vet bill. is this normal??

soulfull

soulfull

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Please don't think this is a complaint, it isn't. My vet is great but I just wonder if the following is a normal practice??

I booked an appointment a few days in advance (my vet away) as Micah had broken a tooth. So vet came rasped his teeth and took a blood sample for tape worm.

cost inc vat

visit £40
time 20mins £45
teeth £28

The rest is sedation and lab fees which is fair enough total £148.36

I just wonder if it is normal to charge 20mins time just to take a blood sample on top of call out and teeth??
 
Hmm i have never had that, just usually pay for the call out. Think i have heard of people paying a bit extra if vet was their for a very long time, but 20 minutes doesnt seem anything major. Strange. x
 
V1NN said:
Hmm i have never had that, just usually pay for the call out. Think i have heard of people paying a bit extra if vet was their for a very long time, but 20 minutes doesnt seem anything major. Strange. x
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Agree, never seen that before. I think, if I were you, just query it with your vets. It may have a perfectly normal reason - or it may not. Can only ask!
 
Just had a look at my last vet bill from when my chap broke his jaw, he had the vet out a good few times incl going down to Edinburgh and there is nowhere on my bills stating the time it took. When he was sedated and wiring removed i would of guessed the vet was here for a good hour and nope just standard call out i paid for. x
 
cool mix said:
Agree, never seen that before. I think, if I were you, just query it with your vets. It may have a perfectly normal reason - or it may not. Can only ask!
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Thanks
yeah I think it maybe because I didn't actually say it was for teeth rasp so they think he came to look at something else and did teeth while he was there, which would have been fair enough!
 
yeah our old vet did that but out of hours call out were :O she would charge £60 just for calling her out then £180 per hour ontop of everything else

our new vet is very reasonable as he just charges £35 straight weather an emergency call out or not and he doesnt charge for time either :o
 
funny enough my vets have just started charging this way.

by the 15 minutes basically, so vet comes out treating colic.. i dont have the bill any more but it reads..

call out.. 27
then all the drugs used.
then stomach tubing,
cost of stomach tube.
rectal examination.
time x amount
normally id of had an emergancy call out on top of the standard call out

vet then came out for lamness work up.

call out.
meds used (3 nerve blocks)
and hoof dug out (abcess hunting)

previousley id of got billed for a lameness examination but again i was billed on time.

(my vets have had the last cuppa out of me!)
 
jhoward said:
funny enough my vets have just started charging this way.

by the 15 minutes basically, so vet comes out treating colic.. i dont have the bill any more but it reads..

call out.. 27
then all the drugs used.
then stomach tubing,
cost of stomach tube.
rectal examination.
time x amount
normally id of had an emergancy call out on top of the standard call out

vet then came out for lamness work up.

call out.
meds used (3 nerve blocks)
and hoof dug out (abcess hunting)

previousley id of got billed for a lameness examination but again i was billed on time.

(my vets have had the last cuppa out of me!)
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Yeah me too it will cost me at least £45 if he takes 20 mins to drink it lol

I wouldn't mind but I didn't get a hug this time either LOL
 
Me, I'm just greatfully that my vets(2 at a time) come and do my mare's teeth, but no I've never had a bill qouting how many minutes they've spent on her or the others.
 
We are farmers, so I don't know if rates are different as we are business customers (same rates charged whether for farm, or our 'pets' ). £20 call out fee, (we are 5 miles from practice), thereafter they charge £70 per hour + any drugs used. So in the case of your visit:

£20 call out
20 mins time - say £25
The rasping would come in time, as no drugs or extra cost 'used'

So total would only be around £45!

HOWEVER, we are in SW Scotland, and I know from here, and chatting to others, our vet charges are a lot more reasonable than further South.

:)
 
last time one of mine needed a blood test i was charged £13 for the blood taking and then lab fees on top which were £35, never been charged anything by the hour or part hour!
 
Mine has had vet out twice for injections.

Charged for injection only as we have them out on a free zone day for non emergency stuff (no call out charge). Definitely not charged for time.
 
Ours do a "zone day" if you have them come on the day they are in "your zone", there is no call out fee, my beast is having his jabs on tuesday as that is our "zone day", it will be free call out and £32.00 for flu/tet jab.
 
yeha!

My horses 2 colics (injection nothing more!), and attempted suicide by taking out a fence (lol) came to almost £600.........

shes fine now btw.:D

so i think thats rather "cheap!"
 
Pedantic said:
Ours do a "zone day" if you have them come on the day they are in "your zone", there is no call out fee, my beast is having his jabs on tuesday as that is our "zone day", it will be free call out and £32.00 for flu/tet jab.
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Flu/tet jab up here is £20.50 (just had mine done) + call out, although got mine done when coming to farm anyway to see a cow! £32 for same injection is a rip off!!
 
I've only had a 'consultation fee' ontop of call-out when my horse had a cut which went slightly funny. They then charged for the Flamazine they gave, so they may have taken it as if you were asking them to have a look at the teeth and see if they needed doing. I would still query it though, just in case x

and I had his teeth and flu jab done, £35 each! It's free call-out on a thursday so that's perhaps how they justify charging £35 for a jab!
 
Ours is normally visit and examination fees but when my last horse had colic the vet was there hours. I got charged vist and time plus examination.
 
I don't get charged in blocks of time although occasionally I wish I did. Like the times they're here 2 minutes for example.

I still get the old fashioned

call out fee
consultation fee (if there is one and it isn't routine jabs/teeth/microchipping)
any drugs given.

Last tooth rasp I had done by the vet cost me £40. Quite a lot when the dentist came out 6 weeks later and did a much better job for £30. However, I love my vets and wouldn't change them for the world. Even if they do start charging me in 15 minute blocks. Sounds like I ought to brace myself.

(ours also do free call outs on some days and also 3 for free (ie, if you can scrape together three horses that all need stuff doing on the same day they waive the call out)
 
We get charged 40 plus vat approx plus £15 examination £15 to discuss their findings even if none and thats before getting charged for any drugs or treatments .You also get charged about £4 for disposing of syringes,charged for lungeing horse etc
God help you if you need a farrier they charge you £90 just to tell farrier whats needed.
My farrier went nuts at them for doing this with another of his clients.
They are good vets but tbh you do tend to think twice about calling out.
 
How much time was the vet there including doing teeth? I would be inclined to ring and ask what the 'teeth' fee is for if time is already being billed as what else is the teeth fee for?
 
I have two vet practices for my horses - long story which I won't go into.
The vet for the gelding is exactly a mile and a half away - they charge £38 callout, plus £36 examination fee, plus whatever needs doing. I have never had a bill from them for less than £145.

My other vet for the mare comes from 30 miles away - he charges DEFRA mileage and always just charges me a "brief examination fee" and is generally a lot cheaper than the vet which is a mile and a half away. So I now generally use him for both my horses.

I recently had my horses teeth rasped by the vet which is the one 30 miles away - mainly because he was coming to see the mare for something else. I just got charged £28 for the teeth rasping.

The above example is how vets get a bad name. If it was an emergency I would always call the nearer vet because they can get to me quicker however for anything else I use the other practice - cheaper, better service, and I never feel like I have been screwed for money, like the first vets practice. I have made it quite clear to the first practice when I went in to pay a bill that I could have got a vet from 30 miles away at half the price......I didn't get charged at all for the next callout when I needed them!
 
Query-how many of you getting charged call out fees for routine stuff such as this have the facility( i.e the vets have a facility not necc you having trailer etc.) to take the horses to the vet for the visit?(obv excluding emergencies?)
 
Our vet charges call out fee, which is split between clients if more than one having the vet.
And also exam/consultation fee..but this doesn't have a time limit..good job as our vet likes to stop and chat afterwards :rolleyes:
Then any treatment on top of that.
 
mine charge

1) call out fee (they do operate free days, but they are for routine jabs and teeth and you dont know exactly what time until the actual morning of the visit)
2) consultation fee
3) drugs/treatment charge.
 
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