So on Sunday the cat takes sick. She was seriously unwell. I called the vet who said sure, they could see her in about 20 minutes. It was about 1:30 by this time. Surgery had ended half an hour before. A slightly embarrassed cough was followed by "you do know there is a minimum charge on a Sunday?" I didn't.
Take a moment here to think what you might reckon to be a reasonable charge. I've had guesses from friends and rellies, and they've all been in the £50 - £60 range. So what do you think? In total to examine her and decide she needed further treatment was about six or seven minutes of the vet's time. Once the decision is made to go on and administer further care as necessary, paying becomes no issue: cat is sick, needs professional care, even hospitalisation. That's fine, go for it, make her better. But to charge someone with a sick cat £140* just to see them, because it is Sunday, for six minutes or so is something that could give vets a bad name. It could have been a hair-ball.
Fifty quid I could understand; professional training etc, £60 I would gulp a bit, but £140. I damn near swallowed my tongue. It is nothing but blackmail, extracting money from people who are worried and distressed about their moggie, especially when they have a 13 and 14 years old in the house, worried sick.
I dislike vets as a profession: I know about a dozen. Worked with several for many years. Not nice people, not nice at all.
Remember, this is the profession that charges YOU upwards of £40 to take two or three minutes, usually by a Veterinary Nurse, to administer a vaccine that has cost them around £2 per dose. Even given that the Nurse may earn around £15,000 per annum and has an hourly cost that is some rip off, sorry mark-up
For those of you interested, the cat had necrotic fat, which the rip-off vet knew nothing about and so for all her learning and so on, she was as much in the dark about it as me. I emailed one of the above dozen ex-'colleagues' and it results, most likely, from another cat bite.
Final bill for operations, one night in 'hospital' and pills. £516.00. Insurance? Nah.
Take it from me; if moggy goes out, get it insured.
*There were people queuing: both before me and after me. So assume they do two an hour for 6 hours: £1680: that's an equivalent rate to more, much more, than half a million per annum.
3 comments:
......
Gobsmacked. I am.
We got a bit more out of them when Tosca did her eye in. We got pills, creams, a two hour op, a night in hospital and a nurse to hold her still while the vet squirted green icky stuff in her eye which she then snorted out of her nose all over me. And I got to put ointment in her eye FOUR times a day for two weeks.
And it only cost 650 quid!
(she was insured so we only had to pay £550)
(Oh and it wasn't a Sunday so I guess I was lucky)
I'm gobsmacked too. I've been surprised to find that the meds that one of my cats has daily is cheaper in the Shire than it was in the Set.
Oh I mean she was insured so we only had to pay £100. My arithmatic goes a bit inverted under stress.
Post a Comment