Raphael1047
Established Member
The new vet i am going to i have to pay $60 for just the appointment. I dont even know how much any thing else is, but i was curious of how much do you guys pay for the appointment and every thing else.
How much do you pay for the vet?
- Thread starter Raphael1047
- Start date
An exotics appointment where I work is $65, and then whatever needs to be done is on top of that.
asongforyou
Member
My herp vet is $45. My avian vet however charges $85 but he's worth every penny!
Raphael1047
Established Member
Here is another concern i have the vet i am going to go to has some mixed reviews on yelp and stuff like that and no reviews on reptiles. I searched google for other vets but i dont know which is the best. How do i pick a good vet? I dont have enough money to go every vet in my area for me to pick the right one, but i will try if i have to. By the way i live in the 94531 area code if anyone want to suggest a vet!
Raphael1047
Established Member
Wow, where do you live? Is it a good vet?
asongforyou
Member
Exactly what I was thinking.
biochemnerd808
New Member
Our vet had a printable coupon for a free first office visit, so I "just" had to pay for antibiotics. Normally the office visit would be $55 for a reptile. There is another reputable reptile vet near us that charges $65 for the office visit.
I would take any Yelp-reviews with a grain of salt - there are surely MANY neutral to happy clients that just never get around to writing something. Only the pissed-off clients take the time to write (and even the best vet sometimes makes a person mad, or a client is just inherently hard to please). Ask the vet point blank if they have any experience with YOUR specific kind of chameleon. If they are vague, ask more questions. You don't want to come into the office and get a comment like: "Oh! Cute iguana!"
Also, a lot of vets have some wiggle room in their billing. If money is the deciding factor in whether you bring your pet to the vet or not, then tell the vet. Ask them if they would be willing to work with you on the price. We got a price reduction because our cham is a rescue and we are fostering him. It would be the vet, not the receptionist, who would make such a decision.
Good luck!
I would take any Yelp-reviews with a grain of salt - there are surely MANY neutral to happy clients that just never get around to writing something. Only the pissed-off clients take the time to write (and even the best vet sometimes makes a person mad, or a client is just inherently hard to please). Ask the vet point blank if they have any experience with YOUR specific kind of chameleon. If they are vague, ask more questions. You don't want to come into the office and get a comment like: "Oh! Cute iguana!"
Also, a lot of vets have some wiggle room in their billing. If money is the deciding factor in whether you bring your pet to the vet or not, then tell the vet. Ask them if they would be willing to work with you on the price. We got a price reduction because our cham is a rescue and we are fostering him. It would be the vet, not the receptionist, who would make such a decision.
Good luck!
Somehow a discount always manages to pop up on the bills for my reptile patients. Don't know how that happens.
Raphael1047
Established Member
I will defiantly ask the vet if they know chameleons. Thank you for your replies.
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Here's a good place to look for a Chameleon vet. Look through each post where the members here tell which vet they use.....not the links.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/area-area-country-vet-list-32880/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/area-area-country-vet-list-32880/
GabeCastro
Established Member
Bay area native
Whats up?
I see you're from the bay area, glad to see other members out here
I'd suggest going to Berkeley Cats & Dogs, in Berkeley.
I paid $90-$96 to become a client, also it included a check up. You'd have to bring in your chameleon for this but I got to have my vet check for any signs of mouth rot, MBD, URI, Fungus, etc...
Also I paid for a fecal test, that was only $26 bucks! Cheapest one i found, usually other places charge $80-$160 just for a fecal test. This didn't even include their outrageous examine fees...So anytime i want to get a fecal test, i just call them say i'll be dropping off some droppings and it'll be $26 bucks every time
My vet Ken is super nice and knows what he's doing. Said i could email him anytime i'd like. I'd highly suggest going to Berkeley Dogs & Cats. Tell them Jasper sent you
Oh, And i got a cool nice letter in the mail signed by everyone in the office. Also gave me a fridge magnet.
Whats up?
I see you're from the bay area, glad to see other members out here
I'd suggest going to Berkeley Cats & Dogs, in Berkeley.
I paid $90-$96 to become a client, also it included a check up. You'd have to bring in your chameleon for this but I got to have my vet check for any signs of mouth rot, MBD, URI, Fungus, etc...
Also I paid for a fecal test, that was only $26 bucks! Cheapest one i found, usually other places charge $80-$160 just for a fecal test. This didn't even include their outrageous examine fees...So anytime i want to get a fecal test, i just call them say i'll be dropping off some droppings
and it'll be $26 bucks every timeMy vet Ken is super nice and knows what he's doing. Said i could email him anytime i'd like. I'd highly suggest going to Berkeley Dogs & Cats. Tell them Jasper sent you
Oh, And i got a cool nice letter in the mail signed by everyone in the office. Also gave me a fridge magnet.
Dr O
Veterinarian
just some fyi's for exam charges on reptiles or many other exotics--
whereas a common assumption may be that it's a $30 lizard and tiny or whatever and therefore should get a cheaper exam, it doesn't work that way on "our" side. when i see a dog or cat i don't have to quiz the owners on day and night temps, humidity, types and brands of bulbs, substrate, caging, diet, supplements, etc. etc etc., in addition to recording all of that information in our records (and the average client doesn't have a clue what wattage bulb or humidity levels are). the exotic exam takes much longer (my staff would typically block out 2 app't slots for one reptile). additionally, things like getting a fecal sample from a dog takes about 2 seconds with a fecal loop, whereas if i need to get one in a herp i need a large syringe, saline, a red rubber tube, and need to insert that tube into his cloaca and colon to flush and get a sample; that's all extra costly materials and time which is how we charge. nevermind the husbandry lecture that we tend to give to clueless owners. the average member here is 99% more educated than the average client; y'all don't count!
i have never and will never discount my exam charge, something which has gained great popularity over the years in vet med. in fact, veterinary practice management experts continue to try and persuade us to charge MORE for an exotics exam due to all of the extra time involved, which is theoretically fine but i don't do it. if someone wants to discount their vaccines or something basic, then that's fine. but discounting an exam in the long run makes the perceived value of the exam less and less, and any doctor in any field will tell you that the exam is the most important part of the visit. anyone can give a shot, and even buy it off the internet or feed stores nowadays. but the exam is what we all spent untold hundreds or thousands of hours studying for in school, and is also the Step 1 of where to go after that (bloodwork? rads? meds? nothing?). the newer generations of vets typically understand this concept and it's less and less common to see discounted exams.
however, when it comes to medications or procedures i will typically discount. it's still the same calculations that need to be done to figure out doses and such, but i am not going to pretend that the 3 cc's that one dog might need costs me as much as the 0.3 cc's that a hamster gets.
in the past decade vet prices have started to catch up with inflation and other costs where for 20-30 years prior we were by far the only professionals (MD's, lawyers, dentists, architects) that never raised prices in accordance with inflation. a lot of vets feel guilty about charging for services when, as animal lovers, we want to see things fixed irregardless. so prices have been increasing across the board in general, although we are still far behind where a graph of our costs, inflation, and other similar professions tell us we should be when looking at decades of our expenses vs. our prices (dentists are actually the closest thing to a typical vet office and are used as a comparision in many studies).
finally, the increased use of pet insurance has made generally positive leaps and bounds in the industry. now someone can have a co-pay of $200 for an MRI rather than paying $2500 out of pocket. in the long run that benefits the patient, the owners, and the end result since advanced diagnostics are much more readily acceptable. there is little doubt at this point that the future of veterinary medicine will revolve heavily around insurance, for better or worse. but mostly better, imo.
just an fyi peek into the types of things you might read about in a typical veterinary industry practice management journal.
whereas a common assumption may be that it's a $30 lizard and tiny or whatever and therefore should get a cheaper exam, it doesn't work that way on "our" side. when i see a dog or cat i don't have to quiz the owners on day and night temps, humidity, types and brands of bulbs, substrate, caging, diet, supplements, etc. etc etc., in addition to recording all of that information in our records (and the average client doesn't have a clue what wattage bulb or humidity levels are). the exotic exam takes much longer (my staff would typically block out 2 app't slots for one reptile). additionally, things like getting a fecal sample from a dog takes about 2 seconds with a fecal loop, whereas if i need to get one in a herp i need a large syringe, saline, a red rubber tube, and need to insert that tube into his cloaca and colon to flush and get a sample; that's all extra costly materials and time which is how we charge. nevermind the husbandry lecture that we tend to give to clueless owners. the average member here is 99% more educated than the average client; y'all don't count!
i have never and will never discount my exam charge, something which has gained great popularity over the years in vet med. in fact, veterinary practice management experts continue to try and persuade us to charge MORE for an exotics exam due to all of the extra time involved, which is theoretically fine but i don't do it. if someone wants to discount their vaccines or something basic, then that's fine. but discounting an exam in the long run makes the perceived value of the exam less and less, and any doctor in any field will tell you that the exam is the most important part of the visit. anyone can give a shot, and even buy it off the internet or feed stores nowadays. but the exam is what we all spent untold hundreds or thousands of hours studying for in school, and is also the Step 1 of where to go after that (bloodwork? rads? meds? nothing?). the newer generations of vets typically understand this concept and it's less and less common to see discounted exams.
however, when it comes to medications or procedures i will typically discount. it's still the same calculations that need to be done to figure out doses and such, but i am not going to pretend that the 3 cc's that one dog might need costs me as much as the 0.3 cc's that a hamster gets.
in the past decade vet prices have started to catch up with inflation and other costs where for 20-30 years prior we were by far the only professionals (MD's, lawyers, dentists, architects) that never raised prices in accordance with inflation. a lot of vets feel guilty about charging for services when, as animal lovers, we want to see things fixed irregardless. so prices have been increasing across the board in general, although we are still far behind where a graph of our costs, inflation, and other similar professions tell us we should be when looking at decades of our expenses vs. our prices (dentists are actually the closest thing to a typical vet office and are used as a comparision in many studies).
finally, the increased use of pet insurance has made generally positive leaps and bounds in the industry. now someone can have a co-pay of $200 for an MRI rather than paying $2500 out of pocket. in the long run that benefits the patient, the owners, and the end result since advanced diagnostics are much more readily acceptable. there is little doubt at this point that the future of veterinary medicine will revolve heavily around insurance, for better or worse. but mostly better, imo.
just an fyi peek into the types of things you might read about in a typical veterinary industry practice management journal.
tkilgour
Member
The places in my area charge $60 per visit, plus meds and any other services. The exotic vets in my area are clueless when it comes to chameleons. One Dr. tried to tell me veiled chameleons can't even lay eggs in captivity. I laughed and told him my veiled just laid 92 fertile eggs and recommended that he join the chameleon forums. LoL. Then the last time I went to the vet, I told the Dr. the exact meds needed and dosages. She then made me wait 3 hrs. while researching, just to learn that I was correct. Luckily now, I have my own personal veterinarian as a friend.
Very well said, as usual, Dr O! I too spend far, far more time with exotics owners than those of dogs and cats. A new puppy exam takes a few just a few more minutes to cover everything than normal, even with clueless new owners. But think about explaining the extensive husbandry advice needed for that impulse buy chameleon when they've never even owned a reptile before. The same for any exotic really. Now imagine trying to tell someone all the things they've done wrong to lead to their animal's illness and everything they'll have to do to correct and treat it, and usually they'll fight it for a while. I work in ER so I don't see as many exotics as I'd like, but the sick tortoise I saw last week took me about 45 minutes with the client explaining all the things she didn't have and what she needed to do to fix it, and time on top of that to type it all up so she had something to go by when she got home. A typical exam time slot is 15-20 minutes most places (at regular vets), so that's 3 times slots for one patient. Give me a bleeding into the abdomen from new cancer dog and I'll have the owners educated and out the door and the dog in line for surgery in 20 minutes.
Vets do have a harder time charging what everything is worth. I cringe every time I give someone a several thousand dollar estimate for care and wish I could go discount a bunch of stuff to make it easier on them to afford what needs to be done for their pet. But that will run me out of business and then I won't be able to help anyone. Like Dr O, I put in discounts on things that I can for reptiles/exotics, but the exam is important and if it's too cheap then people don't value it for what it is.
I've seen exotics visits cost $90 or more based on the time needed for the husbandry lecture, and more complicated diagnostics. It's actually more fair to charge more because of what we need to do. But I too am reluctant to do so because exotics owners are notoriously unwilling or unable to pay that kind of price for their "cheap" pet. It's either "you want me to pay 3 times the price of my leopard gecko? I'll just go get another one instead" or "I paid $300 for my special morph ball python, I can't afford the $60 for an exam". Lose-lose.
Vets do have a harder time charging what everything is worth. I cringe every time I give someone a several thousand dollar estimate for care and wish I could go discount a bunch of stuff to make it easier on them to afford what needs to be done for their pet. But that will run me out of business and then I won't be able to help anyone. Like Dr O, I put in discounts on things that I can for reptiles/exotics, but the exam is important and if it's too cheap then people don't value it for what it is.
I've seen exotics visits cost $90 or more based on the time needed for the husbandry lecture, and more complicated diagnostics. It's actually more fair to charge more because of what we need to do. But I too am reluctant to do so because exotics owners are notoriously unwilling or unable to pay that kind of price for their "cheap" pet. It's either "you want me to pay 3 times the price of my leopard gecko? I'll just go get another one instead" or "I paid $300 for my special morph ball python, I can't afford the $60 for an exam". Lose-lose.
BocaJan
New Member
Hey Carol, maybe I should know who your vet is. Mine down here is much more. $25 for a fecal and $60 to walk in the door.
