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Thread: Dogs for sale ads?

  1. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by _Ju_ View Post
    the word was reproductive, not productive. so you like it? Be free to use it.
    NHS is free? Really? Not according to the governments budget. It is a very expensive service.
    Do you have any idea how many X-rays a day you would need to take for the xray machine to be profitable? Do you have any idea how many different sizes of different orthapeadic materials you need to have on hand for that couple of times a year surgery you might have to carry out? and the cost of that material? Do you haver any idea of how many sonograms actually pay for the ultrasound? And how many the average practice will carry out in a year? You have no idea of these costs.
    PS: Many vets do alot more than you think for free.
    I apologise for typo.
    I stand by my comment that the NHS (at least for the time being) is free to the majority of people who seek its services. If you do not like the service that is provided you have a choice, go private.
    In Caithness, people who seek veterinary service for their animals do not have a choice, and are forced to use the services of McGregors

    I don't know the answers to the questions that you are raise councerning surgical operations, but as I pointed out in my last post these machines are costed into the costs of running a surgery.
    Given how long that McGregors have been running a practicein Caithness, I am sure that having the necesary equipment has not resulted in them sustaining heavy financial losses

    You seem to have an understanding of veterinary procedures which maybe comes from a veterinary background. Could you provide us with examples of "..Many vets do alot more than you think for free.."
    Michael Stone is innocent.
    Convicted without any forensic evidence and failed to be picked at any ID parade
    So who did kill Lin & Megan Russell
    http://www.michaelstone.co.uk/

  2. #62
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    The NHS is not free.
    It costs millions every year.
    You just dont see the cost as it is not charged to the recipient if it was you would be amazed/shocked at how much things actually cost, that prescription you may get for free could be worth hundreds of pounds if you had to buy the drugs.
    Mc Gregors are not the only Vet Practice within a couple of hours travel away.
    Its your choice whether to use the vet practice on your doorstep (so to speak) or use one a wee bit further away!
    The vets dont chain you to the practice...

  3. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by Anfield View Post
    I stand by my comment that the NHS (at least for the time being) is free to the majority of people who seek its services. If you do not like the service that is provided you have a choice, go private.
    In Caithness, people who seek veterinary service for their animals do not have a choice, and are forced to use the services of McGregors

    I don't know the answers to the questions that you are raise councerning surgical operations, but as I pointed out in my last post these machines are costed into the costs of running a surgery.
    Given how long that McGregors have been running a practicein Caithness, I am sure that having the necesary equipment has not resulted in them sustaining heavy financial losses
    Dear Anfield, you are in a habit of making factual statements from little or no facts. The NHS is NOT free. It has never been free.It costs someone, somewhere, alot of money. And even if you want to choose to go private, that does not free you from paying your contribuitions to it's maintenance (unlike a vet where you only pay if you go there). Just like the services the SPCA provide are not free. Someone somewhere along the line pays for them.
    You have just said what I have been saying all along: these machines, equipment, materials cost alot of money which is costed into the running of the surgery. The cost of treatment when your dog ( who you have chosen to have of your own free will and have taken responsibility for) is rushed into the surgery with a shattered leg is partially paid for by the evryday procedures such as reproductive surgeries ( knock your socks off) and vaccines, which maintain the surgery. If you want an analogy (not a simily): Tesco does not make money by selling truffle oil. It makes money by selling bread and butter, but once in a while someone just has to have truffle oil, which is why they stock it.
    Refering back: you seem to be under the impression that the local veterinary practice has a throat hold on the local animals health care needs. You are not forced to use them, you know? Or are you under the impression that someone has to open another local practice to give you a choice? If so, where is the business model that shows that this county can support two practices? And if it is such a great business idea (as apparently you are under the impression that vet practices are a license to print money), why have you not forged ahead with opening a practice. If you do not have the degree, you could manage the practice. Or go to vet school. How difficult can it be?
    I think that everyone who knows a vet, even in passing, knows that they tend to put alot of dedication into their work and that yes, they do alot of unremunerated work. If that is not your experience then I can only draw one of two possible conclusions: you are either mixing with the wrong type of people/vet or you do not know vets. If the former, I can only suggest you change your circle of aquaintances. If the latter, then again you factualize entities unknown to you.
    An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing

  4. #64
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    Quote Originally Posted by _Ju_ View Post
    You have just said what I have been saying all along: these machines, equipment, materials cost alot of money which is costed into the running of the surgery. The cost of treatment when your dog ( who you have chosen to have of your own free will and have taken responsibility for) is rushed into the surgery with a shattered leg is partially paid for by the evryday procedures such as reproductive surgeries ( knock your socks off) and vaccines, which maintain the surgery. If you want an analogy (not a simily): Tesco does not make money by selling truffle oil. It makes money by selling bread and butter, but once in a while someone just has to have truffle oil, which is why they stock it.
    Refering back: you seem to be under the impression that the local veterinary practice has a throat hold on the local animals health care needs. You are not forced to use them, you know? Or are you under the impression that someone has to open another local practice to give you a choice? If so, where is the business model that shows that this county can support two practices? And if it is such a great business idea (as apparently you are under the impression that vet practices are a license to print money), why have you not forged ahead with opening a practice. If you do not have the degree, you could manage the practice. Or go to vet school. How difficult can it be?
    I think that everyone who knows a vet, even in passing, knows that they tend to put alot of dedication into their work and that yes, they do alot of unremunerated work. If that is not your experience then I can only draw one of two possible conclusions: you are either mixing with the wrong type of people/vet or you do not know vets. If the former, I can only suggest you change your circle of aquaintances. If the latter, then again you factualize entities unknown to you.
    I will not get bogged down the definition of of the NHS being free. Obviously there is a cost in running the NHS, but as their web site states"..Although treatment on the NHS is free at the point of delivery.." NHS Services
    Hopefully this will end this sub-thread on the semantics of the word "free".

    I disagree with your analogy with Tesco, previous threads on this forum have complained about Tesco withdrawing certain foodstuffs because of lack of sales.
    Where I can compare Tescos to a vet is in "Loss leaders" where Tesco will sell an item at below cost price, just to get a customer in the store. Once they are in the shop they will buy more products, thus Tesco will recover their perceived loss. If a vet was to offer a "loss leader" Neutering/Spaying service then they could recuperate their loss on other veterinary services.
    However this would not work in Caithness because of the lack of competition,
    I agree with you that this county can not support two veterinary practices, hence McGregors have a monoply, and can charge what they like.
    I have never disputed the care and professional standards which the staff of McGregors offer to both clients, and more importantly the animals in their care.
    Could you explain what your phrase "factualize entities unknown to you" means? as this has completely bamboozled me!

    Turning now to the original thread and the abundance of animals wanting homes
    Is it not feasible for the SSPCA and local vets to introduce such a scheme whereby people who are financially disadvantaged are able to have their animals neutered/spayed at a reduced rate. As I illustrated in #14 such a scheme does exist in other areas so why not in Caithness
    If a subsidised neutering/spaying scheme was introduced, then I am sure that we would see a dramatic reduction in the number of surplus animals that are looking for homes.
    Michael Stone is innocent.
    Convicted without any forensic evidence and failed to be picked at any ID parade
    So who did kill Lin & Megan Russell
    http://www.michaelstone.co.uk/

  5. #65
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    Like all subsidised services, I would imagine, the costs would have to be covered somehow.
    That could mean bumping up the costs elsewhere.
    Consultation fees could go up...the drug fees wont go up because people will get their prescription from elsewhere.
    Emergency surgery could cost more?
    Just when people are at the most vunerable....
    If a pet charity helped out they would have to make extra funds to cover the extra costs that so many charities in this economic climate cannot contemplate.
    Oh and before anyone thinks im affilliated with the vets in any other way than being a pet owner, Im not!

  6. #66

    Default Neutering options

    Some of the bigger Charities do help with the cost of neutering dogs. Blue Cross (0300 123 99 33) will give £75 towards neutering and Dog Aid (0131 668 3633) will give 75% of actual cost, but you have to be on benefits and to prove it, and as you know Dogs Trust will also help. It does pay to keep phoning them as they do sometimes try to fob you off. Just keep asking. You will not however quallify for help from them all at the same time, help will only be forthcoming from one per dog.

  7. #67

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    Can I just say that all of this 'macrgregors have a monopoly and can charge what they like mentality' is a load of crap!!! Granted, they are the only practice in caithness, however, due to the fact that they get 100% of veterinary business locally, they can afford to and do charge very competatively!! £20 for a consultation is £5 less than my old practice used to charge. £150 for a bitch spay is no more than you would be charged elsewhere. They do not charge injection or dispensing fees (usually £5 or so per drug) that practically every other practice I have worked in does! So I feel that the criticism they are getting on here is a little unfair.

    If you do your research on what a comparable procedure on a human would cost - what vets charge is cheap considering that the minute a peice of equipment is labelled for veterinary use its price doubles.

    There is absolutely nothing stopping another vet opening a practice. It is just that nobody has chosen to.

    At the end of the day, in my experience, pet owners do have increasingly high expectations of veterinary practices - especially now that so many owners have insurance. They expect practices to treat their pets like they would be treated if they were ill. And altho as has been said on here macregors have been long established - equipment does not last forever! It needs constand updating, suffers a great deal of wear and tear and is evolving.

    Lastly, if you are not happy paying for vet care for your pets, its simple - dont have them!!

  8. #68
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    I have to agree with Emma - prices up here are for sure a lot cheaper than those I have experienced in Dingwall and Inverurie for like for like proceedures.

    But Emma as previous posters have pointed out they do not have 100% of all veterinary business, I know a number of Horse owners for example who choose to use Kessock Equine Vets for example.

  9. #69

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    Yes, But there are no other practices based in caithness - the percentage of owners using a service such as kessock equine is negligable in the overall scheme of things. How many owners travel to Orkney for treatment? or down to Rogart / Inverness? not many I would imagine, unless you count referrals to specialists on Edinburgh / Glasgow.

    I think that it can work both ways - either a practice can go mad overcharging as people have no other option or they can charge less as they are doing well and getting the main proportion of business in an area. In the case here I think it works to the benefit of the community.

    Emma

  10. #70

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    I just wish I could get private health care for ME as cheaply as I get it for my dogs! Have found MacGregors to be on the cheaper side of average. Very glad I don't live in the south of Englandshire, where it is not uncommon to be looking at upwards of £250 for a <girl dog> spay, for eg.

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