Veterinarian charging extra for bringing more than one pet

My 2 cats are due for their annual exam, so I called the vet I've been going to for years. The person that answered saw I had 2 pets and told me they have a new policy that if you bring more than one pet in at a time, there is a $50 surcharge for the visit, but if I wanted to make two separate appointments, they would waive the surcharge. Has anyone else encountered this with their veterinarian? It just seems so bogus to me - what does it matter to the vet whether I bring in one or two? I know it's an inconvenience to me to have to make two 10 mile trips. She may have lost a client with her avarice.
 

Wow...never heard of that before. I wouldn't be happy either, having to pay a surcharge. My vet is 35 miles away, one way. I take all 4 of my cats at the same time. I think I'd be looking for a new vet if that is their new policy.
 
Doesn't seem bogus -- seems like a rip-off! Some vets have a deal that if you bring in two animals you get more like a two-for-one deal -- not literally BOGO, but the second pet's treatment is at a discount. That surcharge you're talking about is insane because vets are supposed to ENCOURAGE people to bring their pets in, not penalize people for having more than one pet.

Find another vet.

You seem to be getting ripped off a lot lately, debodun. Any particular reason why this is happening? It seems you've hit a slump of some sort. Wanna talk about it?
 

When I take my birds to the vet I get a discount for bringing 2. Your vet is just adding some extra fee to make more money. Like the others said I would find a new vet or take them in seperately.
 
I've never heard of a discount for bringing in more than one pet, at least not here where I live. Two pets at once is going to take more time and attention from the vet than just one pet, especially if he/she is going to do an annual checkup too, so they would have to allot more time for the appointment.

If you are only taking them in for shots and not an exam, check out your local humane society and pet stores, like PetSmart and also smaller ones. Here, almost all of them have shot clinics where you just go in to get shots.

Or if you want to take them to your vet, make two back to back appointments on the same day.
 
I also get a discount for bringing 2 in at one time. One of my cats has been having problems resulting in back and forth phone calls for several weeks now with regards to meds changes. To date I have not been charged for this.
 
I also get a discount for bringing 2 in at one time. One of my cats has been having problems resulting in back and forth phone calls for several weeks now with regards to meds changes. To date I have not been charged for this.
I know a lot of people get discounts from vets that care and know it's expensive to care for our pets.
 
Time for a new vet there. Sophie is majorly dog aggressive and Callie is a tank. Our vet understands it's not feasible or safe for that matter to bring them in together. We have appointments the same day at different times with no extra charge.
 
I've never heard of a discount for bringing in more than one pet, at least not here where I live. Two pets at once is going to take more time and attention from the vet than just one pet, especially if he/she is going to do an annual checkup too, so they would have to allot more time for the appointment.

If you are only taking them in for shots and not an exam, check out your local humane society and pet stores, like PetSmart and also smaller ones. Here, almost all of them have shot clinics where you just go in to get shots.

Or if you want to take them to your vet, make two back to back appointments on the same day.

I think that may be what a lot of people with two pets do, they make back-to-back appointments.

The shots-only idea sounds great; where I used to live our vet did that. They had low overhead since they didn't have a big fancy clinic or a computer system. Their record system was a card file. Where I live now, all the vets have set fees and don't waiver -- you bring your animal in for shots, they also do an exam, bloodwork, etc., and charge your over $100. They will not do just shots. They want that $100-plus to pay their overhead.

My old vet, you came in, he took the cat out of her crate, checked her ears and eyes, said, "What are you feeding her?" gave her her shots, charged you $30+ and that was it. If you wanted parasite checks and other extras they would do them but it wasn't part of a routine office visit. He'd probably charge $50+ by now.
 
We used to get a discount if we brought three or more pets in at one time with some of the local vets. That has changed though now that there are way more animals and way more vets here. No discounts for anyone now, as far as I know. "Greedy" comes to mind.
 


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