[GrannieAnnie]

5 Minutes to drain Penny's ear (as she has an oral oedema again), clean her ears with a couple of cotton buds and squirt a few drops of Canaural down and quick massage the ear canal. Small bottle of Canaural for me to give her drops for a week.  £69.26 please!   

Oh and if it keeps happening, we'll have to drain it all down, and stitch around the ears to hold the issues together, under a general anaesthetic, and that'll be £212.00!!!!
Vet drives a lovely car!!!!! 

[wighty]

Rocky's kidneys failed, two nights at vets before decision made ! Then a week later Fudge (my bitch) had to have a hysterectomy (sp) then a few days after that she collapsed with bleeding from her ..... turned out the pyomera (sp sp sp) had gone into her bladder.  In all £850.  Fortunately the vets allowed us to pay off on a weekly basis but were told 'miss one payment and the whole lot will be due'. Our vet is lovely and is now a TV star appearing on 'Cat Island' for those who get Meridian.

[GrannieAnnie]

But yours was serious vets business Wighty!!!!  Still a lot of money though!

[joyfull]

Pyametra for my Newfoundland  X two years ago (luckily spotted early - brown liquid oozing and the fact that she kept drinking loads of water - so no spreading infection) cost us including 2 nights stay afterwards and all meds - metacam and antibiotics - cost me £825.
Grannie we also had the same ear problem in our Oscar (GSD) caused by Deefor (fatter version of Penny - who later went on to die of kidney failure and heart attack) when as a pup she dragged Oscar round by his ears. Luckily draining worked for him.
Have got Olliepops insured as I know her breed (Neapolitan mastiff)are known to have problems with their eyes (cherry eye) and their bones being very large and prone to breaking/dislocation, and skin infections due to the wrinkles. Mind you the insurance is just under £20 a month so soon mounts up  .
 

[nzdunn]

that was expensive, instead of wishing you were a vet i wouldnt mind being married to one        We know all about vet bills, before we had our gsd put to sleep we tried everything for him, then it came to claiming back on our insurance only to realise we werent covered as he had something similar when he was a puppy, it cost us a fortune, he was put to sleep september 2008 and ive just paid the last instalment last month, nitemare, although i still would give everything to have my dog back .  nickyx

[Caralou]

I'm with you Nicky, I'll marry one please  :happy: I know of two very good looking vets, sadly I believe they are both already taken 

One of my cats, Thorsy, is only 18 months old and he has already cost over £1,000 in vets bills. He has a gastric problem and had he remained feral would not have made it as most food causes him to get ill, temperature spikes and severe vomiting and upset tum. Has had two overnight stays in the vets already. Thankfully I insured him as soon as I got him so in reality it has only cost me £50 for all his treatment. He is on rolling cover as well as will always be covered as long as I pay monthly - his premium first year was £8 per month, not it's £16 per month, but has still payed for itself many years over!

Vets may cost a lot, but worth every penny for the treatment I've had to get for mine.

[wighty]

I find it hard to understand why vets have to have 'sleep in people' when they have dogs overnight but not any other animals. Apparently that is the reason why dog bills are higher.  Fortunately never had any real big problems with my horses or I would be bankrupt by now.

[GrannieAnnie]

Do you have 'pet' insurance on your horses Wighty?

[wighty]

We did when they were younger Grannie, but Theseus is now about 38 , Cassius about 34 and Chicory about 36 so they won't accept them.  They are all retired and spend their days doing whatever they would like to do out in their field.  If someone was ill I'm afraid the deed would be done and they would be buried with the rest at the bottom in the 'bog area'. The only one who is insured is Bad Harry who is only 26 who my dad bought for a pound but they won't accept him after this year. None are ridden and just do what they want to do.  They are all on the mainland (at Farnham, Surrey) and are looked after by my friend Jane who keeps her two on my land for free in return.

[GrannieAnnie]

Awww Wighty, what lovely ages!!!!  And what a lovely life they obviously have!

[Foxy]

awww! Wighty, what fantastic ages! do you have any piccies? I love admiring other peeps horses, just wish I had time for some..

[Jellyhead]

When I lived in the Uk about 7 years ago, I rescued 2 kitties. Lovely fluffy black kitties that had been abandoned. To cut a long story short, one had Perthes disease in 2 hips and the other 1 in just 1. The ops cost £1200.00 , for that, they removed the hip joints and sewed them back up Thank goodness they were insured.
When we moved here, Alfie, another rescue had a run in with something big. The vet said, we need to remove his hip joint, I thought, oh no here we go again. They kept him in for 2 days. Removed the hip and sewed him back up. The cost 200 euros
Wish my vet bills were that low now

[Rubellite]

There is a wonderful product called THORNIT for ear problems. Maybe worth a try 

[janet12000]

I have insurance for my cats and dog after spending most of my savings when  Peter was poorly last year.
It costs me about 15 quid a month for the lot of them for basic cover, which means if they are ever diagnosed with a life long condition I am only covered for a year so hopefully that won't happen!
I suppose there are pro's and cons about pet insurance but it gives me peace of mind should anything really nasty happen to them.

Peter had a growth in his throat, and it was either PTS or treat him. How could I not treat the little darling?
I took a weeks emergency annual leave to nurse him, and was £800 lighter in my pocket after the episode.

Mad???
Yes probably. 

[John]

I had a long chat with my pal the vet about charges and wages. His feeling is that they're underpaid (he views doctors as overpaid one species specialists) but even so, when you look at the cost of equipment and premises etc, theatre time is very expensive.