Do you live in N California? 
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Add me to the crowd that likes my vet (small animal and large animal) to be willing to toss out a price estimate for things. It always comes with the word āaboutā and even ācould be higher or lowerā sometimes. But a ball park price helps make the best decisions when you are not in a position to just spend anything and everything all the time.
The large animal vet I use actually prints out and hands the owner a statement at the time of service. They expect to be paid at the time of service unless you have some other arrangement (credit card on file).
Hope you get someone to look at the progress of your horseās leg as it heals. That is frustrating.
Iāve worked for two vets, the first was equine focused. He got into the habit of sending out bills instead of collecting at the time of service. It wasnāt long before thousands of dollars were owed to him and I spent time prodding clients to send in something towards their bill. By the time I left only established clients with a record of paying were extended credit. All others were due at the time of service.
Second vet was mixed practice, smaller number of equine clients. Small animal clients paid at time of service. Because her equine part was small, call it boutique, she would bill them for farm calls and they all paid on time. Her past due accounts were almost non-existent and made up from bad check clients who became āformer clientsā.
Both practices gave estimates and allowed for payments to be made on an expensive surgery IF it was arranged prior to the surgery. Usually the amount due was broken down into 3 payments.
Veterinarians are not bankers or required to extend credit but most are softies and really want to help the client and their pet.
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I much prefer to know ahead of time what it is going to cost and to pay at the time of service. Obviously, one canāt always know exactly what the cost is, but for routine care it should be straight forward. Emergencies are different, but again, a ball park figure is something I like to know, because it will make a difference in how I treat the animal. As harsh as that sounds.
We had a vet for years, who was a wonderful vet in all respects, except the billing. You might get a bill immediately, you might get it in a few weeks, it might be months. The only good way to handle it was to guess the amount, put that money into a savings account at the time of service, hope you had it right, and then transfer the money back when the bill came. Which they wanted paid immediately.
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I prefer to pay at time of service, but that doesnāt seem the norm here in SoCal or where I previously lived in WA. I use a local vet for emergencies and routine care. They are a group of independent vets that donāt really have a coordinated office situation. The billing is pretty much random - some I get fairly promptly and some I have to follow up multiple times over several months. Each vet prepares their own bills and then passes them to the office. So the office canāt really get a quote without a lengthy back-and-forth with the vet and the client. It is weird and frustrating, but since I use them either for relatively inexpensive routine care (which I usually know ahead of time the approximate cost) or an emergency (when I donāt get much of a choice), I just deal with it.
The vet I use for more complicated matters is super organized. They give pretty accurate quotes ahead of service (subject to small variations due to unexpected circumstances) and they bill promptly with detailed invoices (so I know how much I owe for each event and can check for errors). They offer significant discounts if you keep a credit card on file and agree to automatically pay bills monthly, which is fine with me. I wish all vet clinics were like that one!
Iāve only just started using this vet, but my fillyās vet quoted me a price prior to service. Vet was stopping in to do an ultrasound on a broodmare on one of her off days, but agreed to do a quick once over on my mare and give annual shots. I asked her how much she thought it be ($X) for just the shot, with no charge for the once-over. She took my info and said I would be emailed a bill. Three weeks later and there was no bill. Vet happened to be out for another ultrasound and I asked; turns out she forgot to put my bill into the system so the office hadnāt billed me. WOOPS! Also turns out the price was a few dollars cheaper than sheād quoted.
I would not feel comfortable working with a vet who couldnāt give me a VERY rough ballpark. Am I talking about $30 for an exam or $100?
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The vet himself was wonderful, very easy to talk to and work with. My home vet is wonderful, so responsive, will talk through problems over the phone. Can quote accurate prices and gives a bill at time of service but also allows paying off depending on size of bill and what was done.
I would just like to know whats going on. I can be very flexile but I need to know what to expect
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northeast PA lol.
But my vet is primarily a track vet but takes a few regular barn accounts.
Heās a one man bad. Heās the vet, vet tech, office manager, head of billing etc.
He is the most brilliant vet Iāve 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 ātrack vetā 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 weāll 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 80ās 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 - heād seen everything possible at least a dozen times, knew what to do about everything and was the kindest person Iāve 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 vetās for 6 weeks while we treated a very difficult eye ulcer. I didnāt get a bill the entire time. When I would bring up pricing/billing, I would get a lecture about āhow committed I am as an ownerā and āwhether I really wanted a good outcome or notā
Uhhh, I want the best outcome, obviously, but I need to know whether Iām 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 monitoringā¦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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Thatās why heās 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 doesnāt 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 monthās radiographs which I was able to pull up on my phone, so I donāt 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 horseās images, of course! The next time we had an appointment they did repeat ultrasounds for free. Not exactly your situation but yeah, I donāt think itās 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 wasnāt the full service you expected.
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That sounds like a great outcome for you.
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