Vet cost rant

[silkieluver_07]

Quote:
Thanks Steph

I'll be sure to do that. I've had a horrible week so far. I know vets gotta pay bills/expenses/etc. but a roll of wrap should not cost me$11 and the pills $6 when I could go online for $1 a pill. I was only asking abbout a possible refund on the pills, nothing else.

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
your right and there is no regulation on how much the vet supply companies charge for their products so it a tricke down effect.
make sure if your treating for tapeworms that you look for and treat for fleas or you may be treating for tapes again and that aint cheap.
only treat those that you are seeing tapeworms from to save yourself from treating those that are not infected. (tapes come from eating fleas, rabbits, mice and they are passed directly from animal to animal)

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
Thanks Steph

I'll be sure to do that. I've had a horrible week so far. I know vets gotta pay bills/expenses/etc. but a roll of wrap should not cost me$11 and the pills $6 when I could go online for $1 a pill. I was only asking abbout a possible refund on the pills, nothing else.

you can buy the pills online for $1 a pill but did you figure in your shipping /handling cost and the waiting for meds?? you can try the farm and feed store, sometimes they have a large animal equivient but make sure you get your dosage right or you may just kill instead of cure.

 

[silkieluver_07]

Quote:
Thanks Steph

I'll be sure to do that. I've had a horrible week so far. I know vets gotta pay bills/expenses/etc. but a roll of wrap should not cost me$11 and the pills $6 when I could go online for $1 a pill. I was only asking abbout a possible refund on the pills, nothing else.

you can buy the pills online for $1 a pill but did you figure in your shipping /handling cost and the waiting for meds?? you can try the farm and feed store, sometimes they have a large animal equivient but make sure you get your dosage right or you may just kill instead of cure.

Well we had some from a previous pet and the dosage was the same. I just needed two pills and I guess I paid for the convenience of just buying two.

 

[parkersmom120106]

I guess I'm lucky that my best friend is a vet tech and the vet she works for loves her. I always get deals when I take my animals there and she helps me treat minor ailments at home (ex: ivermectin shots for a rabbit with mange/mites on his nose and around his eyes).
This vet is already the cheapest around. He must make his money on volume because there's always a wait (walk ins only) and he certainly isn't gouging anyone. (dog with abcessed tooth..dental, pulled 2 teeth, yearly shots/3 year rabies and antibiotics $150 and I paid regular price for that). Especially if he hooks very many people up the way he hooks me up lol.

For my goats/horses that I don't currently have anymore I use a local large animal vet who's very reasonable and works with his clients. I'm pretty sure it's the same doc that chickenzoo mentioned in her old post for 2008. He charges $35 to come out but will split it with neighbors. I had a checkup on a rescue horse I had and split the visit with my neighbors who were having their goats looked at. He also encouraged me to bring my animals to his home when I could and not pay the call fee...i did this with my horse when she got a caslicks operation ($100) and my baby goats for disbudding ($20 a goat included sedation and tetnus shot..did them the same day I called, just said "I'm at home, bring em over). He also treats small animals (though I don't know that he does surgery on them since he doesn't have an office, he's just a mobile vet).

My vet tech friend also taught me a way to save money on advantage. I am not advocating that anyone do this without looking into it first, but it worked for me and none of my animals had adverse reactions. I went in to buy 2 tubes of advantage for my 6lb dog and 12lb dog. It was going to be like $22...she said "No, you'll get 1 big tube" (about 16-18 dollars) and then gave me a blood vial and a syringe and wrote down how many cc's for each dog. It was enough to do both dogs for 2 months and I actually didn't pay for the advantage because she had some at home that she gave me. The next time I did it, 1 big tube was enough to do 3 small dogs (6lbs, 12lbs, 30lbs) and 2 cats. I was nervous about using it on the cats, but she said it was safe and the cats were fine and it was effective (fleas were gone in 1 day, even the ones in the house). We tend to get outbreaks of fleas 1-2 times a year where all of the sudden all the animals are scratching and we get bit. The rest of the time we have no problem. I probably should treat them monthly anyway, but I just put the advantage on when I see them scratching.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Wow, that is an excellent discounted price. THIS, folks, is why you pay $50+ for a regular checkup/shots type office visit, and more than wholesale for vaccines... in most practices that I know of, routine care helps subsidize the costs of emergency care, or too many people would just "have to" either let the broken-leg bunny suffer, or have it put down.

Remember this $170 visit next time you want to complain about routine vet bills

The wrap to keep his leg wrapped in cost me $11, when I could buy a huge roll at the farm store for $4.

Well, that's an interesting example. Let's talk about that. Do you know WHY it is way, way cheaper at the farm store or online than at the vets'? There are two main reasons -- first, during big feedstore sales, or even routinely for some online stores, Vetrap and such are very common "loss leaders", being sold at or BELOW wholesale cost just to attract you into the store to buy other things there too (thigns that are much more marked-up). Secondly, a chain like TSC or a large online store like Valley Vet (or many others) buys Vetrap from the manufacturer in HUGE quantities, and thus gets it at a considerably lower wholesale price than your vet does. Higher cost to the vet is obviously going to be passed on as higher cost to you.

Two baytril pills cost me $6 when their around $1 each online.

Not usually if you include dispensing fee (some places), and shipping/handling.

Do you realize that you are complaining about a grand total of $12 of alleged overcharges by the vet? TWELVE DOLLARS. While gettting a very, very good deal on the whole REST of your bill.

I know it sucks not to be able to buy everything you want, and when you're a teenager I know it is unfamiliar to have to pay for things like senior pictures out of your own pocket. But that's unfortunately the way the life is -- for *everyone*. While I don't know any vets who are living in cardboard boxes under underpasses, I also know darn few who are rich. It is not a horrible imposition to have to decide between how many pets you have, and buying senior pictures -- it is the sort of decision about "what is most important to me to spend my limited money on?" that you will be having to face nearly-daily for the whole rest of your life. You know?

I am glad your bunny's leg got taken care of and hope he is feeling better soon,

Pat​

 

[krcote]

Quote:
Wow, that is an excellent discounted price. THIS, folks, is why you pay $50+ for a regular checkup/shots type office visit, and more than wholesale for vaccines... in most practices that I know of, routine care helps subsidize the costs of emergency care, or too many people would just "have to" either let the broken-leg bunny suffer, or have it put down.

Remember this $170 visit next time you want to complain about routine vet bills

The wrap to keep his leg wrapped in cost me $11, when I could buy a huge roll at the farm store for $4.

Well, that's an interesting example. Let's talk about that. Do you know WHY it is way, way cheaper at the farm store or online than at the vets'? There are two main reasons -- first, during big feedstore sales, or even routinely for some online stores, Vetrap and such are very common "loss leaders", being sold at or BELOW wholesale cost just to attract you into the store to buy other things there too (thigns that are much more marked-up). Secondly, a chain like TSC or a large online store like Valley Vet (or many others) buys Vetrap from the manufacturer in HUGE quantities, and thus gets it at a considerably lower wholesale price than your vet does. Higher cost to the vet is obviously going to be passed on as higher cost to you.

Two baytril pills cost me $6 when their around $1 each online.

Not usually if you include dispensing fee (some places), and shipping/handling.

Do you realize that you are complaining about a grand total of $12 of alleged overcharges by the vet? TWELVE DOLLARS. While gettting a very, very good deal on the whole REST of your bill.

I know it sucks not to be able to buy everything you want, and when you're a teenager I know it is unfamiliar to have to pay for things like senior pictures out of your own pocket. But that's unfortunately the way the life is -- for *everyone*. While I don't know any vets who are living in cardboard boxes under underpasses, I also know darn few who are rich. It is not a horrible imposition to have to decide between how many pets you have, and buying senior pictures -- it is the sort of decision about "what is most important to me to spend my limited money on?" that you will be having to face nearly-daily for the whole rest of your life. You know?

I am glad your bunny's leg got taken care of and hope he is feeling better soon,

Pat​

Very well said Pat.​

 

[Tigerjane]

I need to post my 2 cents:

I took a chick to the vet last week for a swollen, infected eye. $153!!!!! And the medications the vet prescribed aren't helping (still have another week to go) and she wants me to bring the chick back in ($62 just to walk in the door) to see how he's doing.

 

[ducks4you]

It a competitive market. Shop around. My Vet is less expensive than some of her competition. When I put her on the paperwork to "adopt" from a local horse rescue, they changed Vets--she picked up the rescue and more horse owners. (It had to do with costs: she charges $30.00/single Coggins, with a discount for multiple tests, and their previous Vet charged $45.00/each, no discount.)

 

[silkieluver_07]

Quote:
Wow, that is an excellent discounted price. THIS, folks, is why you pay $50+ for a regular checkup/shots type office visit, and more than wholesale for vaccines... in most practices that I know of, routine care helps subsidize the costs of emergency care, or too many people would just "have to" either let the broken-leg bunny suffer, or have it put down.

Remember this $170 visit next time you want to complain about routine vet bills

The wrap to keep his leg wrapped in cost me $11, when I could buy a huge roll at the farm store for $4.

Well, that's an interesting example. Let's talk about that. Do you know WHY it is way, way cheaper at the farm store or online than at the vets'? There are two main reasons -- first, during big feedstore sales, or even routinely for some online stores, Vetrap and such are very common "loss leaders", being sold at or BELOW wholesale cost just to attract you into the store to buy other things there too (thigns that are much more marked-up). Secondly, a chain like TSC or a large online store like Valley Vet (or many others) buys Vetrap from the manufacturer in HUGE quantities, and thus gets it at a considerably lower wholesale price than your vet does. Higher cost to the vet is obviously going to be passed on as higher cost to you.

Two baytril pills cost me $6 when their around $1 each online.

Not usually if you include dispensing fee (some places), and shipping/handling.

Do you realize that you are complaining about a grand total of $12 of alleged overcharges by the vet? TWELVE DOLLARS. While gettting a very, very good deal on the whole REST of your bill.

I know it sucks not to be able to buy everything you want, and when you're a teenager I know it is unfamiliar to have to pay for things like senior pictures out of your own pocket. But that's unfortunately the way the life is -- for *everyone*. While I don't know any vets who are living in cardboard boxes under underpasses, I also know darn few who are rich. It is not a horrible imposition to have to decide between how many pets you have, and buying senior pictures -- it is the sort of decision about "what is most important to me to spend my limited money on?" that you will be having to face nearly-daily for the whole rest of your life. You know?

I am glad your bunny's leg got taken care of and hope he is feeling better soon,

Pat​

Well, I see your opinion and am accepting it.I just havent had a very good week and I've been really stressed. At least I will know how to treat this if it ever happens again using my own supplies = no vet bill. Oh, and I have to work two hours just to make $12 after taxes. $12 to a teenager is a big thing especially with other bills/upkeeps to pay. I spend my limited money on hardly anything except necessities because I am going to college and need to save my money. All my clothes I buy are either on sale with an additional 25%?-30% off sale price or I buy at second hand stores.Thanks for the well wishes on my bunny. The vet said his leg may never heal properly because he doesn't exactly know where it is broken at.​