Anyone called out a plumber or electrician on Bank Holiday Sunday?
Another question its interesting to consider is, take a veterinary scenario in your head and ask how much would you think is a reasonable price?
Ill start.... Your dog has jumped barbed wire, or should i say, nearly jumped, and has a 6 inch triangular flap of skin torn and flapping in its groin, and the wound is full of soil, its sunday morning. How much would you think is reasonable to pay to have a trained professional attend your dog, at the time of your choosing (how often do you have a significant wait in the vets waiting room for an emergency?) in a purpose equipped setting to repair the damage to the leg? i.e examine the wound, determine its extent, possibly repair other structures damaged besides the skin, clean and decontaminate the wound, assess tissue vitalisation (will it heal if left or will it rot as it has no blood supply and therefore needs removing) decide on how to close the wound, take into account the dogs natural motion after it wakes up, the effect of anatomy on the forces acting on the wound margins so as to prevent tension and breakdown, select the appropriate suture pattern, suture material, suture size, needle design. place sutures to offset aforementioned forces, decide the need or not for a drain to be placed to allow fluid to drain from the wound, monitor the dogs biological function during anaesthesia ad correct anything untoward, supervise until awake on a one-one basis. select an appropriate antibiotic to offset the risk of post operative infection, then be available on the phone any time should you be concerned about the wound.
I'm genuinely interested to see what people would think is a reasonable charge.
Often the time, skill, equipment, processes and aftercare involved in taking a damaged animal and putting it on the road to recovery are not immediately obvious.
One other thing to consider is, would you be happy to have vet care for the absolute budget budget price, i mean literally cost price, BUT on the understanding that the service would be strict 9-5 hours, no one to answer the phone after these times to offer advice, outdated equipement/lack of specialist equipment, no advice/help to be had on any public holidays or out of hours, in the full and certain knowledge that there are situations in which your dog will die in minutes if untreated, is that a good price to pay for cheap cheap vet care?
I'm genuinely interested in peoples opinion of these sorts of scenario because one key thing to remember is that to a large extent, vets are an emergency service, and by definition, routine costs have to subsidise the times you need a vet and you need one NOW! To a certain extent, your routine bills are enabling that service to be there whenever you need.
The real question is why do prices vary so much, and in fairness i can see how that is open to debate.
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