We had our Carrie at the Vets last week, for her dental scale and polish and was shocked at the cost charged. She did also have her annual booster and her claws cut under the G.A., as she hates having them done and screams when she sees the clippers coming near her, even before they have touched her claws. She did not need any teeth out during the procedure and we were charged £396.36. When we first adopted Squeek, we took him for a dental examination and he needed 10 teeth out and the cost was at least £100 less than Carrie's bill, if not more. I could have had a full set of false teeth for that amount! We think the cost was excessive. What does everyone else on the forum get charged by their vets for this kind of procedure?

The Yorkshire vet was on a TV talk show this morning, who said that a G.A. should cost about £50. He also said that if he was not a vet, he would not buy pet insurance. The problem with not having it he said, is that if your dog attacks someone, you could be sued for £millions.

I also do not think we should be paying V.A.T. on a vet's bill, as it is not a luxury item, it is essential medical care for an animal. The Yorkshire vet said we should start up a petition and send it to the government.

It's hard to compare costs, especially when you have multiple things done at the same time. Have you asked for a statement with a breakdown of costs?
Earlier this year, Jock had what was classed as a minor dental (£57) with major extractions (£85 - his teeth were already bad when we re-rehomed him aged 9). He also had his annual inspection and booster (£48.50) and was micro-chipped (£21.50) at the same time. All that came to about £380 including VAT.
The anaesthetic fee was £125, plus about £40 of associated drug costs. It depends on the size of the dog and possibly, to some extent, the breed, as greyhounds are susceptible to problems with anaesthetic.

A year ago Paddy had to have a facial laceration cleaned & stitched and had his teeth scaled etc at the same time. That came to roughly £195 including analgesia and antibiotics. As Marion rightly says it would be worth asking for an invoice breakdown.
As to the question of insurance, the Dogs Trust, as part of their membership deal, offer 3rd party public liability cover. I feel that insurance is such a lottery with the excess to pay and things like dental work not being covered. All three of ours have had a few minor things done and I reckon that I've paid nearly as much in vet charges as I have in insurance with only one claim so far.

Hi Marion,

We always get a breakdown of costs from our vets. There were 15 items on the sheet, including GA Canine Standard MACRO £171.63. GA dog extended induce & maintain £100.00, Dental scale and polish Ex GA £96.92, iv monitor per day £20, Vcc dog booster & Health check £39.85, 1.25 x Metacam inj 20mls £12.35 and lots of other drugs, catheter, drip set up, etc etc. Luckily we were not charged for the nail cutting, as it was not mentioned. At least your Jock had major extractions, which were included in your high cost, Carrie had no teeth out!

I still think vets are charging us too much these days, to look after the health of our animals. It will put many people off, who have limited funds, from having an animal,which is not what we want to do, especially for our beloved Greyhounds, who are looking for loving homes.

All 3 of our Greyhounds and our old boy Leo, who is over the Rainbow Bridge now, had bad teeth when they were adopted and even with tooth brushing, and dental chews etc, they still manage to get tartar and plaque on their teeth, which I know Greyhounds are prone to and that they are susceptible to G.As.

We have super vets who we have great trust in to treat our Greys. All the staff at the surgery love it when we bring them in and they make a great fuss of them. So we have nothing against them personally, or their medical skills, just what vets seem to be charging nowadays for treating our animals.

We have given up a lot, to be able to adopt Greyhounds and would give up even more, to keep on adopting them, (including needing to get new glasses and teeth myself which were badly needed. So please forgive me if I do not recognise you at the show, due to my bad eyesight, or my denture falls out while talking to you, when I am serving at my stall at the show! So please come and have a look, as all the money made is going to our Greyhound Rescue.

Our Greyhounds mean the world to us, so we will just have to put up with these excessive vet bills, the high cost of insurance and buying good food for them, or maybe sell our house if they get any higher! We would do that, rather than give them up.

Hi Moira, £195 is a much more reasonable cost for scaling of a Greyhound's teeth. I just do not know why all vets have different prices for the same things.

Thanks for the information about the Dogs Trust, which is very interesting. We agree with you about insurance being a lottery. We have paid a lot more in insurance for our 3 Greys, than we would have paid for each individual treatment they have had. As you say, dentals are not covered and excesses are high, so sometimes it is just not worth going through your insurance with a claim, as they just bump up the price the next year if you do.

Lots of our neighbours who have dogs, do not have insurance, due to the high cost of it, but they do save up what they would normally pay for it, so that the money can be used for vet bills, as and when they are needed to be paid.

I think we have only gone through our insurance for all our 3 Greys, about 3 or 4 times altogether, over the years, paying an excess of approximately £90 each time. Leo's only claim was made in his last 2 weeks of his life with us, when they found out he had bone cancer. I think it cost us well over £600 for painkillers, an x-ray and to be P.T.S., then cremated and brought home to his forever home.

I think we might consider just saving up the insurance cost every month, to be used for paying future vet bills and if one is going to cost thousands of pounds, we will just have to get a bank loan. I have been very lucky with all the 6 dogs I have had, with none of them needing any really expensive treatment and hardly any visits to the vets either, apart from the normal yearly checks and injections, dentals etc. You never know though what illnesses our dogs may get in the future and that is what makes it so worrying to think about stopping paying for insurance.

Go and argue that cost thst is ridiculous. Yes greyhounds are bigger therefore require more drugs but when I was originally Looking at a scale and polish for my boy I was only £200. I think they have taking the mick a little there.

I work in a vets and I see many animals that aren't insured and the owners can't do everything required for them as finances are an issue as you never know what's around the corner for you or your dog. To cancel insurance and possibly take out a bank loan will put you in further debt and then if it was to happen with one dog and then the other the bank won't keep lending money like that then you will be in a situation that you don't want to be in and not be able to do your best.
insurance for an animal should only go up by a few pounds each year and maybe as the dog gets older a percentage of the bill as the expect older dogs to have more complications, it's not like car insurance it shouldn't double and personally I would rather have a one off £90 to pay for the condition than have to pay back a bank thousands.
just my opinion please don't shoot me for it.
Katie

If I am reincarnated I am going to be a vet. The problem with routine dental work of course is that not many, if any, insurers cover it. My 3 are with different insurers and none of them do. Mikey has had 3 dental treatments in the 6 years we have had him, including multi extractions (as our dear departed Annie had) at a cost of around £1000. My monthly insurance premiums all tolled are now in excess of £100 for the 3 and rises every year. A lady I know has had 2 L-Apsos from pups - she doesn't have insurance but started putting £100 in an ISA every month to cover vet fees. This has more than sufficed, but she has been lucky and the dogs have had little more than vaccinations. If I had very young dogs I might consider that but feel I can't take the risk of not having insurance. Watch out though - Dillys insurance with Direct Line was £37pm last year but this years renewal was £58pm! I phoned them up and said I wasn't happy and miraculously got it down to £38. It does have the best lifetime cover though.