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.

deandean

€250 might be about right if it included for cremation of the remains.
But I'd expect a standard vet's charge (€50-60) for a PTS when you bring the dog away for burial.

Patrick2010

Had to have our 15 year old springer PTS about 5 years ago. He was having mobility issues, sometimes needed help getting up but eating ok and was comfortable in the house. He must had a stroke one night because when I came down I knew from the smell he had lost control of his bowels (never happened in 15 years), also couldn't stand.
We knew that unfortunately it was then the end and rang our vet of 30 years (we had a previous spaniel) to ask if he could come up to do the necessary. Despite living only 5 minutes walk away he refused saying to bring the dog down when the practice opened in a couple of hours.
I found online a very nice mobile vet who came out to the house. Total bill was 200 euro for the callout and removal for cremation.

Muppet Man

Around 200 euro for my jacker to be PTS, cremated and ashes returned in a nice box. I think Blood work was 80 euro. Leixlip vet

Sorry for your loss.

tphase

€120 to have my old cat put down a couple of months ago, included the test that showed he had FIV plus he was in the vet's for the day

cocker5

Sorry for your loss

Def ask for full breakdown OP you may not know the full story and charges could include other things like urine test (€30), internal and external bloods (internal €65 and external can be €150 plus) ..pain killers, injections etc.. the PTS fee may include cremation, nice box etc.. without seeing the actual bill it’s very hard to know .. (prices above are based on what I pay)

cruizer101

Definitely question it and look for breakdown, it may well be a case that you were overcharged by accident, maybe charged for cremation by mistake.
Its not ideal given circumstances but mistakes can happen.

Lackadaisical

Our cat died a few months ago and the bill was over €750, of which only half was paid by insurance. Most of it was for blood tests and putting him on an IV. Seemed quite steep to me.

I’d say over his lifetime (16 yrs) we easily spent €3000 with the vet and I can’t even remember how much on insurance.

In general I’ve found vets’ fees (with insurance) worse than human medical costs.

He got bad constipation once and I ended up with a bill for €800 to basically put him on fluids.

It’s one thing that’s put me off getting a new pet.

I know vets have to earn money but I found every bill was about 2X what I was expecting and the insurance company often queried them and then cut my cover due to his medical issues being fairly big. As he got older they just paid less and less which made the insurance a bit useless.

tk123

I'd want to see an itemised bill - eg were you maybe charged for cremation by mistake as other have suggested?....BUT..No I would't expect them to write off €500 if everything is accounted for on the bill - they're a business after all and would be out of business if they did it for everyone! They don't have a huge mark up on stuff - well ours doesn't anyways!

IJS84

We had our lab put to sleep a few years ago (age related issues), with cremation etc., was about the €250/€300 mark alright

Karma King

That's outrageous.

Our dog broke his back 2 years ago and the vet came out to the house and put him down. €50 she charged.

AulWan

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm also sorry i haven't read all the replies, (short on time) but is it possible they mistakenly included a charge for cremation of your dog in the bill?

I paid extra for a single cremation for my cat, and the end cost was approx €500.

Tony H

We paid around €150 to have our Golden Joey put to sleep and cremated separately
, really sorry for your loss OP ,

bertsmom

Op so sorry for your loss, it's a horrible enough time for you right now. I had my beautiful Springer euthanized in January, he was my best friend since he came into my life in 2006. We always used the same vet who was an absolute dote to him.
We went in that morning and in my heart I knew what was ahead we had a private consultant room to say our final goodbyes while he carried on searing patients in another one, after about half an hour he was sedated and then the final euthanize injection while I held him. He went to sleep peacefully in my arms.
I remember being worried that I didn't have enough cash on me at the time but i was actually only charged sixty euros by the vet nurse/receptionist .
My dad was calling up that evening to collect him so we could bury him with our other dogs on the home farm and when he was leaving the vet nurse gave him back thirty euro because she had charged for them disposing of his body.
Be good to yourselves op and know that in time it gets easier xx

Steer55

DonalB1 wrote: »

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.

Donal

sorry for the loss of your beloved pet :-(

You were charged an extortionate amount of money on top of your loss. You should definitely query this bill and also reiterate all the monies you have paid to them in the past. Did you ever question the high bills you were presented with in previous years. I think I would have left that practise a long time ago.

Graces7

So sorry for all the losses here, and even more sorry for overcharges.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Rows Grower wrote:

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

Jesus christ on a wildebeest, i didn't say the onus was on the customer. If i am hit with a bill that i expect is too high i would ask what i am paying for. Then i could challenge them on the nonsense figure. Also didn't say that they should have asked when picking up the remains.

Sheepdish1

Hi op,

I’m very sorry to hear about your loss. It sounds like the vet receptionist timing and way of communicating this to you was very poor, if you are long term customers they would surely have sent you invoice in a few days instead of saying it to your after your dog passed away. Maybe she is new or just not good with customers.

I would give it a few days and ask for an itemised bill. Someone could have simply made an error eg included cremation etc or just added on an extra 0 by mistake ...... or there may have been more medication needed or tests run before putting your pet to sleep.....It’s would have been a very traumatic time for you, it could have been mentioned at the time.

When ready call them or perhaps drop in when there is a different receptionist on.

Best wishes

peasant

Very sorry about your loss, op.

Those charges (and the timing) sound pretty bad though.

We had to put our Bobtail mix down, rang the vet at 11 at night, drove out to their house and they charged 50 Euro (weeks later). Cremation and return in an urn was 200 euro, that one goes by size/weight of the dog and was payable only when we collected his ashes.

Benno (our 10 st lump) had a protracted injury with a twig in his paw. He had 2 x-rays, two small ops with full anaesthesia, several doses of antibiotics and umpteen follow-up visits for wound care. All that, over nearly a year, came to just over 600 euro and the most expensive items on it were the antibiotics and other assorted medicines...big dog, bigger costs.

For a small visit our vet takes between 15-30 Euro..depending on what has to be done plus the cost of any meds, if necessary. Again, the big fella costs more there than our terrier.

Generally speaking, I quite often do a double take when I see other people here mention their vet costs. I don't think we could afford our dogs if we had to pay 100+ every time just to say hello to the vet.

But even out here there is a marked difference between town and country vets. The townies seem to be quite happy to pay three times as much ...must be the fear of meeting a farmer, or god forbid, a sheep or cow in a trailer at the vets

boomerang

Sorry for your loss, OP.

Honestly don't think anyone replying to you here can call what you paid overcharging without seeing how the bill was itemised.

Maybe when you feel up to it, phone the receptionist and ask them to email you a breakdown of the cost.

davidk1394

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

€250 is fairly steep especially if your taking home the dog. How old was the dog that you ended up spending over 12k on a dog ?