Cost of veterinary care too high?

It can be expensive. Of COURSE it's gone up, just like everything else has. Costs increase every time we order supplies, but we've held off increasing prices for customers until just recently (2-3 years of no increases). Keep in mind that vet clinic aren't non-profits and they HAVE to make money to stay open. As a veterinary assistant, I really do like getting paid.

Also, of course where you live will have an effect. Someone living where a studio apartment is upwards of $1000 can't make a living on $7 an hour, so prices have to be higher to pay staff, and everything else is generally more expensive too.

Most of the time quality of care and cost of care go hand in hand too. Maybe not for things like annual exams and stuff, but for surgeries? Yeah. Our spays are $400 but we do EVERYTHING - bloodwork, safe gas anesthesia, premeds, post-sx pain control, sterile environment, several types of monitoring, buried sutures (no suture removal after healing required) etc. There is another place around here that does a spay for $30. They knock the dog out with injectables, spay it, close up with non-absorbable sutures, and leave it on the floor to recover.

When I hear about places like that, I wonder how it is possible for them to stay in business. Does he not have staff? Does he not have equipment? Blood machines? All of these things cost money. Rabies vaccines are cheap, but the other ones are generally more than $5 cost from the manufacturer. Or at least the ones we use are. I don't know what the off-brands run.

I don't even want to think what our new digital xray machine cost, but we get films in 8 seconds now and can easily burn them to CD in order for clients to take them to specialists. We replaced the old machine (and hand dip tanks) when we couldn't get parts to repair it anymore. Same with the CBC machine- we get nearly instant results instead of having to hand-count (white cell count and a differential). We bought that when we couldn't buy the supplies to do the white cell counts by hand anymore.

Our prices are average for the area.

Is vet care expensive? Oh hell yes. Especially when you start looking at specialty medicine. And yeah, some of it is cost-prohibitive. Back surgery is $7000+ at the place we refer to in Philly, and that doesn't cover hospitalization. But at the same time, it used to be that the service wasn't available at all. So.

Auggie just had his annual last week... exam, heartworm test was due, we ran yet another urinalysis (chapter 408929 in the Bladder Saga), and I chose to have a fecal done. It was just under $100 for all that. It seemed like a lot at first, but when I looked at everything broken down, it really wasn't too bad...

but yeah, costs of EVERYTHING is going up. About the only thing not going up is wages. =P

It's gone from about $35 a visit 5 years ago to about $50 a visit now. Eye appointments run $450 just to walk in the door. Repro vet is $85 for an appointment. So it's definately not cheap, nor free. Hence why I do most of my own work and get the other stuff ala carte if I can.

I had an old vet of mine comment about why I don't do vaccines at their office and I just stated that a $4 vaccine shouldn't cost $35 just as a $1 rabies vaccine shouldn't cost $30 when syringes cost 15 cents and I'm there for an appointment paying for their time already. Vaccines take less than a minute to prep and take about as much time as me finding a beer at the back of the fridge.

So what do I use my vet for these days? Bloodwork to send to a lab, emergencies, and surgical stuff. That's it. If I knew how to do my own blood draws I'd probably even do those myself. It's pretty rare that I need true diagnostic services - usually I have an idea of what's going on.

I think it has gotten up a bit, but not terribly. Yeah I'm sure moving from NM to NoVa, you'll see a huge price difference, but NoVa is also ridiculously expensive in a lot of things.

Our vet visits average about $100 I'd say (and I think that's normal around here). It's a 30-40 dollar office fee, plus whatever else needs to be done. They have waived the office fee for me before and given me discounts on bloodwork and UAs (back when I was in and out at least once a month). I flat out adore my vet office - the front office staff is ALWAYS polite and cheerful, and the vets are amazing. They're super nice and gentle with Mu (who's terrified of vets in general) and they take all the time you need to ask/answer questions. I never feel rushed in or out.

I think prices are really reasonable around here.

I haven't noticed a huge increase, but I have been extremely lucky with my girls that I haven't had any problems that meant a large treatment bill or many vet visits. The worst I had was about 6 months ago when Abby started passing blood at 4.00am in the morning and we rushed to our vets. Obviously that visit was a tad expensive, but that is to be expected. It was definitely in line with previous fees. Thankfully, the poor chicken only had mild gastro-enteritis and was as right as rain after some treatment and time.

Whilst I know they have people to pay and have to run their business, I highly doubt that it's going to be a $50 difference to euthanize a ferret from one clinic to another in the same city and the same area of said city. They use the same drugs, the ferret is in my lap, and the cost of living is the same (I'm not even talking on different sides of the city, I'm talking a 10 minute drive distance).

Same as the vet visit fees. One vet charges $80 for the exam, the other $40. The *only* difference is the vet clinic (heck, the cheaper one has more knowledgable vets, and is in a more expensive area in town)

I am not really sure. I wouldn't want to go to a vet that's super cheap, because then I'm wondering what they are sacrificing in order for cheaper vet care (what kind of anesthesia is being used? heated surface during surgeries? etc) But a vet that is super expensive is not always of interest to me, either, UNLESS the vet is very very good.

I'd say my vet is kind of pricey, however I like their services, I like their staff, how they treat my dog, their views on most things, and to me, it's worth it to pay a little extra for that. But then I went to this one vet who was very expensive but I don't feel treated my dog the right way. So I am willing to pay big bucks to make sure my dog is being taken care of properly, correctly, and how I like to do things.

I know when I go to the spay clinic around here for little things that I am NOT getting top notch stuff - I do really like the place, and will go there for a $7 rabies shot, but I'm also sacrificing being in the room with him while they do (they just take him back quick, give him the shot, and bring him back out to me). The doctor there is very nice, but you don't see too much of her. You can get appt's for a "general check-up" but I definitely don't feel it's thorough. But for someone trying to cut corners with $$, it may be good enough... for me, it's not when it comes to that kind of stuff.

I also think vets go thru a lot of school and are expected to know and do a LOT of things, so I don't really mind them trying to make back what they owe on school plus make a nice income. Plus sometimes I DO believe you get what you pay for. Not always. But a lot of time.

I don't have it in front of me, but for Jackson's yearly late in 2011, I'm pretty sure I left paying around $250... including yearly bloodwork, exam, bordatella vaccine, walk-in fee, 6 months of Interceptor, heartworm/lyme test, and stool sample.

Our vet here in town is 30.00 office fee and his other prices are decently normal for the area. The vet that I work for (and is now my dogs vet) does no office fee's and everything is low cost, so our spays for female dogs is 60.00 and shots are a bit cheaper than our area

The vet we use is awesome and charges $28-35 for an exam. She also does vet tech appointments where you can schedule to bring your dog in for a booster vaccine or a microchip insertion, stuff like that for $15.

The office fee, I believe, is the same as an exam fee. Which typically runs about $40. But I haven't paid an office fee in a while. Generally they young dogs get vax updates when we board over Christmas, so no office/exam fee to charge for since they are already there and do it whenever they like.

And the last time I took Lizzie in for a rabies update, the tech just came in and gave her the shot, and that was that. So no office fee. Rabies cost $16, IIRC.

What I don't like, is being told I have to give DHLPP (I think that's the correct term) and canine flu every year just to board my dogs. I can't stand that. That alone will cost about $50-$70 per dog.

My vet's prices are very reasonable, and there is no fee to walk through the door. But most vets around here are ridiculously expensive, and to walk through the door alone is upwards of $40.00.

I don't have a vet yet in Kelowna (will when I take the cat to get neutered) but down here in Vancouver my vet was very reasonably priced. I never felt overcharged and they were a 24/7 office. In a bit of a ghetto area but they were great. I honestly think their area had something to do with why they weren't ask expensive. THe building couldn't have cost an arm and a leg like it would've in a nicer area of town.

Plus, in a low income area most people aren't rolling in money. So they seemed to price fairly for the area.

Well to be honest I am not too sure. Teagan really goes into the vet when she really needs it. I do my own vaccination. And she does not get those every year. Or ever.

But when I did take her in last year for a check up because of her incontinace I remember it not being too pricey.

Now since Im moving to a rural area, I am not looking forward to how expensive the price of a vet will be. I have not really looked into it. Heck, they might be even cheaper who knows.

It depends where you go. Our vet is amazing, I love them so much. We've been using them for years and they treat us so well and don't ever over charge us. They give us breaks where they can and always give us the best care and attention. A couple weeks ago to get an exam plus medecine for Violet was like $35.

It's expensive here. For the SPCA clinic it's 50-60 for walk in general assessments. For the other vets, it's 80-120 just for a consultation.

Routine spays are about 300-500 here.

Rabies shots cost 60-80.

I'm screwed cuz my vet finally retired. He would drop our exam fees and he was soooo cheap! Some vets here are expensive and some are pricey, just depends.

Thank god my new horse vet is just like my old vet. My emergency call a couple months ago with mess was 82$! Lol! Can't beat that.

The vet I use is *very* expensive. But she is amazing with Frodo. AMAZING. So even though I am paying triple what other places in the area charge, I have piece of mind. She doesn't skimp on things because he's being an a**hole, and she takes all the time we need to get through the visit with as little stress as possible for both Frodo and myself. She is also a holistic vet in the middle of the city, which is also going to drive prices.

Almost all of my friends here use this clinic, and I have yet to hear a bad word about them.

The only other place I have used that I was happy with was the clinic that SpringerLover worked at. And that was awesome because she was able to poke him with the needle to knock him out, not the scary vet