Antibiotic price query UPDATE

[its.sme]

vet uk advertise Metronidazole 400mg x 21 tablets for £3.35

Mudmagnets linked me to that site and I saw that thanks - so the 100mg x 28 tablets that I'm being charged £80 for are the equivalent of 7 of those 400gm tablets on vet.co.uk which would be £1.11!

You could print the page off and take it into the vets tomorrow  see then what their excuses are!!

The more information you go in with the more likely they are to re look at it, what they do after that is not guaranteed but you never know, I would call other vets to see how much they would charge and go from there.

Good luck.

[siam]

You could print the page off and take it into the vets tomorrow  see then what their excuses are!!

That's what I was planning to do!! 

[PennyB]

I suppose also that you need to question how much it costs for vets to buy in as they have to use certain suppliers - I used to buy ruby's glaucoma meds from the local pharmacy with a private prescription and my vets said it cost them more than that to even purchase it and they had no choice in the matter

[siam]

Have just come back from the vet's and am no further forward. The person who was meant to be checking the price of the tablets was only in 1 day last week and the girls on reception today didn't know if she had done so. Now they have mentioned another member of staff who will be asked to check it out 

[Jaysmumagain]

Did you mention that they had two practices, if the other is bigger I would ring them and say you have not got any further and you feel you are being fobbed off......if the other is bigger I would certainly give phoning them a try.  Tell them the story of price abnormality.

Don't let them think you are backing down.

Julie

[siam]

Did you mention that they had two practices, if the other is bigger I would ring them and say you have not got any further and you feel you are being fobbed off......if the other is bigger I would certainly give phoning them a try.  Tell them the story of price abnormality.

Don't let them think you are backing down.

Julie

The practice I go to is the main one. Will give the next member of staff a chance to check out the price then see what the outcome is.

[Pearly]

I'm just in from the vets - Coral has some skin irritation which looks to be an allergy - 14 days Cefalexin 250mg, 10 days Prednidale, Stronghold for 2 dogs and 2 cats plus consultation which involved an eye check, anal glands empty (as she was scooting but we think this is due to being itchy) and check on her nether regions as she's now 8.5 months old.  Also included was a skin scrape and check for mites (none thankfully) grand total is £83.50.

This from a practice branch of a large group in rural Shropshire! You've definitely been over charged, sorry....,

[siam]

I'm just in from the vets - Coral has some skin irritation which looks to be an allergy - 14 days Cefalexin 250mg, 10 days Prednidale, Stronghold for 2 dogs and 2 cats plus consultation which involved an eye check, anal glands empty (as she was scooting but we think this is due to being itchy) and check on her nether regions as she's now 8.5 months old.  Also included was a skin scrape and check for mites (none thankfully) grand total is £83.50.

This from a practice branch of a large group in rural Shropshire! You've definitely been over charged, sorry....,

Yes!! Your money has definitely gone a lot further - compared to £175 for consultation, 28 tablets, 2 injections and 1x 30mls Canikur.

[Pearly]

It does depend on the product though - a vitamin K injection for a cat (12 years ago) was £75!

It is worth querying though, if only to obtain a breakdown of costs, it may highlight an error 

[siam]

It does depend on the product though - a vitamin K injection for a cat (12 years ago) was £75!

It is worth querying though, if only to obtain a breakdown of costs, it may highlight an error 

I do have a breakdown of the costs, hence the query on the price of the antibiotic tablets at £80 which are standard ones, available online at a fraction of the price I'm being charged.

[siam]

I was back at the surgery today picking up Alfie's regular monthly supply of Apoquel so I asked if they'd checked out the cost of the Metronidazole. They haven't, but one of the young vets glanced at the screen as she passed and commented it didn't look right. Apparently the bill shouldn't have been sent out till the Metronidazole price was checked.

[tenaille]

Just checked Beaus current bill for his lipfold surgery.
Metronidazole  21*200mg tablets was £11.10p including vat

[siam]

The surgery phoned about the Metronidazole tablets. It was wrongly priced on the system and the vet hadn't checked the pricing when he prescribed the tablets. We are being charged £10 for 200mg x 14 tablets which is equivalent to the 100mg x 28 Alfie had, so it's a big difference to the £80 we were being charged, so am very glad I continued to query the costing.

[Mudmagnets]

The vet phoned about the Metronidazole tablets. For some reason they are having difficulty in getting a price for the 100mg size tablet so we are being charged £10 for 200mg x 14 tablets which is equivalent to the 100mg x 28 Alfie had, so it's a big difference to the £80 we were being charged, so am very glad I continued to query the costing.

That is great news  certainly worth pursuing and not giving up.

Will deffo be asking for an itemised bill for any operations or procedures myself in future.

[MIN]

good news