northeast PA lol.
But my vet is primarily a track vet but takes a few regular barn accounts.
He’s a one man bad. He’s the vet, vet tech, office manager, head of billing etc.
He is the most brilliant vet I’ve ever met but oh my lord, he is not very good at getting the bills out and staying on a timely schedule. 
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Same guy! Commute must be hell 
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So do we all just have the same vet or?
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Xanthoria, your post takes me back to the years I lived in western Washington and our farm vet was a “track vet” by calling (he also had a War Admiral son he stood at stud for years) but as he was, as his long-suffering wife often complained, unable to take a single day off, ever. He would always say, oh we’ll bill you (the clinic seldom did) as he handed out usually free meds, potions, lotions, spray, etc. so we did exactly what others did - dropped by the clinic, checkbook in hand. He was still making farm calls in his 80’s never, as his long-suffering wife often complained, having taken one. single. vacation. He forgot more than most vets especially today ever knew of or even heard of - he’d seen everything possible at least a dozen times, knew what to do about everything and was the kindest person I’ve ever known in my now very long life. RIP Dr. Max Nichols/Redmond Animal Clinic/Blue Spruce Farm, Redmond Washington. You may be gone but you will NEVER be forgotten by your grateful, thankful clients.
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Last year, my horse lived at the vet’s for 6 weeks while we treated a very difficult eye ulcer. I didn’t get a bill the entire time. When I would bring up pricing/billing, I would get a lecture about “how committed I am as an owner” and “whether I really wanted a good outcome or not”
Uhhh, I want the best outcome, obviously, but I need to know whether I’m selling a kidney to pay for this, or just my first born child!!
Ultimately, it was a great outcome, and I was super pleased with the care provided by all the girls in the office, and the final bill was less than one might expect for a 6 week spa vacation for horsey with literal 24 hour monitoring…BUT the experience re: $$$$ certainly made me wary of calling this vet for emergencies in the future, which is really a shame.
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That’s why he’s always a day or two late to appointments!!
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Not to hijack the thread, but if you have a vet come out to do radiographs as part of a farrier consultation, and the machine doesn’t work so you get zero new radiographs, do you feel it is fair to pay for the farm call?
The farrier had to work off of last month’s radiographs which I was able to pull up on my phone, so I don’t have a problem paying the $85 consultation fee, but I feel like since the whole reason behind the visit was to get radiographs, I should at least get a discounted farm call. is this unreasonable?
I would be extremely frustrated to be billed a farm call when the service requested/scheduled was not provided. The failure of the equipment is on the veterinarian, not you.
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I can say that when the vet came to do shots and teeth, and they some how managed to not have their oral speculum with them, so we had to reschedule the teeth part of the appointment they did not charge me a farm call.
I had ultrasounds done at the vet clinic once and the machine crashed shortly after we left to drive 2 hours home. They were able to recover everything except my horse’s images, of course! The next time we had an appointment they did repeat ultrasounds for free. Not exactly your situation but yeah, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect some sort of discount!
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talked with the vet and we settled on a 1/2 price farm call. I could have pushed harder, but I do value the time she has spent with me on other issues, and a compromise was worth it to keep the relationship running smoothly.
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I think this is a very reasonable and fair outcome. If you had refused to have her do the consult without first taking new X-rays, you would have a more clear-cut case for not paying the farm call fee. As it happened, you did take her time and expertise to do a consult even if it wasn’t the full service you expected.
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That sounds like a great outcome for you.
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I respectfully disagree. I understand people are busy, but from my own experience, there is a threshold to which professional standards much adhere. If the vet feels the conversation is to chatty, he or she can respectfully say they have to go. Otherwise, the client should not have to adjust the the weaknesses in a vet’s practice when their horse’s health is on the line. If there are no other options, I guess in that case there is no other choice. IMHO, if vets are so busy they can not adequately care for the horses in their practice, they need to reduce the number of horses in that practice, hire more staff, or look at their processes and make some necessary adjustments. It doesn’t take but a minute to text, “Looks good, continue on protocol”. I had a vet that was cutting staff and just quit sending bills altogether. It was always a surprise to see what your credit card was going to be billed for. That is not acceptable either.
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Brokegirl, Since you really like the vet, can you call the office and have him call you? Are you comfortable explaining to him you are struggling with sending him the pictures and asking him what would be a method he prefers? Also, you can bring up that there is confusion with the bill and ask him how that works. As for giving you an idea about handling the lack of information on the cost of services, that is a tough one. Maybe the office staff can refer you to the bookkeeper or billing person. I have done the “open checkbook” for years, and now I do want to have some idea about how things will go and what it will cost.
They did send me the bill and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasnt near as much as they said it was going to cost. My home vet is great and response to what I send them within a couple hours so they have been a lifesaver. I have heard from the vet here a couple times and they seem to be a little better. My biggest issue is when I call them, ask for the vet they will tell me he isnt there and start taking a message and during the message they tell me to hold and then go get the vet.
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Think of it this way - they listened and learned your call to the vet was for a real reason and then transferred you to the vet. Consider it call screening. I have no doubt that there are lots of people who call up and ask to speak to the vet right this very minute and then ask ‘I am in the aisle at Tractor Supply and I do not remember which dewormer to buy, can you please help me?’ or ‘Dobbin is shedding more than I think she should be for how cold it is, what should I do?’ , the list of questions they can tell you about is probably very long. I think screening the incoming calls for the vet makes perfect sense.
Great news that your bill was less than you thought it would be. I love those bills, rare things they are.
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Glad that worked out for you!
I had the opposite experience, however. I was considering using a vet that was new to me and as she was at the barn I asked her what she charged for teeth floating. She gave me a quote and I asked if that was for everything (sedation, travel, etc.) and she assured me it was. When I received the bill it was for twice what was quoted and there were charges on there that I didn’t ask for like two different vax and hoof exam! I hit the roof and called the vet and had a discussion with the receptionist who also handled the books. She denied that the vet would give me that quote and I asked, what about the other things on the bill that I didn’t ask for? I told here there was no way I was paying twice the amount and for the things not part of teeth floating.
The next time I called, I had her ask the vet and the vet confirmed that she had quoted me what I said she had so I asked for a new bill to reflect the correct charges.
When I didn’t get the new bill I called again and someone new answered the phone and told me the total owed was a lot less than what I thought. Come to find out she had fired her entire staff not long after the second phone discussion. Guess the cat was out of the bag on them up-charging and billing for unwanted services.
Wow thats crazy. I wonder what they thought they were going to get out of it
I have used two equine practices and the veterinary school in my area ALL have been able to give me at least an estimate on services discussed prior to leaving or in the school admittance. Many times with the local practices I will not receive a bill for days, sometimes weeks after but both were familiar with my barn and me as an established client. Most of the vets will tell me this option costs “$$$” or we could do the slower option that costs “$” you just need to be sure you can do XY&Z to prevent further complications without me even asking. There have been times where I couldn’t do the pricey option and there have been times I had not choice because management wasn’t going to happen properly, every time I had an idea of what the bill would look like and didn’t mind a delay in invoicing.
Most recently when my horse was diagnosed with ulcers the vet asked reception to price out gastrogard off the truck versus the online pharmacy to see what would get me the best deal. I realize this isn’t always the case with some vets but I would be shocked if they couldn’t at least give a ballpark within a couple hundred of an entire bill.
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