Is My Vet Ridiculous Or Do Any I Need To Adjust My Expectations?

[Espalia]

I knew when I got kittens that they would need to go to the vet often and I’d be paying a lot for shots/worming/neutering and I was ready. What I didn’t expect was the price just seeing the vet to be so high.

I’ve had cats my whole life and I am no stranger to taking them to the vet. I’ve had good vets and bad vets and taking a cat to th vet is always a wince-inducing experience come check out, but this new vet I have seems over the top.

I’m leaving this vet anyways, for reasons mostly unrelated to cost, but I do want to understand what to expect as I search for a new vet. Here’s my experience with the current one:

They charged me $70 when I came in the first time per cat. I asked if it was so high because it was a first-time visit and they said yes - next time it’ll be $65, no discount for the second cat. Now, I’ve taken my cats to a “bougie” vet in the past and I don’t remember prices that expensive. That’s just the base price by the way - anything else they do is extra. And they don’t clip my cats nails like my vet in Boise did.

I brought them in initially to get them their first round of shots. They were 8 weeks at the time but the vet said they looked “too small” and scheduled me two weeks out for shots.

Then I asked over the phone if I’d have to pay $70 again just for the vaccine visit, since my kittens had just been in. They said no, it’s just a quick visit so I would pay for the vet tech fee to administer, the price of the shots, and a waste fee. Surprise, surprise - I go to pay for the vaccines after the visit and they charge me $30 for the “exam plus vaccination” per cat. So I came in for $60 of vaccinations for my kittens and leave paying $140 (exam, vaccines, waste, tech). Is this typical?! It seems ludicrous to me.

I am going to be taking my kittens to a low-cost clinic for their neuter and second round of shots. As long as they stay healthy, I’ll probably take them there for their third round of shots too. Shots are 1/3 the cost of the vet at the clinic and they don’t charge an extra fee on top of it. Then I’ll switch to a new vet when they’re due for their annual. Does this seem okay?

Honestly I was ready to spend what it took to give quality care to these kittens. But this vet has basically charged me over $300 for nothing and now money is a little tight. I can’t believe that they have put me in a situation where I need to compromise the health of my kittens because of extraneous charges. But, I grew up in the west and maybe this is just how vets are on the east coast?

Can anyone guide me as to what I should look for/ask when I am trying to find a new vet? I found a cat-only practice that mentioned they discount for the second cat, but they still charge $70 for an office visit. I’ll probably call back and try to get a list of actual prices, but I feel so weird making it seem like cost is a factor when I’m talking to a potential vet. I don’t want them to think I don’t care about my cats.

 

[foxxycat]

that is excessive. I went to one who also charges $70 a visit-we don't go back. The only thing good about that vet is they specialize in cancer and complicated cases-so that's like paying an internal vet price-but routine stuff should be $45 a visit or less.

 

[Ceracera]

Ive lived in quite a few countries and ive never come across a vet that charged a consultation fee for vaccinations.

 

[Espalia]

foxxycat Oh thank god, I thought maybe I just wasn’t ready for how much more expensive things were here (CT). My current vet isn’t even a cat-specialist, so when the cat place quoted me similar prices I thought maybe that’s just typical.

 

[foxxycat]

heck I remember going to one that charged $17 a visit. That was in 2002. So crazy how expensive it is. The one I go to now is $55 a visit.

 

[foxxycat]

check out google search Espalia and see if there's another vet in the area. There's a fairly new vet who recently opened up in my town-I haven't switched vets yet because I don't know if they can handle complicated cases. Right now I am sticking with the one I go to because they refill scripts without hassle. I meant to switch this summer but decided to go to the same place. I will do it next year. Although I recently met with another vet at same place I never dealt with before and he seems much better than the one I was seeing-it is so hard to find a good AFFORDABLE vet who doesn't forget small details.

 

[Neo_23]

I’m in Canada and there are a couple of fancy vets that charge $90 a visit (which would be akin to 70$ US but I honestly think those places are a rip off).

Actually... I think all vet care in general is a rip off. It’s pretty much analogous to taking your car to the mechanic. They charge you an arm and a leg and you have to trust them. I wish vet care was not private honestly... but that will never happen. Taking my cat to the vet actually makes me feel horrible for my American neighbours who have to deal with privatized personal health care too.

 

[Espalia]

$55 sounds about what I paid at my old place in RI, the fanciest, cat-only vet I had ever been to in my life. And they didn’t charge extra for a second cat. I thought it couldn’t get more expensive than them. Guess I was wrong.
I’m sort of upset at myself for handling this so poorly. Vets really have a way of making you feel guilty don’t they...I feel especially cheated because the first vet I saw (paid $140 just for the routine exam) did a horrible job and I spent so much time on the phone requesting to see a different vet for the vaccines so they could look over the kittens properly.

foxxycat I actually found this one through Google - 5 stars and no one mentioned they were expensive. Rest assured I will be leaving my own review after I leave. But now I am weary of Google. There are plenty of vets in my area, it’s a matter of calling them up and asking for prices and then also hoping the vet is actually good.

 

[foxxycat]

The funny part is I went to new vet to get Honeybee microchipped because of price. current vet- $110 microchip. This new vet $40. Guess which one I went to??!!

 

[foxxycat]

I am in NH. the $17 vet was in Manchester. The $70 vet was Concord Mass. I am on the seacoast near Portsmouth and it's around $40 to $60 depending on who you go to...smaller clinics tend to be cheaper. Beware of the big waiting room vets-they charge more-especially places that have 15+ employees at once=the hard part is these big ones often have all the equipment and makes it convenient..but the smaller ones are now carrying ultrasound.

I had to take Honeybee to Port City in Portsmouth=they said I had to drive Honeybee to Woburn for an ultrasound!! What the Hell??!! They listed they had ultrasound, cardiology=but they lost their doctors-this place is a joke. the ER vet is a joke. gave Honeybee valium instead of mirtazapine for appetite stimulant-said she went off the walls. I said she's on other medications-did you even cross reference to make sure flovent doesn't contradict valium??!! they had to give her Benedryll. needless to say I Will NEVER recommend Port City. There's another Vet ER a mile down the road=go there instead. They have issues there too but at least they don't try experiments on my cat like the duffus at Port City. Oh it was $89 a visit on top of a fee of $25 for "emergency". utter bs.

 

[Espalia]

I will get microchips done at the clinic too- part of me wonders if you should take kittens to the vet at all if they are healthy. You can get worming, defleaing, microchip, spray/neuter all done at the clinic for a fraction of the cost of a vet. Also, now I know why kittens are so expensive at the shelters (usually includes microchip, first and maybe second round of vaccines, defleaing, deworming). I’ve spent well over the $250 one pays for a shelter kitten and I haven’t even neutered them yet.

Unfortunately mine had diarrhea for three weeks and I needed to take them to a vet. (But then, this forum was more helpful than the vet in finally clearing up ththe diarrhea)

 

[foxxycat]

I seem to always get the complicated medical case cats-so I have gotten familiar with various ER departments. From Mass to NH to Maine. Honeybee has the best Cardiologist but he's in Portland Maine-he USED to work at Port City..but quit..he wouldn't tell me why...that says enough..he was surprised to see me in Portland Maine since its 90 min away from Portsmouth-that hospital only charged $400. The Port city charged me almost $700 for SAME DAMN thing!!! OMG these vets Tick me off!

 

[foxxycat]

did you worm him yet? Try canned pumpkin and probiotics.

 

[Espalia]

foxxycat Wow, I can’t even imagine what you go through to keep your kitties healthy - you are a saint. The saddest thing about vets costing so much is that it then limits your ability to pay for more tests/medication/treatment in th future. If they were actually interested in the health of the animal they would understand that money is an important consideration... because eventually it runs out!

 

[Espalia]

did you worm him yet? Try canned pumpkin and probiotics.

Yeah, wormed twice at the vet but the canned pumpkin + FortiFlora is what finally solved it (btw, the vets sold me fortiflora without telling me how much they were going to charge - could’ve gotten for half the price on Amazon). Poor babies had to wait two weeks after their vet visit for me to find this forum and learn about it.

 

[foxxycat]

Espalia yep. I no longer run them to the vet for every sniffle or limp. I usually let time do it's thing and nursing care at home-now that I know what to do in an emergency. Honeybee has asthma-the one time she had a bad attack-took her to port city=they gave her puffs of albuterol the same darn med I have at home and charged me $200!!! I was furious!!! so had them look up the pharmacology of that med-found out I could have treated at home every 30 min to to 4 hours=which would have given me time to drive to Angell in boston or other replicable hospital...never again.

 

[mizzely]

Even the most expensive vet I've been to has only been $60ish - for what they call a "wellness exam". My current vet is most expensive in my area and for 2 cats to get wellness exams, vaccinations, nail trim etc, I usually pay $120.

 

[weemomma]

You can check into rural vet clinics. They tend to be cheaper. My local country vet charges $10 per visit, base fees for vaccines, and $45 spat and neuter. However, it is very no frills. I cannot board my kitties. After surgery, I am responsible for their afternoon care. ITs worth looking into if you are wanting to find someone to simply do vaccines and checkups.

 

[foxxycat]

Espalia sometimes it takes a different wormer. Check out pregnant cats and kittens section=post about the runny bum=there's several people who are knowledgeable with worming meds-I only had used drontal and never had issues with runny poopies. My cats all struggle with constipation due to kibble-they are on a revolt from canned food...sigh.

going to page one of those fine ladies...

@Sarthur2 do you remember what wormers you used? I can't remember any of the others other than drontal.

 

[kittens mom]

Be very careful of low cost vaccination clinics many of them do not offer Purevax and use the older rabies that have an adjuvant in them. Aside from injection site sarcoma risk being increased I believe there is empirical evidence that these adjuvants may be cumulative in illness and cancers other than injection site later on in the cats life.