Does your vet charge per rat?

[!anna!]

For consultations when you take more than one rattie at a time? I'm talking just the consultation fee, not meds.
I ask because I am going to be taking two of my older four boys for a check on some resp issues soon, and since they're all coming up to the 18 month mark soon I thought it'd be a good idea to get them a general check up.

I wondered if your vets tended to see your rats as a group, or as individual animals?

[ErnieG!]

My last vet, that I was with for months charged me just the one, even if I took four in, I was dead made up with it.
But recently a new vet in the same center charged me two, when I took three in and my bill ended up at £45 when the last vets with the same meds cost only £30
I know it's only a £15 difference, but £15 goes a long way with me now-a-days.

[little_rat_lover]

My vets seem to charge per group - I normally take in 2 rats anyway for company, I've only ever taken in 1 extra but never been charged for that. And my extra ratty always gets a cuddle - sometimes I've booked in 2 and again only been charged 1 consult too.

If taking in 4 I'd mention it though just so they know and can allow extra time if needed

[Nemokid]

ours charge per rat sadly...

[acapae_wolf]

I generally take as many rats that are in the group whenever I go to the vets, rather than just picking out the ill one and a friend. That's more because, in the past at least, I've had a small group size, and it means that they keep up with regular travelling (I like my rats to think that's a usual part of life). I never take just a single rats to the vets - companionship while travelling and in a place that probably stinks of disinfectant etc. is much more reassuring etc.

I've never been charged for asking for more than the specific ill ones (max I've had of them in a group has been 3) to be prodded. I'd be a little surprised if they did tbh. Vets usually do by consultation appointments, rather than numbers of animals for small sociable pets. I quite often chuck healthy rats at vets so that they can be reaquainted with healthy rats, see healthy weights etc. Must be a bit depressing to mostly see animals who aren't in full health

[little_rat_lover]

Hmmm thinking again and reading the above, I'd definitely phone, don't want you expecting £15 or £30 plus meds and ending up with £60 + meds!

[!anna!]

I am certainly going to ring and check first, I just wondered what the general rule was but it seems to vary a lot!
In the past I've had one booked in and asked for the other to have a quick check and always felt rather cheeky and found the vet seemed a bit put out, but this time there'll be four so a phone call definitely needs to happen beforehand I think.

[izzerie]

My vets charge per but rat but they do a reduce rate for the other animals. So it's £11 for the first and £8 for the others. Also, if it's a second visit within a certain amount of time or for the same problem then you are charged the reduced fee as well. I thought that was quite reasonable!

[daffee]

It depends how many we're tAking in and what the problem(s) is but ours wouldn't charge a full fee for each rat. When we've taken several with the same problem it would usually be one consult. When there's several with different issues that might take longer to deal with it would usually be one consult and one follow up fee.

[teresaisaacs]

I get charged a half consultation per visit, which is £14. I could take in 5 rats and get charged the Same as taking in one rat. I do get a discount on meds if I am needing more than one product though. although, lately I have been in the vets allot recently!

[Blue Dragon]

I get charged the same reguardless of how many I take. But saying that there's rarely a time that more than one is ill and the others are usually for company. The odd occation that more than one has been ill at once I haven't been charged extra either. But I get that I must be lucky 0_0

[Bazu]

With my vets, it depends on the consultation itself. If it's something simple ("Yes, that sounds like a myco flare-up; I'll put her on some baytril too"), then it's counted as part of the original consultation. If it turns out to be something that requires a fair bit more work, they charge more, though I don't think it's the full price - I find this entirely fair though; I wouldn't mind installing a new hard drive on a friend's PC for free, but if they asked me to do a full data back-up, format the hard drive and restore all the software to its previous state for nothing I might have some choice words! (Depending on the friend, of course )

[acapae_wolf]

Oh, more posts have appeared!
I wouldn't mind paying more for 3+ if I went over my consultation appt time. But I've never had that as generally with just one issue it's signifcantly under the time they allow (which is generally dog/ cat suitable). I guess different vets have differen't lengths of standard consulations though, same as drs.

[Jimi+Milo]

I've only taken 2 rats so far, was only charged 1 fee. Generally when I've been and both needed seeing it was 1 had something more serious and the other had something minor - so the 1 needed a good look at, and the other just needed a brief prod, so to be honest I would be a little gutted if I did have to pay for them both for that (I still would like). If they both needed a good look at I would expect to have to pay for them both. I do always go assuming I'm going to have to pay a fee for both and that meds will be more than usual too (ever the pessimist).

[Rootigger]

When I was ringing round all my local vets to suss out a good one for rats, I asked them all this question. I needed to take 4 in for a general health checkup, with one in particular having a myco flare up at the time. One vet said 'we'll have to charge a consult per animal, so for four rats it'd be £80'. I nearly passed out in shock! Needless to say I declined the offer...The one I settled on assured me it'd be a single consult fee, then after the appointment tried to charge me double the agreed price...they backed down! Wasn't impressed. Finally happy with my current vet, who takes the time to listen and seems genuinely interested in my ratties

My consults generally cost £20. I always make sure I say at the time of booking how many rats need looking at so I'm not springing anything on them and they have an idea of time required. Generally happy with that and come away without the horrible feeling of having just been ripped off! Quite happy to pay for a vet's time in that case