Vets: Saints or ****?

Hammer89

I don't really like when our dog is ill; not only because I love her very much and her pain is my pain, but because it also hurts my pocket. It hurts my pocket because, well, vets are robbing c*nts.

There, I said it. I know it's controversial, and I know they cure our furry friends of their ills, and I know we treat these people with the reverance that we treated priests with a few decades ago but, like those some of those same priests, vets are knackers, and charlatans, and scumbags - well, some of them. Our one, Aoife, most certainly is.

In my experience with Aoife and others, vets usually look for - and usually find - something else wrong with your cat or dog, just to ensure that the bill is a bit longer. And obviously you can't say, 'Hang on Aoife, is her tail really going to fall off if we don't buy your €80 prescription skin cream?' or else you look like a sh*t owner who cares more about money than you do about the pet, which is categorically untrue.

Our visit today cost a lot of money. We came back with treatments for three different things, even though we went for a specific complaint - her paws.

If it helps the dog then maybe it's money well spent, but how do I, as a non-vet, know if the dog was actually suffering from these other things in the first place? How do I know it's not the equivalent of a GP writing a prescription for cortisol cream just because her patient happened to come in with flakey eyebrows or something? How do we know Aoife and other vets aren't taking the piss on a massive scale? We don't. We just have to grin and bear it and take it up the arse because a UCD 2015 graduate says this is the best course of action.

No more Butchy.

gmisk

I think our vets are fantastic, they aren't cheap but we have pet insurance which helps and I think is pretty essential especially if pedigree dog.

If you don't like your vet or you think you are being ripped off move.

Grandeeod

I guess you're just unlucky. My local vet is kind and reasonable. More like a vocation to him. Even gives credit, while not charging an outrageous amount in the first place. He's one of the old school types.

Pawwed Rig

I do tax returns for a few vets and in general it is poorly paid given the required qualifications. It is not for money that someone becomes a vet from my experience.

alexlyons

I agree.

There should be a vetting process before they get onto the college course

Trigger Happy

Super vet is a great tv show.

pleas advice

alexlyons wrote: »

I agree.

There should be a vetting process before they get onto the college course

And then work placement abroad, somewhere in Asia maybe...

The Backwards Man

Start up your own practice and charge what you think is appropriate then.

Come on.

What's stopping you?

McDermotX

It's ruff going alright, best bet is to find the correct authority to bitch to and sing like a canary.

RHJ

This post has been deleted.

Wibbs

I'd put the blame more at the feet of insurance companies and medical supply companies. Vet costs and bills have gone up a lot since the whole pet insurance thing came in. Such insurance almost always raises prices across the board, both to the supplier of a service/product and the consumer.

McMurphy

My vet is A-1.

You just got unlucky or have a hypochondriac for a dog.

Icaras

Whos forcing you to use their services? If you dont think the something else they found wrong is an issue act like a grown up and tell them. The internet is there (if used properly) with a wealth of information to help you.

Danny Donut

There is a vet quite close to us - he is an ignorant, money grabbing A/hole.


So I travel 20+ miles, to a lovely practise. They are knowledgable and kind and when my poor boy had to end his days they refunded all the unused drugs he had been prescribed.


Like every profession, Gards, Teachers, Priests - - some are total cnuts and some are just so kind it gives you a lump in the throat.

Hammer89

RHJ wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That's because one of the modules is removing the watch from a person's wrist without them noticing and most haven't got the balls to do it.

corner of hells

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

My vet is A-1.

You just got unlucky or have a hypochondriac for a dog.

Is your vets name Sharon ?

McMurphy

corner of hells wrote: »

Is your vets name Sharon ?

No its Georgie as it happens, why do you ask

Grandeeod

Wibbs wrote: »

I'd put the blame more at the feet of insurance companies and medical supply companies. Vet costs and bills have gone up a lot since the whole pet insurance thing came in. Such insurance almost always raises prices across the board, both to the supplier of a service/product and the consumer.

I was gonna post the same thing, but deleted as I would expect a ****storm from somebody. Same insurance issue has the health service for humans in a crap state.

Signore Fancy Pants

Same scenario with mechanics OP.

Bring your car in for a service...boom! Apparently your roof needs fo be replaced. That will be €5000 and a Twix please.

I have always found vets to be fine.

Vincent Vega

Go easy on them.

Last thing we wanna do is follow America where the number of homeless vets, sometimes even with a dog in tow would you believe, is shocking.

I'm happy we can at least keep roofs over ours heads.

PlaneSpeeking

It cost 600 euro last year when my baby had skin cancer. Worth every cent.

My vote goes for saints. All day long.

Lady Haywire

Love our vets, did work experience in it for a year and it really helps to get a behind the scenes viewpoint as well. So yea they're going to try and sell you prescription food and stuff but take what they say with a pinch of salt. Is my cat going to die from an itchy belly, does he really need the cream? Meh probably not but from a lot of the vets i've seen & worked with, they mention it more out of care/for the animals benefit than trying to get more money. So just suck it up and don't feel the guilt.
If it's a practice with one main vet employing others then he's only paying them a salary anyway, they aren't going to get more money for sales.

Plus I always feel so bad calling them at 3am for a calving, i called one away from his Easter dinner this year :pac:

RiderOnTheStorm

Being a vet is more difficult than a doctor IMHO.
Vets know the biology of several species, doctors know 1.
Vets can diagnose without asking patient any questions.

But to answer your Q. You need to find a nice vet. There are some out there. Our guy is lovely, reasonable, and you can bring dogs to him at home in middle of the night in an emergency.

SEPT 23 1989

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I do tax returns for a few vets and in general it is poorly paid given the required qualifications. It is not for money that someone becomes a vet from my experience.

I presume there is plenty of cash involved as well

theteal

Our vet is awesome and not in any way expensive - at least we've never opted to go the insurance route as the fee was never as much as our excess payment. I've not seen it but apparently she's on some BBC kids vet programme for the last while too, fair play to her.

Pawwed Rig

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I presume there is plenty of cash involved as well

On what basis?

KevRossi

Vets are just pussy grabbers.

Pkiernan

Hammer89 wrote: »

I don't really like when our dog is ill; not only because I love her very much and her pain is my pain, but because it also hurts my pocket. It hurts my pocket because, well, vets are robbing c*nts.

There, I said it. I know it's controversial, and I know they cure our furry friends of their ills, and I know we treat these people with the reverance that we treated priests with a few decades ago but, like those some of those same priests, vets are knackers, and charlatans, and scumbags - well, some of them. Our one, Aoife, most certainly is.

In my experience with Aoife and others, vets usually look for - and usually find - something else wrong with your cat or dog, just to ensure that the bill is a bit longer. And obviously you can't say, 'Hang on Aoife, is her tail really going to fall off if we don't buy your €80 prescription skin cream?' or else you look like a sh*t owner who cares more about money than you do about the pet, which is categorically untrue.

Our visit today cost a lot of money. We came back with treatments for three different things, even though we went for a specific complaint - her paws.

If it helps the dog then maybe it's money well spent, but how do I, as a non-vet, know if the dog was actually suffering from these other things in the first place? How do I know it's not the equivalent of a GP writing a prescription for cortisol cream just because her patient happened to come in with flakey eyebrows or something? How do we know Aoife and other vets aren't taking the piss on a massive scale? We don't. We just have to grin and bear it and take it up the arse because a UCD 2015 graduate says this is the best course of action.

No more Butchy.

A real man knows when and how to put his dog down himself.

anewme

There’s s vet near us in Kildare, complete gentleman and scholar.

Has a real vocation and love of animals. Lovely lovely man.

Absolute saint.

_Dara_

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I do tax returns for a few vets and in general it is poorly paid given the required qualifications. It is not for money that someone becomes a vet from my experience.

Yeah, it’s a gruelling degree course that it’s hard to even get into. I don’t begrudge them whatever they earn. Plus, a lot of animal ailments are GROSS. I could not deal with them at all at all.

The people I know who are vets are genuinely passionate about their job.

kittensmittens

Have to agree with the OP. Our vets have become total rip off merchants in the last 4 years (been with them 12). Charging WAY above the odds on all treatments and now there is the rudest Lithuanian lady vet there and she has ZERO interest in the animals....no bedside manner at all and her fee is WHOPPING every time for simple things.

Have decided to switch vets

Grandeeod

I can relate a story here from 36 years ago. So its 1982. I was heading on 11 years old. I'm an animal lover. Reared with Dogs and Cats all my life. I've even tried feckin Hamsters. Back in '82, we got a dog. A pup. A cross between a pointer and labrador. He was a great feeder, but was losing weight by the week. My poverty striken/taxed to the hilt Dad brought him to a local vet in West Dublin. It was a "young" practice with a human Pharmacy attached. Local bigshots. For its time it was nothing more than a money grabbing, disrespectful dump of a place to bring an animal. It had no compassion, charged a fortune and couldn't resolve our dogs problem. This was a take your money and fook your love of your pet in an era when having and actually caring for a pet was an expensive thing for those on a low wage. A few queries later and we got referred to a Vet called Watkins. He was the brother of Cathleen Watkins, the wife of Gay Byrne, up in Saggart, Co. Dublin. He was brilliant. Resolved the issue and charged a fair price. He cared about that dog. Did his best for him. That dog lived for 16 years and got great attention from another vet in his final years without a rip off fee. With pet insurance we have transformed the well being of our pets into an opportunity to charge a fortune, just like we do in human terms.

Some vets are into it and some vets are just in it for the dough. Not that I begrudge them a decent fee.

Sheep breeder

Two types of vets large and small animal practice,the small animal vet is not cut out for the large game and knows how to milk the customers heart strings to make a living. The large animal is a vocation and the real world.

PucaMama

Sheep breeder wrote: »

Two types of vets large and small animal practice,the small animal vet is not cut out for the large game and knows how to milk the customers heart strings to make a living. The large animal is a vocation and the real world.

Rubbish. Take off your rose tinted glasses and look again.


The vet I use is just a few Euro less expensive per visit than a gp. But they offer monthly plans for your pet e.g pay 15 a month and all vet visits are free for the year plus you get vaccinations etc too. I have 4 dogs so this kind of scheme is very helpfull.

I find most people who disagree with spending money on pets are they “back in my day....” type when dogs were lucky to live on the table scraps. Far too many of those still hanging on.

Lady Haywire

Sheep breeder wrote: »

Two types of vets large and small animal practice,the small animal vet is not cut out for the large game and knows how to milk the customers heart strings to make a living. The large animal is a vocation and the real world.

Our practice has a few who does both sooooo.....they can either milk both small & large animal customers or have a giant vocation

Wesser

OP I think your post is way over the top, full of venomous anger and way too personal.

Tuco88

Its not an easy job too, The pet in question cant tell them anything. Destroying peoples best frends for over 10 years or more on a weekly basis must grind you down.

Noveight

No doubting that they're saints around here. The amount of cattle that'd be four legs up without the practise in our locality is unthinkable.

r93kaey5p2izun

Personally I would love to receive health care to the standard my pets receive from the vet! Same day appointment with a full check up, and if necessary immediate bloods (phoned with results within a couple of hours), XRays, ultrasound or surgery, all from the local clinic. Referral appointment with a specialist within a week. I find the price completely reasonable for the standard of service. I would 100% accept treatment from my vet clinic if possible and would trust them as much as my gp and the sh1tty service I'm currently battling through in private hospitals with health insurance at the moment.

LETHAL LADY

My vet of 30 odd years is brilliant.
He's a real animal lover with the best interests of my pets.
He also kept working through a cancer diagnosis, so kudos to the chap for that.
Although, when he squeezed one of my dog's anal glands, and proceeded to wipe the gunk on his white coat, all the while keeping eye contact with me, truth be told he did make me waver a bit.

Cupatae

Hammer89 wrote: »

I don't really like when our dog is ill; not only because I love her very much and her pain is my pain, but because it also hurts my pocket. It hurts my pocket because, well, vets are robbing c*nts.

There, I said it. I know it's controversial, and I know they cure our furry friends of their ills, and I know we treat these people with the reverance that we treated priests with a few decades ago but, like those some of those same priests, vets are knackers, and charlatans, and scumbags - well, some of them. Our one, Aoife, most certainly is.

In my experience with Aoife and others, vets usually look for - and usually find - something else wrong with your cat or dog, just to ensure that the bill is a bit longer. And obviously you can't say, 'Hang on Aoife, is her tail really going to fall off if we don't buy your €80 prescription skin cream?' or else you look like a sh*t owner who cares more about money than you do about the pet, which is categorically untrue.

Our visit today cost a lot of money. We came back with treatments for three different things, even though we went for a specific complaint - her paws.

If it helps the dog then maybe it's money well spent, but how do I, as a non-vet, know if the dog was actually suffering from these other things in the first place? How do I know it's not the equivalent of a GP writing a prescription for cortisol cream just because her patient happened to come in with flakey eyebrows or something? How do we know Aoife and other vets aren't taking the piss on a massive scale? We don't. We just have to grin and bear it and take it up the arse because a UCD 2015 graduate says this is the best course of action.

No more Butchy.

It costs money to be a vet, it cost money to do the job, it costs money for the equipment to do the job, what are you expecting?

People expect, everything for nothing these days!

Discodog

Wibbs wrote: »

I'd put the blame more at the feet of insurance companies and medical supply companies. Vet costs and bills have gone up a lot since the whole pet insurance thing came in. Such insurance almost always raises prices across the board, both to the supplier of a service/product and the consumer.

Insurance changed everything & created a two tier system. I have been involved with Vets for many years & I have seen the changes. Vets now rely on tests rather than knowledge & instinct.

My Greyhound had a swelling on her cheek. The Vet insisted on blood tests, antibiotics etc. Two weeks & €300 later I met a retired Vet, that I know. He said it was a blocked saliva gland, common with Greyhounds & would get better on it's own.

I had a dog with a severe stomach problem. I thought that a blockage was a real possibility. The Vet took x rays, then ultrasound & they then admitted that neither would confirm a blockage as some items won't show on the tests.
The dog died during the exploratory operation which discovered a blockage. I was billed for two expensive tests which were pointless & delayed the operation.

borderlinemeath

I can't fault my vet, I have 4 dogs and I foster for a local rescue so I know everybody in the practice and they're not in it for the money. They have dealt with complex problems with my eldest dog to cancer surgery for my very special rescue boy and I have never felt that I was ripped off, all follow ups and check ups are FOC until the problem is sorted (although additional medical supplies are charged for). They do generous discounts for the local rescue and run donation drives for them. I've had to ring the emergency number on bank holidays, Good Friday (for assistance with a litter of rescue pups) and at 2am, where the vet stayed up all night with the sick dog. I have the head vets private mobile if I need to run something by her and on occasion has said to ring her from 6.30am if I needed her.



It's certainly a vocation for them, not a cash cow.

_Dara_

Discodog wrote: »

Insurance changed everything & created a two tier system. I have been involved with Vets for many years & I have seen the changes. Vets now rely on tests rather than knowledge & instinct.

My Greyhound had a swelling on her cheek. The Vet insisted on blood tests, antibiotics etc. Two weeks & €300 later I met a retired Vet, that I know. He said it was a blocked saliva gland, common with Greyhounds & would get better on it's own.

I had a dog with a severe stomach problem. I thought that a blockage was a real possibility. The Vet took x rays, then ultrasound & they then admitted that neither would confirm a blockage as some items won't show on the tests.
The dog died during the exploratory operation which discovered a blockage. I was billed for two expensive tests which were pointless & delayed the operation.

Yeah, that is mad that they couldn’t figure that out from observation. Switching back to humans for a sec, but my granny once had a blocked salivary gland. Her doctor figured it out very quickly because my granny noticed that as soon as she touched some food to her tongue, her cheek would swell up. As far as I recall, it was an easy fix which involved medication to dissolve the stone. I would be amazed if the same thing couldn’t be observed in an animal. Though maybe dogs produce saliva more constantly? In humans, even now, the preference is to keep things simple where possible. It should be the same for animals.

YFlyer

There were a lot of sick animals in Vietnam.

valoren

The things you own end up owning you.

Idle Passerby

If you dislike your vet you're free to go to a different one. Like every other service, you shop around til you find one you like.

Gorgeousgeorge

Neither saint or a wanker. They provide a service that i need. Same as the fella in the local shop.

Anyway think you have it bad my vet bill last year was just shy of 17k

Discodog

borderlinemeath wrote: »

It's certainly a vocation for them, not a cash cow.

It has become a serious cash cow as an industry. One company owns 363 vet clinics in the UK & they have started buying here. It's a very worrying development.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/11/13/cvs-the-countrys-biggest-veterinary-group-youve-never-heard-of-h/

Discodog

Idle Passerby wrote: »

If you dislike your vet you're free to go to a different one. Like every other service, you shop around til you find one you like.

Not really. You need someone fairly close. You don't want to long distances especially in an emergency.

_Brian

The vet we have coming to the farm here is great, she has a genuine care for animals and we never feel overcharged.