Vet bill

My husband was on antibiotics for 14 days consecutively recently for cellulitis - 7 days by IV as an emergency admission hospital inpatient followed by 7 days oral abs at home. The additional 7 day home oral course was confirmed as a wise course of action by consultant surgeon brother.

The original injury was teeny, probably caused by a thorn when cutting the hedge.

You (human or horse), really really don’t want cellulitis. Don’t cut short antibiotic courses or jump to non prescribed cheapies such manuka honey when it is not appropriate, just to try to save money.
 
A few years back my mare got a small cut on her leg. The vet prescribed antibiotics and stated how much to give and how often.
When going to give her the first dose I checked the instructions on the packet which were different to what the vet said.
I thought I’d mis- remembered and followed the packet instructions.
When speaking to the vet a few days later he checked whether I needed more ABs , I said I had plenty left. He was confused and explained that he’d intentionally put my mare on a heavy dose to hit the infection hard.
Note to self, if unsure about dose, check again with the vet.
 
I must admit I cannot believe the cost for antibiotics these days! Our Friesian has just had a two week course of Trimethoprim and it was about £250 for the antibiotics. Not including examination, skin scrape and now he is having to have steroids. Examination and skin scrape was £300 on top!
 
Landcruiser said:
200% mark up you say. What was the cost price to them, including admin time? Because if you don't know that, you can't know the mark up.
And it's not an old chestnut. Vets are legally obliged to order from their designated supplier, and can only hold or order tiny quantities, comparatively. Online warehouses can hold vast quantities and don't have the overheads that vet practices do.
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But theres still admin time for online drugs and pretty huge costs in running a warehouse? And everyone knows why they are more expensive, but a 200% markup is excessive whatever way you do the math.

I've never vet bashed in my life, but there has been a significant change and it ties in with huge companies buying out independent practices. Maybe its just a coincidence. How is it Northern Ireland seems to be a third of the cost? Do they not abide by the same legislation? I see a lot of posts from people moaning about vets, and posts from vets and associated staff explaining but it doesnt seem to make sense and I can see why people are upset.
 
The prices from the online pharmacies are often cheaper than the vet wholesalers, so no your vet isn't marking the meds up 200%. They are also legally bound to source their drugs from authorised veterinary wholesalers so can't shop around like their clients can to the same extent.
 
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And literally no one except the vet practice themselves can tell you what the markup is. A client has no way of knowing whether the markup was 2% or 200% (and my guess is it is neither of those, but somewhere in between) because you can only calculate markup if you know the cost price the practice paid for the drug. Hell, even when I was running my own practice I couldn't always have easily told you the net:net purchase price of an individual drug by the time drug company/wholesaler discounts were applied and whatever extra I got from being a member of a buying group. Wholesaler list price is rarely what the practice has actually paid.
 
druid said:
The prices from the online pharmacies are often cheaper than the vet wholesalers, so not your vet isn't marking the meds up 200%. They are also legally bound to source their drugs from authorised veterinary wholesalers so can't shop around like their clients can to the same extent.
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I can certainly vouch for this . My daughter works in an equine hospital. Her retired pony lives with me , she gives me a prescription for medication and I buy it online as I can get it cheaper than the hospital buys it in .
 
colourville 17 said:
The vet was going to post out a second tub of antibiotics as he only had one on him. The swelling has already came down so thinking maybe I could cancel that an finish of treatment with honey that I have literally jst ordered lol x
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Just re-enforcing this for anyone who stumbles on this thread in the future:
ALWAYS FINISH THE PRESCRIBED COURSE OF ANTIBIOTICS.
That goes for animals and people.
Just because the symptoms have started to get better, doesn't mean all of the bacteria you're trying to fight has been killed off.
Stopping a course of antibiotics early without express instruction by your GP/Vet only contributes to those remaining bacteria becoming resistant.

You can read more on antibiotic resistance here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/antibiotics/antibiotic-antimicrobial-resistance/
Or more in depth here: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
 
colourville 17 said:
The vet was going to post out a second tub of antibiotics as he only had one on him. The swelling has already came down so thinking maybe I could cancel that an finish of treatment with honey that I have literally jst ordered lol x
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No. Just no.

You need to understand why the vet prescribed a longer course than normal.

Ask him.
.
 
Gamebird said:
And literally no one except the vet practice themselves can tell you what the markup is. A client has no way of knowing whether the markup was 2% or 200% (and my guess is it is neither of those, but somewhere in between) because you can only calculate markup if you know the cost price the practice paid for the drug. Hell, even when I was running my own practice I couldn't always have easily told you the net:net purchase price of an individual drug by the time drug company/wholesaler discounts were applied and whatever extra I got from being a member of a buying group. Wholesaler list price is rarely what the practice has actually paid.
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I'm pretty sure they didnt mean mark up, but an increase in price of 200%.
 
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