Vet charges being obscene

DonalB1

Hi all,

Just a quick one...does anyone have any knowledge on the following (is it the norm?)

Recently our family dog passed away. He had a few issues and the vet thought it was best to put him to sleep. It was a shock to us all at the time but we didn't want the animal suffering so agreed if it was for the best.

When bringing our dog home to be buried the receptionist told us that we had an outstanding bill of 500 euro (250 for the bloods and 250 to put put to sleep). I can understand the bloods, but over the course of the animals lifetime we spent over 12,000 euro in that particular vet, between check ups, operations, food and medicine.

I'm actually appalled and embarrassed for them. To actually charge for that.

I run a business myself and I know everyone has overheads and staff to pay but that's insane

Alpha_zero

Why say put him to sleep, what not call it what it is.

Mike9832

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Why say put him to sleep, what not call it what it is.

Why not show some respect

<SNIP>

Caryatnid

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Why say put him to sleep, what not call it what it is.

Ugh.



The OP was 100% clear. You, less so.

Alpha_zero

Mike9832 wrote: »

Why not show some respect

<snip>

Why are you so upset?

Alpha_zero

Caryatnid wrote: »

Ugh.



The OP was 100% clear. You, less so.

Sleeping implies that you wake up.

Cherry Blossom

Alpha Zero, trolling is not tolerated in this forum. Do not post in this thread again please.

DBB

Folks,
Quit this crap now.
Alpha zero, the expression "put to sleep" is in common usage and is a perfectly acceptable alternative to describe ending a dog's life, so you can put that challenge to the op to bed immediately.
To others, personal abuse of posters will absolutely not be tolerated here. You don't have to agree with one another, but you must show done modicum of respect.
Thanks,
DBB

eviltwin

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Why are you so upset?

The OP has just lost a family pet, have a bit of respect

DonalB1

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Why are you so upset?

Bore off man, a serious loser to have the time to come on and troll people on a forum.

DonalB1

DBB wrote: »

Folks,
Quit this crap now.
Alpha zero, the expression "put to sleep" is in common usage and is a perfectly acceptable alternative to describe ending a dog's life, so you can put that challenge to the op to bed immediately.
To others, personal abuse of posters will absolutely not be tolerated here. You don't have to agree with one another, but you must show done modicum of respect.
Thanks,
DBB

Thanks for that but honestly it's fine!

Don't understand how he has the time to be coming on a forum with his terrible banter annoying others but up to himself if he's got nothing better for doing I suppose

Toots

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Was your dog insured? That would possibly cover the bloods, or at least part of it.

I'm not sure about the price of the bloods, but we had our dog put to sleep a couple of years ago and it was nothing like €250. I'm nearly sure €60 was the bill for the euthanasia.

yosser hughes

I would more be thinking that €250 on bloods seems high and maybe unnecessary considering the dog was at the end of its life.

I don't think €250 is high for euthanasia but I'd expect that to include disposal/cremation.

By the way, when you say you were taking the dog home to bury it. Where are you burying it?

DonalB1

Toots wrote: »

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Was your dog insured? That would possibly cover the bloods, or at least part of it.

I'm not sure about the price of the bloods, but we had our dog put to sleep a couple of years ago and it was nothing like €250. I'm nearly sure €60 was the bill for the euthanasia.

No instance unfortunately...hence the amount we spent in there.

Just can't believe after spending that amount they'd still charge so much

TheRiverman

€250 to euthanize a dog is insane.We had a very old pony,unfortunately last year we had to get her put to sleep due to health problems associated with her age.I haven't the receipt to hand,but I'm very sure the vet charged us €90 and that included call out and 2 injections.

claregal1

Hi ..Sorry to hear about your pet .
We got our dog put to sleep last Sept and the vet came to our house on a Sunday to do it . Total cost was 180 euros and that included cremation which was 120 euros .

flos1964

One of my own old girls was in my vets for two days and a night..she was on a drip and had medicines but it was her time to go...all in all it came to 135 euros...yours sounds very expensive...anyway sorry to hear about your loss.

deadlineday

€60 was the bill for the my dogs euthanasia and he came out to my brothers farm to do it at no extra cost but thats in rural area.

Odyssey 2005

Sorry to hear about your dog op. We had to do it last june. Came off the boat in roslare, belted home. The vet was already in the house with my kids. Even he was in bits. He did what he had to do and took me aul pal away. He refused to charge us a penny. He charged €80 or €120 for the cremation but that was it. Like you, we had been attending the VH for many years,but he only took it over about 5 years ago.
Hes one in a million. Even called us a couple of times afterwards to see how we were.

StillThinking

I am so sorry for your loss, we had to have our wee girl put to sleep last Easter, she was 14, it was horrible but the vet was fantastic. They came out to the car and gave her a sedative then came out for us 10 minutes later and done what needed to be done. I went into reception to pay after and was told that no it was fine, just to go home and mind ourselves

Cherry Blossom

Alpha_zero wrote: »

Sleeping implies that you wake up.

I've applied a red card to this post, but to clarify the card is for abusing the reported post system. Do not report any more posts in this thread Alpha_zero.

Rows Grower

DonalB1 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just a quick one...does anyone have any knowledge on the following (is it the norm?)

Recently our family dog passed away. He had a few issues and the vet thought it was best to put him to sleep. It was a shock to us all at the time but we didn't want the animal suffering so agreed if it was for the best.

When bringing our dog home to be buried the receptionist told us that we had an outstanding bill of 500 euro (250 for the bloods and 250 to put put to sleep). I can understand the bloods, but over the course of the animals lifetime we spent over 12,000 euro in that particular vet, between check ups, operations, food and medicine.

I'm actually appalled and embarrassed for them. To actually charge for that.

I run a business myself and I know everyone has overheads and staff to pay but that's insane

I hope you didn't pay on the spot, that is outrageous money to charge anyone, never mind a loyal customer.

I'd say you are well able to word an email and if I were you I'd be sending one off for the Vets attention and I wouldn't be holding back.

Were the bloods taken in advance, and confirmed the need to put your dog to sleep? If done at the same time it makes no sense.

It's possible to see how you got to €12k with that vet.

Sorry for the sudden loss.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Sorry for your loss OP.

It's fairly costly alright, did you ask what the breakdown was? Do they have a pricing list anywhere? I'd certainly question it, but at the same time that you spent money there before shouldn't have an impact on this bill. Some vets are quite pricey though.

Rows Grower

Adrienne Bewildered Klutz wrote: »

Sorry for your loss OP.

It's fairly costly alright, did you ask what the breakdown was? Do they have a pricing list anywhere? I'd certainly question it, but at the same time that you spent money there before shouldn't have an impact on this bill. Some vets are quite pricey though.

There should be no onus on a customer to ask for a breakdown of a 500 euro bill.

And a bit of decorum towards a customer collecting a pet that has just died is the least that can be expected.

Sorry for your loss.

It does seem excessive. 2 years ago our vet charged €80 to euthanise. A further €50 for dog to be cremated with others or €300 for solo cremation and return of ashes. This was a large dog, a greyhound.

Hi OP. Sorry for your loss as indeed others here have said.


Can I ask a general question here that's related to this thread and on topic.

I don't have a pet dog but I do have a relation who does. I was asking them recently around pet insurance recently, being a fan of the "supervet" TV series- they have an 11 year old dog- and they mentioned that a lot of the general vet bills would never have been covered under pet insurance and also, that such pet insurance would have been about 5-600 per annum - so don't know if pet insurance would have covered this very sad ending but nevertheless it would have cost you a lot more in insurance every year.

Would this be a fair reflection of pet insurance? that it's only designed for people who need things like hip replacements for their pets?

Purple Mountain

I would be thinking that's a city price?
And it includes cremation of the dogs remains?
Still very excessive though.
Appalling so especially if your doggie was their regular patient.
We put a pomeranian down about 9years ago. We brought her home to bury her and I'm pretty sure it was something tiny like 20e or not much more for her injection to go to peace.
That was a country practice.

DonalB1

Not a city price.

Actually couldn’t believe it to be honest. I thought it was really taking advantage.

I’d understand if it was the first time they’d met us. They’re running a business and bills need to be paid.

But we’ve spent €12,000 in there over the past decade and then for our final visit they charge €500.

I’m actually in disbelief.

Rubberchikken

im really sorry for your loss op.

we had to have our dog, 14yo, put yo sleep 5 years ago due to severe cardiac issues and our vet eho is excellent called to our home to
carry out the procedure.
he charged 30 euro if i remember correctly.
its a great practice in a medium size town but he never seems to charge what vets in other places do.

Purple Mountain

Are you going to question the bill?
I definitely would let them know that you're very unhappy and insulted by it.
If you don't get a satisfactory response, I'd move on to another practice if you get another dog.