Vet fees/visits

Less & Less individuals seeking veterinary care. Was reading an article and thought it was ironic after me & hubbie was having a chat about how long it was going to take vets to realize they can't keep charging high prices and expect to stay in business.

Mobile & Vaccination clinics are on the rise and individuals are getting smarter about internet & ordering meds. You can now put your dog on your Wal-greens drug card & get meds cheaper there with a prescription than your vet selling them to you. If your vet starts to charge you for that prescription, you may need to change vets. i mean come on, he already charged you for an office vist right. People doctors don't charge to write those prescriptions why should your vet upcharge you?

I found the below article to vets a bit ironic, do they actually not realize all the clinics opening up doing low/cost everything????

A neat article to vets: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Association+news/Study-documents-decline-of-veterinary-visits/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/703733?contextCategoryId=47831

I know my vet is high priced.....but I also know that he is the best with my dogs. He knows I will have those spayed/neutered elsewhere cause he does the laser surgery and is much higher priced, but I do go to him for everything else and I don't get perscriptions from him and he knows I order on line for tons of things....LOL!!! But he if absolutely wonderful with my dogs & puppies and he does recommend me to clients looking for dachshunds or having to have their beloved pet PTS! Also those buyers continue to go to him and I get updates about my pups......LOL!!

Just to highlight this, I was calling around today-it's time for the two girls to get their rabies and microchips done. One of my local vets was charging $25 for the rabies and $50 for the microchip, oh and don't forget the $45 office visit. The other local vet was charging $19 for the rabies and $75(!) for the microchip, plus a $40 office visit. Needless to say, I just ordered five microchips from Revival for $49.99. And I'm going to a different vet, further away for $16 rabies shots with no office visit charged unless I want an exam. And if I do, the office visit is $30. Holy freaking cow. I never paid more than $29.00 for the microchips at my old vet in Washington. I also got prices from this vet on a c-section ($630 to $725 as opposed to my local vets who quoted $2000 to $2500), spay (100 as opposed to $290), neuter ($75 and I haven't checked my local vet on that one).

Yeah not too happy about vet prices in our area either. They charge a $43 fee for an office visit, and $60 for microchips. They quoted me $120 for a brucellosis test on top of the $43 office visit. The shots arn't too bad....I think rabies is only $15....I've never asked about the booster shots because we just do those ourselves. They charge $286 for a dental, and $350 for spays. I haven't asked them about neutering, and I'm afraid to ask what it would cost for a c-section. We also don't like their rules for litter visits. They make you do the puppy shots at thier litter visits. Since I refuse to take my pups unvaccinated to a place where sick animals go in and out of all day we just decided to put something about that in our health guarantee contract.

I finally figured out that I need to call around and get quotes. I forgot to ask about dentals-Reilly could use one-her teeth are just nasty. I think she's been eating poopsicles all winter and she's got a ton of tarter now. And the bones aren't taking it off, so she needs a cleaning and then regular brushing from now on.

When we were going here 15 minutes from the house...I was paying a whole lot more than my now pleasant charging/reasonable vet that's about an hour away!..lol..We choose to drive to him because A)He's reasonable.B) He doesn't try to charge us for what we don't want/need.C)He takes the time to talk about options and is thourough with the dogs.

Neuter is only about $75 spay $85 or so...Rabies are only like $15.Office visit is $28(second dog/pup is $14)..office visit/exam is included in the fixing fees.
.I can be at this all day...

If I honestly feel a price is jacked up too much I will definately call around first.

Gosh,I haven't had to ask about a C-section before,so knock on wood for that one...but I think my vet is worth the hour drive(one way, and through traffic in town)

littletinydachz wrote:When we were going here 15 minutes from the house...I was paying a whole lot more than my now pleasant charging/reasonable vet that's about an hour away!..lol..We choose to drive to him because A)He's reasonable.B) He doesn't try to charge us for what we don't want/need.C)He takes the time to talk about options and is thourough with the dogs.

Neuter is only about $75 spay $85 or so...Rabies are only like $15.Office visit is $28(second dog/pup is $14)..office visit/exam is included in the fixing fees.
.I can be at this all day...

If I honestly feel a price is jacked up too much I will definately call around first.

Gosh,I haven't had to ask about a C-section before,so knock on wood for that one...but I think my vet is worth the hour drive(one way, and through traffic in town)

Wow I need a vet like yours

You're telling me!...I was spending a boat load before I found him!..lol...I still have new puppy owners tell me that they get quoats for spays to be $400...I think that's nuts!

The worst part of it is that if we have an emergency,he's an hour away...The second closest emergency vet is about 40 mins(the one we would choose if urgent)....The last emergency we had cost us nearly $400,to get pain meds and ultimately put the dog down(Long story for another time)

And yes all other vets around here have exam/visit fees alone from $38-$50!

This new place for me is about 45 minutes away. My closest emergency vet is about 10 minutes away, the one I like better about 20 minutes. Unless there is serious distress, I would rather drive the extra 25 minutes and save a great deal of money. In addition, the new vet offers reproductive services in general, which the local vets do not. The local vets always ask when I'm getting Millie spayed.

The vet I've always used has a $38 office fee, so for annuals it's like $130. That's rabies, dhlpp-cv, and heartworm test. I recently got a brucellosis quote for them and it would have been $50 just for the test! I've found a new vet that specializes in reproduction, she's about an hour away and we went there got the test done and got her nails trimmed for $45. We had to go an hour away but we saved $43. I can't remember the rabies prices or anything but they don't charge an office fee.

When I take in a litter of pups...it is just $18 per pup for exams, fecals cost me $21, reg office visit $40, ultrasound is $43, teeth cleanings start at $350, Bordatella $15, Health certificate is $39 plus $40 exam visit, Rabies is $18, Vaccination/puppy shot is $16, Brucellosis is $40, spays are $250 to start and neutering is $200 to start....he uses the Laser surgery tho. If I take in more than 10 pups at a time I get a 20% discount....LOL! He also gives me a discount on spay/neuter but he is still to high and I can get them done cheaper elsewhere, neuter for $60 and spay for $80 at a clinic 10 minutes from him. He is an hr drive for me......but his bedside manner, is absolutely wonderful and he specializes in reproduction......and he doesn't push me to alter my dogs, and he tells me when to retire....LOL!!!
He checks Patellas, for hernias, heart, lungs, eyes, ears, over all structure, bite, teeth and is just thorough for every office visit with either pups or dogs!