Answer
Anonymous:
Actually, because they can.
You don't see any reputable large-animal veterinarians asking their clients to pay through the nose for basic testing and medications, or insist on unessesary procedures/tests. Ranchers don't have the time or patience to put up with that bow-wrapped bullsh*t.
There is so much demand and societal pressure for *small-animal* medical care that veterinarians have set standards of just how much they can gut each client for. Most offices even ignore internationally practiced/accepted guidelines so they can "recomend" and charge pet-parents more, and more often (such as for immunization types/semi-annual boosters, unessesary testing, etc). So why do people overpay? Ignorance, or they really have no other choice in order to give their beloved pet the care that they need.
If a veterinarian cannot branch off on their own to form an independent buisness/client base, they really do not make very much. Therefore, the more buisness they can get from the client, the bigger bonus they get in their paycheck. How else are they going to pay off those hefty student loans?
Lets not try to sugar-coat it. Small-animal "boutique" vet offices are raping over-trusting and exhausted pet owners just to get ahead themselves.
Wyr:
Your kidding, right. First you have their education, which is expensive. Then if they are opening up their own practice, there's insurance, equipment, rent, staff. You think medical equipment is cheap? You think staff is cheap? It's not. Then add on the city, state or town where you live. There may be additional licensing, additional insurance, taxes they have to pay or purchase.
My own vet, has had own office and staff. She has a small practice and is a small animal practice. So, the person who wrote something that a veterinarian can not branch of by themselves. What a bunch of horse shyt.
Where I am, they are all independant vets. Additionally, while I am sure there are those vets that overcharge and try to take a client for ride, your going to get that in no matter what business or practice.
My own vet, I find very reasonable and she never pushes unnecessary vaccines, treatments etc.
Lurker:
A veterinary hospital is a business:
Doesn’t that sound heartless? But it’s true...a vet clinic is a business and needs to make money. Just like any other business we have bills to pay (and often these bills are huge). We pay rent, electricity and gas bills. And we pay large bills to buy and maintain equipment. An xray machine costs anywhere from $30,000 to $90,000. An ultrasound is going to cost about the same. And there is a lot of other equipment that needs to be purchased and maintained - dental equipment (most veterinarians have similar equipment to what a human dentist has), equipment to run laboratory tests, surgical instruments, and on and on.
We also have salaries to pay. The staff at veterinary clinics are, in my opinion, usually severely underpaid for the quality of work that they do. A veterinary technician is an extremely skilled individual, able to place a catheter, draw blood, do a dental cleaning, counsel clients and multi-task animal care all day long. According to Payscale.com a Technician generally gets paid between $10 and $12 per hour.
It’s a crummy wage for someone with so many skills. Most technicians have gone to school for three years and carry some student debt. Compare this to a registered (human) nurse who gets paid between $20 to $36 dollars per hour. Why are techs paid so poorly? It's because we’d have to raise our prices in order to afford to pay them more.
Jack:
They don't charge nearly as much as a human doctor does for the same procedure. You just don't pay out of pocket for the one done on YOU as you either have insurance, or welfare picks up the tab. I had taken my cat with asthma to the vet for a chest x-ray.
Similar equipment, cost was $85 for the first view and $45 for the second. That included my vet reading it. I had pneumonia and had to go for a chest x-ray. The total cost (at in network rate) was over $450 plus an additional $200+ to have the radiologist read it.
Now - tell me again how vets charge too much. They have the same education as a human doctor, have to purchase their own equipment (human doctors don't have x-ray and ultrasound machines in their offices), have to pay rent, pay staff - without the benefit of insurance plans and welfare to pick up the tab for people who can't pay.
They don't get free electricity or rent, they have to pay payroll taxes, they have to pay malpractice insurance, and they have to keep up their education. And at the end of they day, they have to pay their staff and bring home a paycheck of their own. No one works for free - do you?
Pamela:
Well if it cost you between 150-250 thousand dollars for a good education.
And another half million to set up a practice,
You would charge a lot.
If you don't want to pay the cost of a good vet then take your pet to the BUTCHERS at PetSmart's Banfield vets, they will kill your animals.
