If you've ever faced the situation where you've come back home and found the neighbour's cat looking a poor shade of pale, there's a couple of things to bear in mind. Firstly, if you decide to take the cat along to the local vet, you become the temporary owner, with all of the liabilities, responsibilities and costs of the treatment. So for the period whilst your neighbour is away, you're the financier, and this may or may not put you off. The RSPCA usually won't accept the costs for privately owned animals, and many animal charities require a pet to be prior registered before they'll help financially. The best solution is simply to phone and contact the owner asap. It works.
Counting sheep
If you're travelling in the country on a peaceful holiday drive, just taking in the scenery and relaxing (usually after weeks of stressful work), please remember that different rules apply to farmed livestock and wildlife. You could perhaps see a sheep with blowfly strike. It's common, and the animal will looked distressed, hardly move, and it'll be breathing heavily. These are all signs of stress, because numerous maggots will be busy burrowing into and through the skin, but it'll be under the wool layer where you can't see it. If you believe the animal is dying and you take it to the nearest vet, you've actually just trespassed and unfortunately stolen livestock, but best of all, you've become personally liable for all the costs of treatment. What's the answer? Simply drive up the nearest farm lane to the farmer's door and politely ring the bell. Most farmers will usually view livestock as an investment and will sort the problem out. Problem solved! If the farmer isn't in, just leave a note because blowfly strike is not a disease that will kill an animal within hours.
Changing vets - things to watch
1. Your business
Some vet practices care less about which vet you've come from but more about your custom. This is because the veterinary profession isn't like the NHS, where doctors receive central funding from the government. Every pound has to be scrapped over with other local practices. If there's just one local practice in an area, then its prices will probably be high. If you're changing vets, the new one will only be better because you've already compared their prices (ie. these will be advertised on their practice noticeboards), and because you've also compared their services (ie. more convenient opening hours, opportunities to see the same vet, decent car parking facilities, etc.), and because you've also checked out how their respective customer services are (ie. pleasant and friendly, with quick turn around times for special (drug) purchases, good deals on various products, etc.). If you haven't investigated the new practice, you're unlikely to get a better deal solely because you've decided to move ie. you could easily get a far worse deal. It's worth making the comparisons before you make the change.
2. Practice margins
The profit margin for a vet practice is about 23 per cent, which is normal for any business. A vet practice only has to lose a quarter of its clients before it starts going into the red, and whilst a quarter of clients sounds a lot, any business always has a quarter of clients who'll float between them and their local competitors. So heavy marketing and deliberate loss-making deals from (larger) competitors, can easily bring a practice down. How does this affect you? Any vet group that puts a rival out of business can achieve a local monopoly, and for sure their prices will then increase. It's healthy therefore that numerous old local practices are kept in business.
3. Ask politely
If you ask politely you seldom lose anything. Vets normally cost operations in pounds per minute, so ask the new practice what their rate is, and compare it to your old practice. If they're more expensive, think hard before swapping, because the cost of operations is a good indicator of general pricing. If the new practice indicates they charge differently for each operation, then ask for a quote on a caesarian and compare it to the old practice. They'll have to provide you with a quote, and you may need to give the size or weight of your dog or cat, but that's not a problem. Think before you move, because otherwise it could prove expensive.
4. Startups
Some startups are quite honourable in that they'll open up a number of miles from other local practices, and these are useful startups. However, a startup or new branch that opens down the road from a competitor is making a big statement, and not necessarily the one you'd appreciate. These startups are an aggressive breed of animal, so beware of them! Such startups know that they'll take 25 per cent of clients from an old practice (ie. the disgruntled clients): yet these won't be so interesting for them, because they'll be clients who build up invoices on credit and change vets without paying, or clients who will pay accounts up to a year in arrears, or clients who'll regularly dispute items on an invoice [that a practice knows they've dispensed]. Aggressive startups aren't so interested in these clients - they also know that 25 per cent of the old practice clients will always remain loyal to them. Aggressive startups are more interested in you ie. a genuine client who's seeking a good deal for both their pets and their budget, and your group represents 50 per cent of clients still at the old practice. Your group can be influenced by good deals, decent pricing, and new equipment and facilities. Please be aware that many tests are bought in off-site, so you don't necessarily need to see new equipment at a practice. But all new equipment has to be paid for and if the old practice stops trading, the vet bills at the new practice will increase - at the same time, down will come any previous useful deals. With so many new clients to handle, you'll also tend to become 'client number 3452678', whilst staff will be rushed off their feet to see to 'Mrs. 4323456'.
Few people can sit by and let an injured wild animal suffer without doing anything about the situation. So what's the best answer if this happens? Phone the RCPCA and obtain a log number, which you can then take to any UK vet practice. Without a log number, only the costs of first aid and pain relief (or euthanasia) are covered at the vets.
It's also worth remembering that where a vet practice might spend weeks convalescing a wild animal, the RSPCA can then decide to put it down. Please only remove an animal from the wild if you're certain it's injured. Removing young animals from their parents and habitat, or removing adults from their habitat, or tainting young with your smell through handling, etc. - all of these can lead to the death of wild animals, and most wild animals should please be left in the wild. NB. don't forget the RSPCA log number, even if you have to spend ages on the phone to obtain it! You'll find it's worth the hassle when you get to the vets.
Sharing skills
Whilst a pet that you own is down to you to decide on it's welfare, be careful when you start to do things with other people's animals. You can be fined up to £5,000 for performing acts of veterinary surgery on someone else's animal(s) - and you're only tryng to help!
Stocking up
Whilst it's understandable (and quite common) for owners to hold back some drugs for future use, please remember that drugs such as antibiotics work on duration of use as well dosage. So don't cut a course of drugs short when the clinical signs have improved, and always go to the end of a course.
Some vet practices care less about which vet you've come from but more about your custom. This is because the veterinary profession isn't like the NHS, where doctors receive central funding from the government. Every pound has to be scrapped over with other local practices. If there's just one local practice in an area, then its prices will probably be high. If you're changing vets, the new one will only be better because you've already compared their prices (ie. these will be advertised on their practice noticeboards), and because you've also compared their services (ie. more convenient opening hours, opportunities to see the same vet, decent car parking facilities, etc.), and because you've also checked out how their respective customer services are (ie. pleasant and friendly, with quick turn around times for special (drug) purchases, good deals on various products, etc.). If you haven't investigated the new practice, you're unlikely to get a better deal solely because you've decided to move ie. you could easily get a far worse deal. It's worth making the comparisons before you make the change.
The profit margin for a vet practice is about 23 per cent, which is normal for any business. A vet practice only has to lose a quarter of its clients before it starts going into the red, and whilst a quarter of clients sounds a lot, any business always has a quarter of clients who'll float between them and their local competitors. So heavy marketing and deliberate loss-making deals from (larger) competitors, can easily bring a practice down. How does this affect you? Any vet group that puts a rival out of business can achieve a local monopoly, and for sure their prices will then increase. It's healthy therefore that numerous old local practices are kept in business.
If you ask politely you seldom lose anything. Vets normally cost operations in pounds per minute, so ask the new practice what their rate is, and compare it to your old practice. If they're more expensive, think hard before swapping, because the cost of operations is a good indicator of general pricing. If the new practice indicates they charge differently for each operation, then ask for a quote on a caesarian and compare it to the old practice. They'll have to provide you with a quote, and you may need to give the size or weight of your dog or cat, but that's not a problem. Think before you move, because otherwise it could prove expensive.
Some startups are quite honourable in that they'll open up a number of miles from other local practices, and these are useful startups. However, a startup or new branch that opens down the road from a competitor is making a big statement, and not necessarily the one you'd appreciate. These startups are an aggressive breed of animal, so beware of them! Such startups know that they'll take 25 per cent of clients from an old practice (ie. the disgruntled clients): yet these won't be so interesting for them, because they'll be clients who build up invoices on credit and change vets without paying, or clients who will pay accounts up to a year in arrears, or clients who'll regularly dispute items on an invoice [that a practice knows they've dispensed]. Aggressive startups aren't so interested in these clients - they also know that 25 per cent of the old practice clients will always remain loyal to them. Aggressive startups are more interested in you ie. a genuine client who's seeking a good deal for both their pets and their budget, and your group represents 50 per cent of clients still at the old practice. Your group can be influenced by good deals, decent pricing, and new equipment and facilities. Please be aware that many tests are bought in off-site, so you don't necessarily need to see new equipment at a practice. But all new equipment has to be paid for and if the old practice stops trading, the vet bills at the new practice will increase - at the same time, down will come any previous useful deals. With so many new clients to handle, you'll also tend to become 'client number 3452678', whilst staff will be rushed off their feet to see to 'Mrs. 4323456'.