Vets now ( PDSA Newhall Road )

[xxnikkixx 10]

Hi, I've had an emergency with a 9 week old kitten who has long story short been admitted to vetsnow, I'm not saying I'm familiar with the price of treatments and what he is getting needing ect.. but, It's costing £600 to £700 for one nights stay with them!! Is this overcharging?? He's had to stay in to receive fluids to his vain ( Drip ) cause he had chronic diarrhea and was very dehydrated.

 

I was wondering if anyone has any comments on the price above, is this normal? or I'm just wrong about the price I'm paying? I'm more worried he's not getting the 5* care I feel I'm paying for. When he went in yes he was ill, yes he needed the care in my opinion, but he was lively, he was running up and down the stairs jumping up on the bed for a cuddle ect.. Now the vet is saying after a night on the drip I should consider putting him to sleep, due to him not responding to the drugs as well as they hoped

 

Putting all the above aside, Dose anyone/can anyone recommend a vets who are better to keep in mind when emergencies like this arise to stop myself being caught with these again, the kitten can have all the treatment he needs and I've told the vets to keep going with him but in the future I'd like to avoid going back to Vetsnow. So any recommendations are very welcome for the future as I can't move kitten now and by looks of things I won't even be getting to bring him back home I live in S5/S6 can arrange transport, I'm not looking for the cheapest vet I want to find a better vets and it's a bonus if the prices are more reasonable thank you x

[teeny 10]

It seems expensive what you have paid but just to compare to what we would pay if we didn't have NHS , its a similar cost , If you had your own vet to do this it could have been cheaper , I had a rabbit spend an over night with peak vets and it cost around £400 for more or less the same treatment. It may be worth looking at a vet who does its own emergency cover

[xxnikkixx 10]

Every local vet ( I know of anyway ) use Vetnow for out of hours, so I'd be very welcoming of information on vets who don't x

 

Kitten ( still unnamed poor fella :'( ) is where he is and I just hope there really trying to help pull him through, if he dose not survive least I know I did what I could no matter the cost x

[Posiepaws 10]

Hi Nikki

 

Sorry to hear your little kitten is doing so badly and might not make it

I know that if you are not familiar with emergency costs then the price of care can be a bit of a shock but your kitten will be getting round the clock care and the cost of this is expensive.

 

Vets Now is unique in that they have a Vet and a qualified Veterinary nurse on the premises 24/7. This is in contrast to other surgeries that do their own out-of-ours cover where the day vets take it in turn to be on call and only attend the surgery when called out. In the latter circumstance once your kitten had been put on a drip (for example) the vet would then go home to bed and the care is left to nursing staff (sometimes unqualified) who sleep on the premises but who will also go to bed when they can. The only place in Sheffield that has a Vet and a Qualified Veterinary Nurse in the clinic 24/7and awake looking at your pet is Vets Now.

 

Plus they have a lot of advanced equipment as they are an emergency clinic that is very expensive to buy and they spend a lot of money as a company making sure their permanent staff have a lot of emergency medicine training. This all costs money.

 

I am assuming the £600-700 also includes a lot of blood tests and work-up to try to help find out what is wrong with your kitten? If he does start to improve it is likely that tonights bill would be significantly less at it would just be ongoing treatment.

 

I am sure that you would be able to find a cheaper service elsewhere but if you want a more thorough service I don't think you will find one.

 

Sending positive thoughts to your kitten - hope he does manage to turn a corner! xx

[heavenlyarts 10]

Peak vets provide their own out of hours care and in my opinion are one of the best in Sheffield.

 

I highly recommend Peak Vets.

[xxnikkixx 10]

He's had one blood test but they said it didn't provide any answers to be honest I was just given a quote asked if I could pay the they took the kitten and asked for 50% of the quote so yeah it was a shock..

 

It's not keeping the kitten alive that is the issue his temperature won't come up, he is playing around and he's up and about. he is just very skinny due to the diarrhea and he is eating but not loads x

[teeny 10]

Peak vets provide their own out of hours care and in my opinion are one of the best in Sheffield.

 

I highly recommend Peak Vets.

 

Peak vets have both a vet and nurse on the premises 24/7 and if your pet is registries with them it doesn't cost what vets now charge also with vets now there isn't good back up with information getting to your vet easily , a customer of mine had to wait 72 hours for all the info to get through from them ! Her cat was terminally ill and sadly had passed away when the info reached them. I personally would only choose a vet which covered there own out of hours service to me that's a better back up and why I use Peak Vets

[Posiepaws 10]

Peak vets have both a vet and nurse on the premises 24/7 and if your pet is registries with them it doesn't cost what vets now charge also with vets now there isn't good back up with information getting to your vet easily , a customer of mine had to wait 72 hours for all the info to get through from them ! Her cat was terminally ill and sadly had passed away when the info reached them. I personally would only choose a vet which covered there own out of hours service to me that's a better back up and why I use Peak Vets

 

Actually this is false information. Only a nurse is on the premises and not always a qualified nurse. The vet does not stay overnight on the premises. I heard this information directly from a member of staff from the practice.

[Plain Talker 11]

I'm puzzled,

 

is this thread about the PDSA, or is it about Vets Now? they are two seperate entities. they just happen to share use of the premises at Newhall Road.

[berlingo 10]

Springfield do their own out of hours, they no longer use vets now

[angel22 10]

I'm puzzled,

 

is this thread about the PDSA, or is it about Vets Now? they are two seperate entities. they just happen to share use of the premises at Newhall Road.

 

It says in the opening post that the kitten was admitted to Vets Now. The OP has just put PDSA in the title incase anyone was wondering where Vets Now is. That's why the bit that says PDSA is in brackets.

[teeny 10]

Actually this is false information. Only a nurse is on the premises and not always a qualified nurse. The vet does not stay overnight on the premises. I heard this information directly from a member of staff from the practice.

 

I have used there emergency service many times and have had an animal treated by the vet hence why i thought there was a vet on the premises , I also know that Steve Goodyear used to live on premises and as for there not being a qualified member of staff on call there that is not true , as i said for my business we use this practice , always in an emergency the vet is there when we have arrived , I shall speak to them tomorrow and check this information out.

 

---------- Post added 18-08-2014 at 09:22 ----------

 

I have spoken to peak vets , there is a qualified nurse on the premises at all times 24/7 and the vet is who is on call is only a short distance away, like most on call vets !! they phone them as soon as they know you are coming in ! the vet on call is one of the practice vets who will have full access to notes etc

Most vets who do there own on call are like that , Park vets also do their own cover in the same way . Originally there was a vet on the premises 24/7 but now they all live very nearby so thats not a requirement !