I took our dog to the vets a month or two ago due to an ear infection. He was prescribed an anti bacterial ear wash and ear drops. I happily paid the £70 bill for the 5 minute consultation and medicines and within a few days he was right as rain again. Great.

Yesterday I went online to one of the animal medicine sites to buy some wormer for him, and while I was on there I thought I’d just see how their prices compared to my vets. The ear wash I’d paid £18 for from the vets was £4 and the drops which I paid £28 for were £12.

Now I am fully aware that Vets need to make money, they have large overheads, they’re a god send when your family pet is in trouble and we couldn’t do without them, but I think that’s blatant profiteering. Am I being unreasonable?

If I applied that sort of markup to my business, I would go bust very quickly. Would it be unreasonable in future to ask them what they prescribe, and then buy it from the source of my choice as we do at the doctors?

Hmm our local vets is pretty reasonable just a few quid more for the routine meds

Glad they’re there really they do a good job

If you take away the mark up for the drugs then the money has to go in somewhere else like a 10quid prescription issue charge. It’s not a massive money making business, over heads are huge and people don’t always get to see how much human medical care costs.

They’re the only vets we’ve ever used, I didn’t know if this was fairly standard across the industry?

And the phrase may be people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing

I buy several drugs for my cat from the local pharmacy my vet charges me £10 for a private prescription which has 3 repeats on .There are some eye drops she needs that are £5 but about £30 at the vets !

I was surprised to find that our neighbours were buying drugs for their labrador from our local pharmacy for half the price the vet wanted

And the phrase may be people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing

Very true. But they are still a business, whatever they do. I do value their service, but still think that’s a joke. I’d happily swalow a 50% markup on these things, but 200 or 300%+?

Vets are rip off merchants, end off. They can charge whatever for meds, because they are not regulated.

Easy to get that markup in lots of industries, the cost of the practice gets divided up between the services and products. Take away that revenue stream and the costs don’t go down much so the consultation fee goes up…

The thing we have issue with having our dog now on long term meds is the random figure generator they seem to apply each time we get the same drugs! In process of looking back through invoices to try and make sense of it all and having chat as it varies wildly!

Similarly went boots few weeks ago for some lactulose for him and when mentioned for dog she withdrew it and told me couldnt sell it to me! just went to the one across the road and bought it there.

I get they are business and need make money but some mark ups are obscene – example form his recent inpatient stay – 1litre fluid £48 and giving set £17 – I can buy them combined for about £10 as Joe public, never mind what they pay trade. This is additional to the cost of stay – if they priced stay apropriately would have no issue instead of trying profiteer on other items.

It’s not a massive money making business,

😆

…to continue supporting their cushy lifestyles.

I take it you’ve been to University for 7 years and then done however many years on the job training after that to know what medecine your dog needs?

That’s not the point. You can ask your vet to use his 7+ whatever years experience and write a prescription, then send it off to an online pharmacy and pay the right price.

https://soundcloud.com/dominickponsonby-gufftank/mitchell-webb-vet-sketch

Thanks been looking for that for ages.

It’s bloody annoying vets bills but it isn’t a massive money making business, daughter expressed interest in becoming a vet, I looked how much they earned, answer not that much

Vets payscale

the cost of the practice gets divided up between the services and products.

I’m sure it does, as does the required amount of yearly profit by the look of things.

It’s bloody annoying vets bills but it isn’t a massive money making business, daughter expressed interest in becoming a vet, I looked how much they earned, answer not that much

I’m sure your average jobbing Vet isn’t earning big bucks, but from what I know the practices are owned by all sorts of people often not vets, some very much run as a profit making business.

Very true. But they are still a business, whatever they do. I do value their service, but still think that’s a joke. I’d happily swalow a 50% markup on these things, but 200 or 300%+?

Like any shop they have to hold a stock – but a vet has to have of all the medicine they might need to administer, at any time, all the time, and have paid for it up front and have to store and secure it and pay high street rent and and rates on that space. Unlike an ordinary shop they can’t just decide to hold stocks of the most popular or profitable lines, they can’t have a sale rail of stuff they need to make their money back from. Some might expire before they sell it, some of that stuff will be stuff they may never sell because the need for it might never arise – but they still paid for it and will have to keep paying to keep it available. It always has to be there in case its required.

A mark up isn’t just clear profit it over the wholesale price, the cost of having stock is quite significant.

I think the issue is that the breakdown of the cost doesn’t necessarily reflect reality.

What I mean is that the cost of the consultation and professional advice is often under represented, and this is made up for in the cost of the meds.

Having a professional vet, in a building, with all the equipment and support staff on hand is a hefty cost. I’m not sure people understand how much this is (and this goes for other quality professional services) and so this is underplayed on the bill.

Overall cost is probably in the right ball park (people need to make a living), but the retail cost of meds (and foods, etc) should be closer to online to avoid causing issues.

Our local vet wanted double the cost of another local vets to fetch my dogs nads off! I couldn’t for the life of me see how you could get such a vast difference.

OH is a vet. She buys drugs for ours online as they are cheaper than the vets can get them trade as the large online places deal in much larger quantities.

The vets also get there meds from a company that delivers next day without fail in their own vans and that service also comes at a premium as it has much higher overheads and they can place orders at the end of the day for next day delivery. Without that service they would not be able to provide the level of service they do.

And yes they charge retail for the meds as it does subsidise the consultation and pay for the prescription of the drugs which is a service after-all. A lot of the time for repeat meds they will point out you can save a lot of money buying online as they do understand that it can be expensive and they would rather animals got the meds rather than owners not being able to afford them. A common occurrence is an animal coming in that is well overdue worming or infested with fleas etc and those are things the owner could have sorted themselves a lot sooner so it’s their own fault they are now having to pay the full retail price for the meds and again you are getting advice on which products to choose as you can waste a lot of money buying the wrong stuff from the supermarket.

They do get owners refusing to pay for meds as they want to go buy online cheaper and in those cases where it is prescription only the vet will charge for the prescription to get the meds as this is the only way to recoup the costs for the that part of the service.

If I told you the hours my OH works for the money you would probably be horrified. Out of hours is done on a commission basis so when she is up for hours in the middle of the night with a dog in critical condition she might make £30-50 and then have to do a full day shift the next day dealing with clients who then complain about the cost of the treatment and meds…

Sputnik, as someone married to a get you probably think I don’t have an unbiased opinion and you may even be right about that but it shows a basic lack of knowledge on your part when you say that vets are not regulated. Yes, they are. As alluded to in a number of posts if the price of medicines are reduced then the price of a consultation goes up. Generally speaking vets do not make what I consider to be an excessive amount of money. The nearest comparable profession is a doctor and they make significantly more money for only treating one species. Some vets will have a higher mark up than others on drugs but if you do not feel you are getting overall value for money go to another practice. I know of one practice in our area that offers what you might consider the gold standard service. They have a higher cost on many drugs, which is their choice. They also have nurse and get on the premises 24/7 for inpatients and lots of very expensive kit that needs to be paid for. If you don’t want or can’t afford that go somewhere which doesn’t offer the same standard of service.

as someone married to a get

This got argumentative quickly 🙂

our vet charges £56 for a box of 6 x Advocate flea / worming treatments. The best price on line (including someone else’s margin) is £24, which presumably puts the trade price Ex vat around £15 (if that). So the vet is charging a £30 margin on something that costs them £15.

wrightyson – Member
Our local vet wanted double the cost of another local vets to fetch my dogs nads off! I couldn’t for the life of me see how you could get such a vast difference.

Type of anesthetic, length of time it’s monitored after the surgery, monitoring during surgery, number of staff on hand in case something goes wrong, plus lots of other things, one of them might pay their vets and nurses decent wages….

Other places do deals with charities & local authorities to remove nuts as it keeps the stray count down. It’s also can be a loss leader to get you in and registered.

just5minutes – Member
our vet charges £56 for a box of 6 x Advocate flea / worming treatments. The best price on line (including someone else’s margin) is £24, which presumably puts the trade price Ex vat around £15 (if that). So the vet is charging a £30 margin on something that costs them £15.

Advocate is prescription only. Surely you can understand where the extra cost comes from for those?

Also a lot of flea treatments are available in different grades and most non-prescription “supermarket” stuff is a waste of money so when you think you are being ripped off by the vets and getting one over on them buying from the supermarket you are actually throwing your money away on stuff that doesnt work. Sometimes the same brand can do this so you see XXXX in your vets on the shelf for £50 and think it must be the one to go for but you remember seeing it in the supermarket. You then go to the supermarket and see XXXX for half the price and think your vet is ripping you off but it turns out that XXXX in the supermarket is not the same as XXXX at the vets.

wrightyson – Member
Our local vet wanted double the cost of another local vets to fetch my dogs nads off! I couldn’t for the life of me see how you could get such a vast difference.

Some vets take the piss, same as in other professions, but a lot of the time it is just a variation in the level of service and while that sounds bad implying that cost has a factor in level of care it is a simple fact of life.

We are spoilt by having the NHS so we don’t have to take cost into account when we need treatment.

A friend of mine qualified as a vet 15 years ago with debts of around £70k. She now works all sort of weird un-social hours and as far as I know hasn’t paid off the debt yet.

She has been trampled by cows, bitten by dogs, shat on, wee’d on and scratched more times than she can remember.

She says Drs have it easy – it’s just one species who can tell you what their symptoms are. Try getting a lizard to explain why it won’t eat its flies for dinner.

Despite that she loves her job, it’s just the humans that are an issue. Getting sworn at by humans who think she is ripping them off after she gets up at 2am to treat their dog who has eaten too much chocolate was a particular favourite.

The price of meds from vets reflects economies of purchasing power and contributes to the cost of running the practice from premises costs to admin staff and nurses.

If you can’t afford your vets bills then get insurance or don’t get a pet.

That’s not the point. You can ask your vet to use his 7+ whatever years experience and write a prescription, then send it off to an online pharmacy and pay the right price.

So then you’d just pay a £20 prescription charge, and hope that you could save £20 online?

Do you also try clothes on in your LBS?

Our local vet wanted double the cost of another local vets to fetch my dogs nads off! I couldn’t for the life of me see how you could get such a vast difference.

To be fair if the dog was able to choose I’m not sure he’d automatically go cheap on this 😀

Tinas the rip off element comes in when you have pets with a chronic ailment that’s needs meds for an extended period of time , months/rest of life. Then a prescription can buy up to 6months worth, at online prices. Makes for a massive saving, or just the ability to afford it. You can pay the over inflated prices if you want though.

Here is an example:
Metacam, an anti-inflammatory drug given to older dogs with ­arthritis, can be prescribed in an 180ml bottle that lasts a month and will cost £80 from a vet.

That makes the cost of easing your pet’s pain £960 a year.

But a bottle of exactly the same medication can be bought for £17.65 from an online pharmacy – saving a massive £748 a year.

What would you do Tinas?

But in those cases most vets would point out that it would save you a lot to buy online as they would rather that the dog received the pain relief as the owner could afford it and probably then be able to afford checkups to make sure that there is nothing else that needs doing. They are not monsters in it to make millions.

Another thing to be aware of when buying any medication online, human or animal, is that it’s legitimate: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048164.htm

How many of these prices you see online are real legitimate sources? The OH occasionally works at an online place checking prescriptions and she buys our animals meds from them as she trusts them. I was looking for a Samsung micro SD card for my server the other day and I had a slight doubt about an online store which was then reinforced by online reviews and and I went elsewhere.

fetch my dogs nads off!

😆

could be the new hoof in the slats, been done on the classifieds? “Fetch his nads off!!”

Also using the metacam example, are you basing your price on a REAL vets or on what the website says the vets charge? http://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/prescriptions/m/metacam-oral-suspension-for-dogs

You can compare this directly with real high street bike shops and online retailers.

Not all shops charge RRP, high street or online, and online retailers often use the RRP to make something look like a bargain (same goes for sofas and electrical goods).

Your bike has a problem but you don’t know what it is. You go to the store and the person looks at it and diagnoses it needs XY and Z changing. You baulk at the price and look online and buy it cheaper. Next time you go back and it’s now a charity shop or cafe as it’s gone bust.

Or you go into your bike shop and see a nice set of Easton carbon bars, decide they are just want you want and feel great but they are RRP or close to RRP. CRC are a little bit cheaper again but you see an cheaper set on ebay and buy them but they turn out to be fake and you end up breaking your teeth on your steerer…

One of my dad’s mates was a vet, and he openly admitted it was pretty much a license to print money, especially after they banned vets from using human medicines. He retired from his practise, went to Australia touring for a couple years, then came back and started working part-time again as the money was just too good not to.

An old neighbour was a lecturer at the Dick Vet, and he said the same thing, however he would also quite happily tell you what human medicines you could use instead. For our old lurcher that had a stroke, half an aspirin a day was far cheaper than the £7 a week for the blood thinners the Vet wanted to prescribe. That kept her going for several more years, one more stroke (the vet just smirked at the mention of the aspirin), until one morning she just never got out of bed and the only option was a final trip to the vet, but she was 17 or 18 by that point (she was a rescue dog, and was estimated at 14-20months old when we got her).

Also knew somebody who set-up a vet pharmacy, and he said the practices screwed owners over one way or another. If the practice weren’t supplying the drugs, they’d charge you for the prescription.
He didn’t have any problems with the prescription charge as such, but what annoyed him was the fact the practices used it to try and force people to buy the drugs from the practice at far higher prices. He wanted it so the practices had to issue the prescription even if you got the drugs from the practice, so they couldn’t hide the cost in the drugs.

But it all comes down to supply and demand. There’s plenty pet owners out there who’ll quite happily pay the prices, even when common sense would tell you not to. I know my brother spent thousands getting his lab operated on after the stupid thing kept swallowing stones. If it had been up to my dad, it would of only ever needed one injection.