Are vets fees gone more expensive

Clare Bear

I probably shouldn't promote this being a Veterinary Nurse but a lot of people are vaccinating their cats and dogs themselves now. I know some vet supply places sell the vaccination for €5. It's very easy to do. Now obviously some people will do it wrong so it should be researched first, easy to do online or even ring up your Vet and ask them, if they're any way decent they'll tell you the correct way to do it.

Anything else I would say go to the vet but vaccinations are an easy thing to do yourself if you want to save some money.

Harris

Slightly off topic but....

My golden retriever swallowed a whole block of bakers yeast :eek:

Two injections and €75 euros later, she vomited it all up, and it had started to rise (the yeast not the price!). Really scary

And I still had to buy a loaf of bread after.

siobhan.m

Clare Bear wrote: »

I probably shouldn't promote this being a Veterinary Nurse but a lot of people are vaccinating their cats and dogs themselves now. I know some vet supply places sell the vaccination for €5. It's very easy to do. Now obviously some people will do it wrong so it should be researched first, easy to do online or even ring up your Vet and ask them, if they're any way decent they'll tell you the correct way to do it.

Anything else I would say go to the vet but vaccinations are an easy thing to do yourself if you want to save some money.

Wouldn't this affect you being able to bring your pet to a kennel or cattery? It sounds like a good option as I know there is not a lot involved in giving the vaccinations but I would be worried that if I didn't have the vets signature/stamp on his record card that I wouldn't be able to bring my cat to a cattery if I went away, as they're normally fairly strict on that sort of thing.

Munster Gal

siobhan.m wrote: »

Wouldn't this affect you being able to bring your pet to a kennel or cattery? It sounds like a good option as I know there is not a lot involved in giving the vaccinations but I would be worried that if I didn't have the vets signature/stamp on his record card that I wouldn't be able to bring my cat to a cattery if I went away, as they're normally fairly strict on that sort of thing.

That would be my biggest concern also. The kennel/cattery we used were very strict about vaccinations and if they weren't bothered I'm not sure I'd leave the furballs with them.

Corb

Would some kennells/catteries not take your pet if you did the vaccination yourself then? A very good Kennell (one that's been mentioned on here as one of the best a few times) took our dog, my father vaccinated him himself and brought the empty bottle and receipt with him and they accepted it.

Ruby Soho

No Clare Bear, you should definitely not be promoting that!! I'm also a qualified veterinary nurse, and there are a few things that I would worry about.
I frequently get clients coming in with dogs that are vomiting / under the weather etc who want the animal treated and want the vaccinations done at the same time. We always recommend against this because there is a chance that the vaccine will be ineffective or may even compromise the sick animal even more. Who's to say that as soon as a pet falls ill, that the owners won't run out and buy a vaccination thinking that it will help them? It's downright dangerous.
Also, if a pet seems relatively healthy and only comes in annually for vaccinations, surely the owner wouldn't mind forking out a measly 35-40quid for a vaccination carried out by a professional who will run a complete health check or clinical examination at the time. I certainly wouldn't. I'd be happy with the peace of mind.
Vaccines can also cause bad reactions in animals. They are extremely rare, but I've seen them happen. At the time of the vaccine the owner should be informed of any possible reactions / side effects that might occur, so they know what is normal, and more importantly, what is likely to be very dangerous and require immediate treatment.
What if a breeder has a litter of puppies and decides to vaccinate them himself with intent to sell. Theses pups have not been seen by a vet and had the necessary health checks, next thing you know, a puppy is brought into the vets with his new owner with a potentially life-threatening heart defect which is going to cause hundreds and hundreds of euro in treatment, or possibly even a dead puppy at the end of it. That's not really fair is it? If I bought a vaccinated pup, I would expect that they have had a check up by a vet too.
Animal vaccinations are POM, which means that they can only be administered by a licensed veterinarian. The only circumstances where it is legal to buy them over the counter in say, a pharmacy, would be if the person had a valid, signed prescription from a veterinarian. These are being sold off label, and in many cases, illegally. The manufacturers have strict guidelines about storage, handling and administration, and if these are not adhered to, the animal will not be legally covered in case of ineffectiveness of adverse reactions.
Yes, vaccines are expensive, but In my opinion, pets are a privilege that should only be afforded to those who are willing to pay for appropriate healthcare. And if someone rang my clinic looking for advise on administration, I would refuse to have anything to do with it, and be party to something that may have dire consequences for the animal.

Clare Bear

At the end of the day seeing as it is getting more popular if people are adamant to do it I would rather advise them on how to do it properly than let them do it themselves with no advice. People will do it if they want to, that's what I'm saying. And it is getting very popular lately. Not saying it's right, just stating facts. I wouldn't hang up the phone on someone asking me advice about it because they'll do it regardless.

Ruby Soho

I wouldn't hang up the phone, I'd tell them to come down and have the vaccine administered properly! If course I know people are going to do it themselves regardless, but with litigation the way its going, you could literally HANG yourself and get struck off the register by giving someone advice over the phone about something they are not legally supposed to be doing!
If the vaccine was given to the client over the counter, from our own refrigerator by my own vet, and reconstituted in front of me, it might be different, but hell, I don't know where these people are getting these vaccinations! They could be sitting in the glove compartment in their car for three days and administered using a non-sterile syringe to a 5 week old puppy for all I know!

Clare Bear

I do know what you're saying, believe me I do. However I would rather someone did it themselves than not do it at all, which I've had many people say to me when we've asked them to come to the clinc instead. Nothing against breeders but they're the main people that I've spoken to that do it themselves.

If I had to pick between someone doing it themselves or not doing it at all (sad but true, some people are actually that stupid/stubborn/stingy) I'd rather give the dog/cat some chance in life with having the owner do it.

pukeymcpukerson

cat spay usually round 60- 70 euros.... you were robbed... i no of a vets where its nearly 110 euro.... ridiculous!

reality

over the last few years, i think vets fees have gone up a bit - but so has everything else: minimum wage, fuel, bread, milk - just to name a few!! as the cost prices for the vets themselves are increasing the whole time, it's unreasonable to expect them not to increase the price the consumer pays!

imo, the reason there are so many complaints about the price of vaccines (including healthchecks etc) is that unless some illness is found, the owner doesn't see a change in their pet, so they feel like they've recieved nothing much in return for their cash - would people complain about 40 euro for a vacc and healthcheck if during that healthcheck, the vets trained eyes picked up on a lump that led to a malignant growth being discovered/removed? i mean, just because they don't always find something, doesn't mean that years of work and training didn't go into that five minute check!

fionav3

I would never vaccinate my pet myself. Worm her, yes, but not vaccinate. I'm not a qualified vet and I'm not willing to play russian roulette with my girl's health. Besides, isn't the peace of mind you get from knowing that your pet is safe and in good hands worth the cost? It is for me, she's worth it!

pukeymcpukerson

well lets put it this way..... ive seen what happens when you dont vaccinate your animals, ive seen dogs come in with parvo and corona virus and cats with calicivirus and fiv so i know that if they get it, its nearly impossible to cure once it gets to a certain stage... but i still dont vaccinate my dog or cat... it all depends on where you are. say you have a dog or a ca in the town or city, then yeah vaccinate cos you have no idea how many germs and viruses are around from the inumerable animals around you... whereas i live in the back a**e of nowhere so my risks are lower so i take the chance! also my cat is neutered so there is less chance of catchin cat flu.. the main route of transmission is in saliva and it happens most commonly when a tom is mating your cat and the scruff the back of the neck of the queen..... sucks to be a queen!!lol

RaeRae

I just made an appointment with Bairbre O'Malley out in Bray for her to see my Bearded Dragon (just want to get a check up on him to see if he's okay, hasn't been eating great) and my rat (clearly has a fairly bad respitory issue since I got him, god damn pet shop bred rats) and she's charging me 50 for the first animal consult and 35 for the 2nd. So before anything else (and I know the rat will need meds in the very least), this trip is going to cost me 85 euro =/.

The consultation costs far more than the rat even cost and I got the beardie off a friend of a friend who clearly took very poor care of him.

I'm a college student with a summer job and I'd clearly like to be using and saving my wages for better things seeing as i'm cooped up in work for the best part of the summer anyway but I'm glad I'm such an animal lover because most people I know would not even bother bringing these two to a vet if they owned them.

My point is, vet fees are ridiculous in some cases, nowhere I called would even see a rat for less than 50 euro for the consult. I understand about the bearded dragon as he's an exotic. Oh well, what can you do. My belieft is that if you take on the responsibility of an animal, you have to provide it with the best care (including medical) possible.. Be it a dog, a cat or in my case a rat and bearded dragon.

All I can say is thank god all my tarantulas don't need vet care. I'd be on the streets!


End rant. :pac:

harryR

I was charged 190 euro for a pain killing injection and scan,is this the normal price or was i ripped? bearing in mind ive spent hundreds already with the same vet in recent months and he still wouldnt cut me a deal as im unemployed,i will be taking out insurance very soon

reality

harryR it depends on what the injection was as the price would vary hugely depending on the drug, also, i've seen the cost of scans to range between 30 and 100 euro - depending on the type of scan, the vets skill at interpreting the scan and whether sedation was required!

doolin101

Just a note,
Irrespective of the animal presented the work is much the same- that is why the fees are around €50 for an examination. Rats are also considered 'exotic' species. Having any animal is expensive and if you take them on you are undertaking to provide for their health also. Owning an animal is not a right, it is a privilage and as such if you are overstreched regarding the costs of keeping animals perhaps you should consider not having as many.
PS tarantulas can cost quite a bit too...

nearly

we got our cats their initial shots and a worming tablet each for €52. this is in sligo. there are cheaper places out in the country, but i'm not convinced the savings would be worth it.

i am wary of country vets w/o alot of small animal experience. in my experience, they don't seem to have the patience or care, since companion pets don't matter as much.

my co-worker told me she took her 'female' cat to get spayed at a country vet near where she lives. they opened her up, and couldn't find 'the ovaries'. they said the cat must have been fixed already, and they charged her for the pleasure.

a few months later, the cat's balls dropped! surprise surprise. they told my co worker her cat was a HERMAPHRODITE. and she believed the doctor, and still calls her cat a 'she'. and she paid *again*, this time for a neutering.

um... what the...? what are the odds of a hermaphrodite kitty? rather unlikely.

more likely the vet didn't sex the cat properly before grabbing the knife.

this is not the first time i heard of this, either, sadly.