Vets emergency out of hours services and costs?
Discussion
Hi All,
Is it normal for vets to effectively contract out their out of hours emergency services and overnight care?
I ask because mine doesn't. A friend's cat was a victim of a totally unprovoked dog attack at the weekend and he was quite seriously injured - we still don't know if he will survive. The emergency vet bill had already hit £1600 after 1 day although it's not clear quite what they did for this amount.
It seems that the 'normal' vet will look after him during the day at normal prices yet transfers control to the emergency vet overnight and the costs just seem phenomenal to me. They can't or won't give any indication how long he might have to stay in there (or even if he will survive) yet they still wanted £400 to monitor him last night (payable immediately of course). They charge separately to the main vet too.
I know you can't put a price on a loved pets life, but they really do seem to be milking this to me.
I was just wondering if this is normal for vets to operate this way? Needless to say the scumbag whose out of control dog it was refused to hang about to be identified and/or contribute.
Is it normal for vets to effectively contract out their out of hours emergency services and overnight care?
I ask because mine doesn't. A friend's cat was a victim of a totally unprovoked dog attack at the weekend and he was quite seriously injured - we still don't know if he will survive. The emergency vet bill had already hit £1600 after 1 day although it's not clear quite what they did for this amount.
It seems that the 'normal' vet will look after him during the day at normal prices yet transfers control to the emergency vet overnight and the costs just seem phenomenal to me. They can't or won't give any indication how long he might have to stay in there (or even if he will survive) yet they still wanted £400 to monitor him last night (payable immediately of course). They charge separately to the main vet too.
I know you can't put a price on a loved pets life, but they really do seem to be milking this to me.
I was just wondering if this is normal for vets to operate this way? Needless to say the scumbag whose out of control dog it was refused to hang about to be identified and/or contribute.
Yeah the majority of small animal practices contract out their out of hours service.
It means pets get better care - in the past when practices did do their own out of hours, it would often be staff who had worked during the day and were working the next day, so animals got pretty minimal monitoring, and as anyone who's tried it will know, it's pretty difficult to make sensible decisions at 3am when your body wants to be asleep. Out of hours services have staff who only work nights and are on site all night, so animals get much better monitoring and care.
The downside is an out of hours service costs more to run - night staff require higher wages and there's no routine daytime work to subsidise the night work, so these costs get passed onto the client.
£1600 may not be that unreasonable, depending on how much care the cat required. Daytime care for seriously ill animals can easily head towards £1000, so the extra premium for it being out of hours could easily get the bill up to £1600. Your friend should have a fully itemised bill for the care. Out of hours services have a lot of problems with clients not paying, especially if the animal doesn't survive, that's probably why they're asking for the money up front.
Hope the cat survives, unless the dog got onto the property where the cat lived I doubt the dog owner has any liability.
It means pets get better care - in the past when practices did do their own out of hours, it would often be staff who had worked during the day and were working the next day, so animals got pretty minimal monitoring, and as anyone who's tried it will know, it's pretty difficult to make sensible decisions at 3am when your body wants to be asleep. Out of hours services have staff who only work nights and are on site all night, so animals get much better monitoring and care.
The downside is an out of hours service costs more to run - night staff require higher wages and there's no routine daytime work to subsidise the night work, so these costs get passed onto the client.
£1600 may not be that unreasonable, depending on how much care the cat required. Daytime care for seriously ill animals can easily head towards £1000, so the extra premium for it being out of hours could easily get the bill up to £1600. Your friend should have a fully itemised bill for the care. Out of hours services have a lot of problems with clients not paying, especially if the animal doesn't survive, that's probably why they're asking for the money up front.
Hope the cat survives, unless the dog got onto the property where the cat lived I doubt the dog owner has any liability.
Thanks for the responses. Fair enough then I guess. All the more reason to get insurance - something I've never deemed necessary for mine previously.
Apparently a dog is classed as out of control if it attacks another animal in a public place (presumably meaning a domesticated one), but since he's done a runner anyway it's a moot point. He had two and they were both completely out of control. Good job it wasn't a child they came across.
Apparently a dog is classed as out of control if it attacks another animal in a public place (presumably meaning a domesticated one), but since he's done a runner anyway it's a moot point. He had two and they were both completely out of control. Good job it wasn't a child they came across.
Portugal here - a year or two ago my neighbours dog tried to climb over my fence and impaled himself on a spike. I called a 24 hour vet and they opened up for me, they took him in, put him under anasthetic, and stiched up a hole in his stomach. They also gave me some tablets to give him.... total cost was about 200 euros. I think they charged me less as it wasn't actually my dog and I couldn't get a hold of the owner.
kooky guy said:
He had two and they were both completely out of control. Good job it wasn't a child they came across.
Keep walking around the area, you might eventually spot him or the dogs.KFC - count yourself lucky. My Portuguese friends cannot believe how much our vets cost. Last time I was there my dog had some tablets, checked over, tin of food opened, all in 18 Euro. Less than it costs me for my vet to even look at my dog.
A couple of years ago, our aging cat decided to take a turn for the worse on the Bank Holiday Monday after Xmas (One of those days in leui). I rang the vet at 9pm as she needed putting out of her missery and he said he'd meet us at the surgery at 10pm.
We arrived at 9.45pm and he arrive at 9.50pm, just as the poor old girl expired in my arms. We took her in and he double-check she'd gone and we left her with him to be cremated (frozen ground + dog meant no burial).
Anyway, I go back to collect her and pay what we owend, expecting about 2-300 quid. Got a bill for £70 which covered the cremation. He hadn't charged a penny for his own time.
Needless to say, he's a very busy vet!
We arrived at 9.45pm and he arrive at 9.50pm, just as the poor old girl expired in my arms. We took her in and he double-check she'd gone and we left her with him to be cremated (frozen ground + dog meant no burial).
Anyway, I go back to collect her and pay what we owend, expecting about 2-300 quid. Got a bill for £70 which covered the cremation. He hadn't charged a penny for his own time.
Needless to say, he's a very busy vet!
rovermorris999 said:
The practice I use cover emergency hours themselves. I've used them a couple of times and I from what I can remember the costs weren't bad. About £80 IIRC to meet me at the surgery. Out in the sticks and not in the South which probably makes the difference.
Mine does too. When one of mine needed emergency treatment at 2 am followed by 4 days and nights in intensive care before finally having to be pts, they only charged me £350 and that included a huge amount of diagnostics. Interesting. Thank you all for your replies - sounds like it's something to ask your vet before you need it. Personally I wouldn't go to a vet that didn't do their own out of hours cover. I just can't believe how expensive this has become. And it's still rising.
Going back to the friend's cat, his prognosis is now much better after some hairy moments. Fingers crossed, he'll be fine.
I work for a vets that doesn't do it's own night cover, we are a single practice, the premises is also where my boss and her family live. My boss will care for patients already in with us and often gives her private number out if we have concerns re: a pet so they can avoid going to the emergency vet. We have a fantastic reputation and are frequently recommended via word of mouth, however we are not set up to provide the best out of hours needs hence we use a nearby vet hospital that has dedicated nighttime vets/nurses.
It is not perfect and we have considered doing our own ooh but it would not work well with how we work etc. This does not mean we do not provide good service to our clients. (We also tell new clients how it works so they have a choice about whether to have us as their practice.
It is not perfect and we have considered doing our own ooh but it would not work well with how we work etc. This does not mean we do not provide good service to our clients. (We also tell new clients how it works so they have a choice about whether to have us as their practice.
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