Vet fiasco...UPDATE.....

[ponymum]

our little jrt was behaving very oddly yesterday, at one point she was shivering like we do when we have flu, then a little later she was panting and was really hot. After her going missing /hiding in the garden for an hour I decided to take her to the vets.....
They had a look at her, normal temp etc etc, decided to keep her in to do an x ray and bloods, the upshot of this debacle was £271, not actually any the wiser as to what if anything is wrong with her and a course of anti biotics.....Glad my little doggie is ok, but a bit upset about the bill

I now think poppy may have trapped a nerve in her spine, she is struggling or not attempting to climb the stairs, wont jump into the car and again wont jump up onto the sofa....;-(
Does anybody know a dog physio in the northwest?

[brindlerainbow]

Ask them to break down the bill so you can see what costs what.It does seem expensive!!!! I suppose once they add up the x ray,blood results,anit biotics,consultation fee and staying in fee then VAT its probably not far out. I had my vet out last week. He did 1 internal examination on brood mare, 2 teeth rasps - 1 moderate and 1 severe, 1 intraveanous sedation, 4 sachets of bute plus call out charge and VAT he was here for about an hour and a quarter, and the bill came to £168 so compared to that your bill does seem high!!

[haggismarmite]

Brindle that was cheap - had my pony's teeth rasped with sedation and it cost me alot more than that.

Round here taking small animals to the vet almost always blows a three figure sum

[brindlerainbow]

HM, I have always used an equine dentisit in the past and they charge £ 40 - £50 per horse. I have just changed to this new vet he is an equine specialist with his main area of expertise being breeding so I thought I would get him to do the teeth while checking the broodmare and he was absolutely brilliant, had all the dental power tools and really knew what he was doing, had the pony sedated and ready for action in minutes!!! He charged £30 for the moderate teeth and £45 for the severe teeth. If I had got a dentisit I would still have had to get the vet to sedate anyway!!

[haggismarmite]

It would almost be cheaper for me to come down to you and bring the ponies than to pay up here!!!!

[daizylindsay]

Well my cat had her annual booster which came to £50 and my horse had his jab which was £26 how is that right?

[kayjayem]

I would guess at those prices Daizylindsay that your cat had the full works including leukaemia(which is expensive) and the horse just had tetanus? Unfortunately the cost of vaccines from the manufacturers bear no resemblance to the size of the animal, vets fees are a minefield and seem to vary considerably depending on the part of the country but drug companys bear a lot of the responsibility for pricing.

[fleurymare]

x rays for dogs usually cost about £90, bloods are about £60 then you've got the overnight stay, the consultation fee and anti bioticts not really surprised it cost so much but still it is a lot of money

[daizylindsay]

Oct 24, 2010 20:22:28 GMT kayjayem said:

I would guess at those prices Daizylindsay that your cat had the full works including leukaemia(which is expensive) and the horse just had tetanus? Unfortunately the cost of vaccines from the manufacturers bear no resemblance to the size of the animal, vets fees are a minefield and seem to vary considerably depending on the part of the country but drug companys bear a lot of the responsibility for pricing.

Yes cat had the works I think although they didn't offer me a choice

Horse had flu jab no tetanus x

[JaysMum]

you dont get a choice with cats.... cats jabs are lukaemia, cat flu and tetanus.... (my cats jabs are £25 for the lot ;D )

horses jabs can cost cheaper if you are sharing the call out fee with another person, or if vet was already in the area....

[kayjayem]

You do get a choice with cats(or at least there is a choice even if your vet doesn't offer it - you could ask next time if you dont want the full lot done), the basic vaccination is for, Feline calicvirus (FCV), Panleukopenia virus and Feline herpes virus (rhinotracheitis) the leukaemia vaccination is a separate one. Cats aren't vaccinated against tetanus.

[JaysMum]

Oct 25, 2010 12:25:27 GMT kayjayem said:

Cats aren't vaccinated against tetanus.

mine is for reasons..

[kayjayem]

Sorry, should have said cats are not ROUTINELY vaccinated against tetanus.

[dazycutter]

get your dog insured... it always pays in the end.. all mine are.. its a cost, but so worth it...

[JaysMum]

Oct 24, 2010 10:08:45 GMT ponymum said:

I now think poppy may have trapped a nerve in her spine, she is struggling or not attempting to climb the stairs, wont jump into the car and again wont jump up onto the sofa....;-(
Does anybody know a dog physio in the northwest?

Trapped a nerve to has damaged a disc? would seek a second opionin before going down physio route first..hope you get this sorted..

[jack11]

My border has been very ill over the summer. Lack of energy, struggling to breathe, sleeping all the time. Very worried mum. £4500 of vet bills later includng blood tests, blood pressure checks, echo cardiograms, ECGs, lung worm tests, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, Blood gas tests, camera in her lungs, CAT scan, inhalers, bronchiodilators and they still don't know what's wrong with her except she has some condition in her lungs Seen several vets at Liverpool Small Animal Hospital. They said next step would be an invasive operation to take a lung biopsy. Good news is she seems to have recovered so keeping my fingers crossed she stays happy and healthy.

[frozzy]

I have two vets that I use, the local practice who I tried when we moved up here nearly five years ago, because you never know when an emergency would arise and my vets who I have used for about twenty years or more, who, when I moved said they would be happy to still come for planned work like scanning, immunisation etc.
I am having a yearlng colt castrated next week so phoned both practices to ask how much.
Local vet about £250, my old vet who will come about 40 miles travel (and dosnt charge any extra than his usual call out) will do him for £60. Its a straight forward castration (both testicles descended) but what a difference in cost! I am paying the same amount for this one that I paid five years ago for my last colt. Fortunately we sem to get fillies on a regular basis.!! (nowt to do with dogs really but just shows how the same job can cost a lot more in different practices.)

[sarahp]

For horses, and I'm sure the same would apply to dogs too, a proper trained and qualified animal physio would only work if the animal was referred by the vet anyway. It could I suppose be hip or stifle, although Poppy would be likely to be lame in those cases. But vet should palpate all joints to find any soreness shouldn't they? Which bit of her did they X-ray? Which would of course show boney problems but not soft tissue.