Hip Scoring

I have just booked my bitch in to have her hips scored , prices locally were from £138 to £175 for the G.A and plates plus the £50 fee for the BVA . we have always scored our bitches and
would only use a stud dog with a known acceptable hip score. We have found that reputable stud dog owners will only allow thier stud dog to cover bitches with satisfactory hip scores .
Also when registering puppies with the Kennel club we apply the "Progeny Not Eligible for Registration" endorsement . New puppy owners are made aware of this endorsement and
it is explained that the endorsement can be requested to be removed by the breeder once the puppy reaches a suitable age for breeding has an acceptable hip score and is of sound temperament .
 
Final quotes all in now:

Quote one: Local vet £195.73
Quote two: Dick Vet £364.04
Quote three: Local vet £205.00
 
I am a little confused
Why spend so much time shopping about
Waiting for return calls and worrying about how much it may cost or if I drive to a vet 30 mile down the road who I don't use ,
I may save £100
If you hav a successful mating you will probably make £2500 profit regardless if not more
Go to a vet you trust and pay the rate
That is why you go to that particular vet in the first place
I never realised breeding from pets was about profit
 
I am a little confused
Why spend so much time shopping about
Waiting for return calls and worrying about how much it may cost or if I drive to a vet 30 mile down the road who I don't use ,
I may save £100
If you hav a successful mating you will probably make £2500 profit regardless if not more
Go to a vet you trust and pay the rate
That is why you go to that particular vet in the first place
I never realised breeding from pets was about profit

The purpose of this topic was to see what the going rate was for a hip scoring as I have never had it done before and so was none the wiser.

As with all businesses, vets charge varying prices for the exact same procedures and in this case there is £175 difference between quotes.

If you wanted a new shooting jacket and were offered it for £195 in one shop and £365 in another are you honestly telling me you would entertain the second price?

My minimal research consisted of me contacting my current vet (£205) my previous vet (£195) both within 10 minutes of my house and I also contacted the dick vet because I work in Edinburgh so it was a possibility however they charged almost 100% of the price again which is quite frankly ludicrous.

If you have the luxury of being able to pay what you want for what you want then you are in a fortunate position, I however am not in that position.

The money for the hip scoring has to be paid up front and I would rather use the £175 I will be saving for my monthly food shopping and bills rather than lining the pockets of a greedy establishment.

For the benefit of anyone wondering I went for the £205 price, that of my current vet.
 
The purpose of this topic was to see what the going rate was for a hip scoring as I have never had it done before and so was none the wiser.

As with all businesses, vets charge varying prices for the exact same procedures and in this case there is £175 difference between quotes.

If you wanted a new shooting jacket and were offered it for £195 in one shop and £365 in another are you honestly telling me you would entertain the second price?

My minimal research consisted of me contacting my current vet (£205) my previous vet (£195) both within 10 minutes of my house and I also contacted the dick vet because I work in Edinburgh so it was a possibility however they charged almost 100% of the price again which is quite frankly ludicrous.

David,

You are very much mistaken if you think that every vet practice gives you exactly the same for your money. This is something that is maybe not well communicated to the public when they try to compare prices. I am sure that to make the same profit in my small practice I can charge a lot less for a hip score than a University teaching hospital. I don't have qualified nurses. I don't have sophisticated digital x-ray machines. I don't have a radiographer on staff. I don't have a load of monitoring equipment. So my cost of operating is much less, but I can't offer the range of services the Dick vet can. At the end of the day you get a radiograph that can be sent for hip scoring, but to take your analogy further; you're getting a cheep and cheerful wax jacket from a gamefair with me and a Barbour from the Vet college. It is not the same, even though on the surface it may look that way.

Does that go a little to explain the difference?
 
Apache are you really a vet or are you a nob mate because i am qualified in my own job and would not feel that i was less than any one else

Does that qualification enable you to hand out personal insults with such blind ignorance?

A person gives you a frank and honest explanation of a situation in a highly professional/technical yet still (we would like to think) caring industry, and you resort to replies like that.

Let's hope that it was the "late hour" of your "reply" that influenced your post. Which considering your number of posts, you may like to look up some of Apache's replies to previous posts, and ask yourself does that sound like a person who does not have the appropriate level of knowledge.

Regards

HL
 
David,

You are very much mistaken if you think that every vet practice gives you exactly the same for your money. This is something that is maybe not well communicated to the public when they try to compare prices. I am sure that to make the same profit in my small practice I can charge a lot less for a hip score than a University teaching hospital. I don't have qualified nurses. I don't have sophisticated digital x-ray machines. I don't have a radiographer on staff. I don't have a load of monitoring equipment. So my cost of operating is much less, but I can't offer the range of services the Dick vet can. At the end of the day you get a radiograph that can be sent for hip scoring, but to take your analogy further; you're getting a cheep and cheerful wax jacket from a gamefair with me and a Barbour from the Vet college. It is not the same, even though on the surface it may look that way.

Does that go a little to explain the difference?

I hear what you are saying but surely the hip score obtained by going to the cheapest vet practice will be exactly the same as going to the most expensive so where is the cheep and cheerful analogy. One practice may well be far better equiped and staffed but surely in the instance of hip scoring the end result is the same.
 
I hear what you are saying but surely the hip score obtained by going to the cheapest vet practice will be exactly the same as going to the most expensive so where is the cheep and cheerful analogy. One practice may well be far better equiped and staffed but surely in the instance of hip scoring the end result is the same.

For something as simple as a hip score the answer is basically yes - either way you end up with a radiograph to be scored!

(It is rubbish that some vets can get you lower scores than others)

In reply to 6 Pointers now edited reply - If you read my reply I am not undervaluing myself, I can make as much money (or more) from the procedure because my overheads and cost of operating are lower. My point was that when you compare vets there is a lot more than looking at the price of a single procedure in isolation. As was said above, I would always recommend you support your local vet because if you get your booster done at a local corporate in a pet shop at a bargain price, and get all your medicines online you'll find your old vet is no longer in business when you want them or the prices have increased significantly.
 
I hear what you are saying but surely the hip score obtained by going to the cheapest vet practice will be exactly the same as going to the most expensive so where is the cheep and cheerful analogy. One practice may well be far better equiped and staffed but surely in the instance of hip scoring the end result is the same.

Potentially yes, however, there other aspects to consider, some of which, unfortunately, are not evident to the client at the time, (as Apache has already inferred).

There are, regrettably, as with all industries, some practices that frankly push the bargain bucket option to dangerous levels (fortunately these are few in number), hip score radiographs take care and precision to be done correctly, and sometimes they can be rejected by the Board, which means they have to be repeated, incurring further cost (the amount being negotiable).

The time/precision taken to position and take/develop the x-rays for instance, means the dog is under a full anaesthetic for a period of time, now if you want to reduce overheads and therefore increase profit you obviously cut back on certain things, basically in this example the level of monitoring. We shall leave aside the discussion of digital x-rays, as there is no need on this forum.
That level of monitoring can mean anaesthetic monitoring equipment such as ECG's, blood pressure/oxygen monitoring equipment as well as trained staff (vets have yet to develop the skill of being in 2 places at once - despite attempting it on a daily basis! - in this example developing/reviewing the x-rays and monitoring the anaesthetic). I shall be quick to point out that in most cases there is no substitute for trained personel, so mechanical equipment should be used as a "support aid".

That level of skill/training of personel does imply cost. If you child/family member was undergoing an op/anaesthetic what level of care would you want?

Anaesthetic complications, by their very nature can be life threatening, and can occur very very rapidly, often with little or no warning. If the practice does not have the expertise / equipement to deal with them, this can result in the loss of a much loved pet. This level of expertise/equipement has cost implications.

Obviously this is no excuse to charge clients extortionate fees but there are running costs to cover.

I will, as Apache already has, endorse the support of your local practice if you have received a good standard of service/care in the past, because if things go wrong with your dog/pet they will be your first port of call. Savings of £5-10 on such things as vaccines, etc will be negated by increased travel costs to these "cut price" centres, and if you look beyond these (often) loss leaders, the costs of treating medical/sugical conditions incurred by your pet are often way higher at these centres.

Regards

HL
 
There are, regrettably, as with all industries, some practices that frankly push the bargain bucket option to dangerous levels (fortunately these are few in number), hip score radiographs take care and precision to be done correctly, and sometimes they can be rejected by the Board, which means they have to be repeated, incurring further cost (the amount being negotiable).

Surely if the hip score radiographs are rejected by the board this would be because the fail to beet the required standards of clarity , hip position , identification etc .
If that is true then I would expect the vets to undertake redoing and submitting the radiographs at thier own expence as the original radiographs were not
fit for purpose

I do personally support my local vets and always use the same vet within the practice for hip scoring as we are happy with him doing this procedure on our dogs .
 
Surely if the hip score radiographs are rejected by the board this would be because the fail to beet the required standards of clarity , hip position , identification etc .
If that is true then I would expect the vets to undertake redoing and submitting the radiographs at thier own expence as the original radiographs were not
fit for purpose

I do personally support my local vets and always use the same vet within the practice for hip scoring as we are happy with him doing this procedure on our dogs .

The Board does very occasionaly reject x-rays for what would seem "unclear reasons".

When digital x-rays first came on the scene, the Board initially refused to accept digital hip x-rays, quoting two reasons 1) digital x-rays could potentially be "manipulated", and 2) they did not want to incur the 10's of £1000s of pounds it would take to acquire install the appropriate equipment/software to read/process the digital x-rays.

These reasons initially meant that practices either had to have the ability to take/process "wet" film or have the abilty to "print" out on film, which realistically meant sending the images to the digital providers eg Kodak/Fuji to print out (as the printers cost multiple £1000s).

However, I agree with you, in most cases the practice should incur the costs, (I did say negotiable). But you may find the attitude of some of these "cut price" practices not as amenable, they can be as aggressive in their defense of their costing policies as they are in their initial pricings.


Regards


MB
 
Again I hear what you are saying but in my instance of phoning around the local vet practices the cheapest is a local Veterinary Hospital which I would think would be staffed and equiped up there with the best. I have backed my local vet practice through thick and thin for the best part of 40 years. I would hate to think how much money I have put into that practice. I would think the least they could do was to match the lowest price. I fully take on board the possible "risks" of an anesthetic but to me if the cheaper vet is putting your dog at risk to save cash or maximise profit he/she should not/would not be in business long.
As for buying drugs over the internet. The only drug I buy is Drontal plus wormers. What the vet wants for the same product makes your eyes water.
 
The purpose of this topic was to see what the going rate was for a hip scoring as I have never had it done before and so was none the wiser.

As with all businesses, vets charge varying prices for the exact same procedures and in this case there is £175 difference between quotes.

If you wanted a new shooting jacket and were offered it for £195 in one shop and £365 in another are you honestly telling me you would entertain the second price?

My minimal research consisted of me contacting my current vet (£205) my previous vet (£195) both within 10 minutes of my house and I also contacted the dick vet because I work in Edinburgh so it was a possibility however they charged almost 100% of the price again which is quite frankly ludicrous.

If you have the luxury of being able to pay what you want for what you want then you are in a fortunate position, I however am not in that position.

The money for the hip scoring has to be paid up front and I would rather use the £175 I will be saving for my monthly food shopping and bills rather than lining the pockets of a greedy establishment.

For the benefit of anyone wondering I went for the £205 price, that of my current vet.

David
I feel you missed the whole point
Cost is irrelevant if you trust your vet
Your dog will need an general anisthetic
Some dogs do not stand well to that
You need to know your dog is in safe hands and that costs
If your dog needs an out of hours vet due to labour complications , will you shop around for the cheapest vet to deal with that also
Let's be practical
If you are concerned about how much it costs then you are already in a bad place
I never mentioned about giving hard earned cash away
I mentioned about trusting your vet you use regardless of price/cost
I am lucky as I am registered with probably the best vet group in my area and they are very competitive in there prices, but they still will refer to a specialist if they need to and in my area there are some top specialist referral vets
But on another note I don't refer to my dogs like they are a piece of clothing and look for the cheapest deal
They get the best I can afford and on agricultural wages I will let you decide how fortunate I am
It is that simple
Following on
You hav gone ahead with your current vet... So fair play
When do you get the results
And would you be kind enough to publish them
 
Obviously if either of my dogs were ill out of hours I would take them to their usual vet, as I need to look after them and their health is important, with the hip scoring however it is not a medical emergency so I had the time to plan it.

I will happily forward you the results when I get them back.
 
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