Dog flea treatment - anyone use Stronghold?
06 August 2012, 01:14 PM
#1
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Dog flea treatment - anyone use Stronghold?
If so how much do you pay for it?
My vet wants £70 for a pack of 6 when I can order a pack of 6 for £25.99 online. However the vet then has to do a prescription which they charge £15 for per dog (I have 2) and then also insist on a check up before the prescription (£23.80)
which then lasts for 6 months before they have to have another one. I've just been having this out with them whilst picking up a worming tablet and I said even after all that is still works out cheaper to buy it online.
Vetinary clinics are such a rip off and license to print money. I asked who sets their prices and she said it was RRP which I told her was nonsense and she wouldn't even look at me after that. Robbing barstewards and liars to boot.
The reason I want Stronghold is because it covers far more than Frontline/Effipro such as lung/heart worm, ear mites etc etc. Having two Labradors that will eat anything I can't risk them by having a non prescription product that doesn't cover life threatening parasites. However i'm not paying £70 to the vet for 3 months worth of flea treatment when it costs a fraction of that to buy online.
Unfortunately it seems all the vets local to where I live are pretty much the same so I wondered if everyone has the same problems I do with this?
My vet wants £70 for a pack of 6 when I can order a pack of 6 for £25.99 online. However the vet then has to do a prescription which they charge £15 for per dog (I have 2) and then also insist on a check up before the prescription (£23.80)
which then lasts for 6 months before they have to have another one. I've just been having this out with them whilst picking up a worming tablet and I said even after all that is still works out cheaper to buy it online.Vetinary clinics are such a rip off and license to print money. I asked who sets their prices and she said it was RRP which I told her was nonsense and she wouldn't even look at me after that. Robbing barstewards and liars to boot.
The reason I want Stronghold is because it covers far more than Frontline/Effipro such as lung/heart worm, ear mites etc etc. Having two Labradors that will eat anything I can't risk them by having a non prescription product that doesn't cover life threatening parasites. However i'm not paying £70 to the vet for 3 months worth of flea treatment when it costs a fraction of that to buy online.
Unfortunately it seems all the vets local to where I live are pretty much the same so I wondered if everyone has the same problems I do with this?
06 August 2012, 01:40 PM
#4
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They are only for people on benefits unfortunately:
http://www.pdsa.org.uk/pdsa-vet-care/eligibility
http://www.pdsa.org.uk/pdsa-vet-care/eligibility
06 August 2012, 01:56 PM
#6
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Well I think they are missing a trick by not allowing non benefit customers as if they provided a service at reasonable prices i'm sure plenty of people would use them and allow them to make profit. They only need to price themselves reasonably and all the customers who are being ripped off by their private vet practice would flood to them.
There is a vet literally 200 yds down the road from me and they are outrageous on prices - £30 just for an appointment.
There is a vet literally 200 yds down the road from me and they are outrageous on prices - £30 just for an appointment.
06 August 2012, 02:39 PM
#7
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They know that when it comes to a family pet we will spend (almost) anything to make them well.
When my last cat was ill I said to the vet, take one card and when that runs out I'll give you another one. As it happens he still died with a bill for £400.
Our accounts lady lives on a farm and the vets know they can't pull the same trick because the farmer will just kill the animal if its not cost effective to save it. One vet even said as much and said the big money is the family pets.
When my last cat was ill I said to the vet, take one card and when that runs out I'll give you another one. As it happens he still died with a bill for £400.
Our accounts lady lives on a farm and the vets know they can't pull the same trick because the farmer will just kill the animal if its not cost effective to save it. One vet even said as much and said the big money is the family pets.
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06 August 2012, 02:54 PM
#8
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They know that when it comes to a family pet we will spend (almost) anything to make them well.
When my last cat was ill I said to the vet, take one card and when that runs out I'll give you another one. As it happens he still died with a bill for £400.
Our accounts lady lives on a farm and the vets know they can't pull the same trick because the farmer will just kill the animal if its not cost effective to save it. One vet even said as much and said the big money is the family pets.
When my last cat was ill I said to the vet, take one card and when that runs out I'll give you another one. As it happens he still died with a bill for £400.
Our accounts lady lives on a farm and the vets know they can't pull the same trick because the farmer will just kill the animal if its not cost effective to save it. One vet even said as much and said the big money is the family pets.
It looks like i'm going back to my previous vet surgery as their prices are more reasonable. I only moved because they are small and didn't have the facilities to do hip scores or ultrasound scans at reasonable prices when my dog was having her litter. Still £51 for 6 flea treatments so double the internet price but once you faff about with the prescription charge etc it won't be worth buying online.
07 August 2012, 08:06 AM
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It looks like i'm going back to my previous vet surgery as their prices are more reasonable. I only moved because they are small and didn't have the facilities to do hip scores or ultrasound scans at reasonable prices when my dog was having her litter. Still £51 for 6 flea treatments so double the internet price but once you faff about with the prescription charge etc it won't be worth buying online.
Your vet is probably the most highly qualified person you ever hire - it's a 5 year university degree followed by clincal experience, and that level of competence and commitment isn't cheap. Why should it be?
07 August 2012, 08:41 AM
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Not me personally, but a good friend from school.
I'd love for them to be cheaper - one of my cats was recently diagnosed with kidney failure for which she's likely to need treatment for the rest of her life - but I accept that I'm employing the services of someone with a great deal of professional training and expertise.
What really grates is that my vet is still a heck of a lot cheaper than my solicitor...
I'd love for them to be cheaper - one of my cats was recently diagnosed with kidney failure for which she's likely to need treatment for the rest of her life - but I accept that I'm employing the services of someone with a great deal of professional training and expertise.
What really grates is that my vet is still a heck of a lot cheaper than my solicitor...
07 August 2012, 09:17 AM
#14
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£30 just for a consultation is extortionate. If you are happy to pay that then good for you but I am not. The reason my old vets (and now moving back to them) don't have the scanning equipment is they don't have enough demand for it being a small practice where as the one I was using was a big practice yet they both charge roughly the same consultation fees £23/£24 which I think is reasonable so nothing to do with how much they charge people.
The question here isn't over how much they charge for their expertise anyway, it's about how much they over charge for medication which is widely available on the internet for a tiny fraction of the cost a vet charges. Of course they need to be more expensive just as a shop does when compared to online prices but not by nearly 270%! That is profiteering and ripping clients off.
The question here isn't over how much they charge for their expertise anyway, it's about how much they over charge for medication which is widely available on the internet for a tiny fraction of the cost a vet charges. Of course they need to be more expensive just as a shop does when compared to online prices but not by nearly 270%! That is profiteering and ripping clients off.
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