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My vet only vaccinates every year, because she's required by state law to vaccinate every year. I've never even heard of a 3-year rabies shot, and my vet wouldn't recommend it, not because she doesn't profit, but because it would be redundant. A pet brought to her a year after the shot, would be required by law to get another shot. They issue medalions to prove that the vaccination was given. Without the medalion each year, a pet-owner can be fined. And - without that medalion, if a pet bites anyone, that pet is euthanized and tested for rabies. They must provide -yearly- proof of vaccination. Not once every 3 years.
This depends on the state. California the requirement and norm is the three year shot. You can opt for three one year shots if you choose but the *state* requires a vaccination of some kind. If you get a one year, you need another one the next.
Oklahoma does not use them, only one year shots. So its up to the state to make a standard and what is acceptable.
Cool! Jasper and I are REBELS! Jasper is (gasp) illegal! I have had him for a year, I have never taken him to the vet!
He is an indoor cat, sees no one but me, has not bit me (yet!).
Jasper is vet free. He is probably already vaccinated, I just did not get any records with him, I suppose when I need some papers on him I will take him.
ok wanna go the home bakes cake analogy, a cake that costs about $10 to make would cost you aproximatly $500
the normal markup on the rabies vacination is a 50x markup...
the normal markup on dog food (dry) even at boutiques is 1.5x the normal markup on RAW food is only 1.3x
normal pet retail mark up is 2x.
as for rabies storage and handling, you make it sound like it takes 2 hours to fill a syrnge and write on a peice of paper, needle and syrnge are anywhere from 25 cents to 75 cents each, it only takes a few seconds ot accuratly fill a syrnge, most rabies vac comes premixed now, so no worries about that anymore, and it takes about 2 seconds (mabe 5 for a wiggly dog) to administer it...
if there going to charge you about $30 to walk in the door with your pet for "and office visit" the room use, and time with the tech and vet is covered by that $30, thats what the "office visit" fee IS, its a fee for the TIME SLOT...
i dont mind paying a mark up on a vaccine, again buisness is buisness, but to mark the vaccine up 50 times then charge $30 for a 15 minute visit ONTOP...is borderline abuse.
thankfully ive found a vet whos not like that, she doesnt charge an office fee for a vaccination only visit (if were running labs, full exam, analglands, nails ect then its an office fee, but if its just vaccines, she doesnt charge, and she only charges me $10 for the rabies plus a waste disposal fee of $5. were in and out in no more than 5 minutes for 2 dogs, if the cats are due as well it takes closer to 10 mins, but her own words are that she refuses to charge for an hours worth of work when its only taking 5 minutes.
i mean for goodness sake $60+ for a shot that costs .60 cents (plus another .25 cents ofr the needle and takes but a second to administer...that doesnt seem right in my book...
if your ok paying those kind of markups so be it, but im glad i found a vet who, while working to make profit, isnt gouging her clients...
(side note, i did used to work in a vets office, and ive worked pet retail for many years, im VERY aware of what the normal markups are for everything from vaccines and drugs to food to doggy sweaters and toys...)
again i am NOT against a vet making money...
i am against vets (and drs) taking advantage of a "captive audience"
educate yourself and make desicions based on that education...
thats all im saying...
What exactly is the use of a vaccine-only visit, except maybe once early in life to space them out? It's not like a baby human. There are only a couple of vaccines. And they normally give them at the same time anyway. So it shouldn't really be necessary.
Otherwise you want a checkup along with. Just like you would do yourself each year or two. (Yeah, I know, I don't do it for myself either, LOL.)
There's nothing stopping you from spacing out visits further in the middle of life with a healthy cat. Amber's gone 2+ years without visit at times, but not anymore.
Most vets, if you ask, will schedule a "tech" appointment for vaccines. You bring the cat in, kitty is whisked in the back and given the vaccines while you wait in the lobby then brought back to you. Some vets charge a minimal fee for this, some charge only for the vaccines.
As for me, I like to see what is being done to my cats, so I am willing to pay an office fee, be shown into a room, get a weight on the cat, be with cat when she is vaccinated, and have privacy with the vet. I enjoy having a good relationship and team attitude with my vet.
Plus of course, I prefer to have the full exam, I like to know what's going on with their health. As some may know, I bring my cats in for well visits every 6 months, because I have learned that things caught early are more easily treated, may cost less to treat, and because cats are the masters of stoic, hiding pain and illness until they are suffering so badly they can no longer hide it, regular check ups can save kitty some unnecessary suffering.
Where I live, vet care is very reasonable compared to many other places. It's a poor farming community here, they want people to take their pets to the vet, so they keep costs down wherever possible. People still complain though.
Some vets are poor communicators, this is true. Most vets are busy and may not think of every single question a client may have. The client should feel free to ASK anything they want to know, and expect an honest answer.
here at least a fee free vacine visit is NOT avaialble, or at least not at the 6 different vets i tried before i found this one...
this one i DO see the vet for a vaccine visit, but she doesnt charge the office fee for it unless we want more than a quick weigh in (done by vets before going into the exam room) and the vac...
since i NEVER do combo shots for dogs or cats, and space them out by a week or so, paying an office fee for every sngle one i give a kitten or a puppy would be insanity...
if there going to mark the shot up by 50 times to cover "their expensenses" then why add a $30 office visit for the shot too?
the profit they make form the shot more than covers the average wage of a tech plus a "vets" time slot too if its just the shot...
thats all im saying...
again im sure these vac office fees ect all will also get based on area, but im in ct where nothng comes cheap and i find a 50x mark up PLUS office visit for something that takes 5 mins is insanity. esepcially since i continued serching for vets because not one of the ones i saw origionally gave me any time whatsoever, charge the $30 visit fee (one was $50 for th e office visit) and then do and shoo me out, if i had quiestions theyd brush me off or scoot me out the door as quick as posisble with no answers...
findind a vet your happy with is absolutly important...
but given the origional topic of the post of things your vet wont tell you...the truth still stands, vaccines are marked up anywehre from 50 to 100 times their origional price which when the normal retail mark up is a max of 3 times...is INSANITY!
Look, I don't disagree that if you come in only for the vaccine, they shouldn't charge an office visit too.
But this bit about harping on the markup is just crazy. The paper costs a few cents so how can you charge $30 to write my resume? Same idea. You can't ignore the cost of time and skilled labor to administer the vaccine, which is what you are doing when you compare the cost of only the vaccine dose to its final price.
If you added up all the dollars of the vet's costs and the dollars that they charge patients, you'll come up with a reasonable markup. The fact that vaccines have a higher markup than the rest is not particularly troubling. If you want them to make even markups across the board, watch them all go out of business. It's not sustainable.
Look, I don't disagree that if you come in only for the vaccine, they shouldn't charge an office visit too.
But this bit about harping on the markup is just crazy. The paper costs a few cents so how can you charge $30 to write my resume? Same idea. You can't ignore the cost of time and skilled labor to administer the vaccine, which is what you are doing when you compare the cost of only the vaccine dose to its final price.
If you added up all the dollars of the vet's costs and the dollars that they charge patients, you'll come up with a reasonable markup. The fact that vaccines have a higher markup than the rest is not particularly troubling. If you want them to make even markups across the board, watch them all go out of business. It's not sustainable.
but given the origional topic of the post of things your vet wont tell you...the truth still stands, vaccines are marked up anywehre from 50 to 100 times their origional price which when the normal retail mark up is a max of 3 times...is INSANITY!
Vaccines are not RETAIL sales, they are professional services. I would agree that the price is too high if you walked into the vet office, picked up a packaged vacine off the shelf, paid for it and walked out with it in your hand. But that's not what your doing. Unless your Vet operates as a retail store, comparing them to a retail operation is nonsense.
When I had more money, I went to the fancy veternarian's office, with a separate entrance for dogs and cats, with the ambiance of a Montana fishing lodge. I paid for that extra TLC for me, and my pets, I had a dog, and two cats. They knew me there, it was like a "Cheers" bar, where everyone knows your name...and you pets names...I think every time I went there it was at least a couple of hundred.
Then, the money changed...and the last time I took a pet to the vet, I went to the local pet shelter for some shots. I went into a room that looked like a creepy mauselum, cold, grey cement, no chairs. The table looked like a cadaver examine table, the tech put the cat on the table, put a couple of shots in the cat, we left, it was $20. No one knew my name.
I wish I could still go to the "Montana Lodge" veternarian...nope...
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