergolide was £150 for 100 tablets, after 1st batch they did advise that they could offer a prescription and I could get it at a pharmacy (now £66.90 from Tesco), they do charge £10 for the script but still much cheaper.
My friends bill is much higher but she has had horses go in overnight to the hospital and the livery charges per day are very high, but then again there is a nurse there all night and they are monitored closely.
My painkillers were quite high, but they advised it wasn't danilon because of the cushings induced laminitus it reacted better to these painkillers (can't remember what they were called, black and white packet rather than green danilon)
 
We have free call out on a certain day of the week.
Annual boosters are £32.00
Sedaline is £18.00

That's all I know off the top of my head, which is silly because I've had lots of bills recently!
 
packwood said:
Thank you all - keep them coming. Blimey Badgerdog, I should think you are glad to be insured. With premiums so high I bet lots of [people (including myself it has to be said) are taking the risk of not insuring for vets fees.
Click to expand...

The maddening thing is, that a fortnight before his injury I put up the excess from £125 to £275.
I can't believe how much vet fees have gone up. I wasn't expecting the bill to be more than £500 and even that would have been outrageous for a cut! The bill was three pages long and seemed to consist mostly of bandages! One of them was £10.55!

I wouldn't dare not have my horse insured for vet bills. I have the value of my horse insured for a low pric, and pay a high excess which reduces my monthly payments. I only pay £22 a month.
 
I have a really good vet. He came to deal with a nasty cut on the inside of the cannon bone done at the weekend. The bill:
visit £28.80
out of hours £24
Examination £18
10 sachets of antibiotic £40.50
1 antibiotic injection £3.40

the total was £114 for weekend visit and I live about 10 miles away. I think I'm staying with him!! My horse is also insured but this was way less than the excess
 
A visit to confirm laminitis was about £120
Vet was there for roughly an hour, tested feet, watched pony stumble around, worked out which feet the laminitis was in, asked about her management, offered advice and left 20 bute and a tube of sedaline gel.

Pretty good value but still .. i was very poor for the rest of the month :p
 
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