I have been extremely disappointed with this practice since we joined in 2023.
Our dog had allergy problems that started in 2023. We were given numerous short-term remedies such as steroids which are expensive in comparison to other treatments we believe were justified at the time but not given, and ultimately resulted in symptoms reappearing very quickly.
Eventually after two years of diet changes etc we gave in and had the biopsy they were pushing for. This cost circa £580. We were unable to claim the cost of this on insurance given this was a pre-existing condition.
The practice then claimed that the biopsy revealed the itching etc was caused by a bacterial infection which, if we are honest, we didn’t believe at all having explained numerous times that symptoms flare up immediately after eating, and are worsened after eating certain foods. These advices are missing in the medical records.
We were sold antibiotics and (yet another) course of steroids. Needless to say after two weeks the symptoms had returned and we were more money down.
Another visit to the vets and this time they tried to sell me an injection that has to be administered every 4 weeks, at the vets, and is £100 an injection (£1,300 a year).
It was only then that I asked if there was anything more convenient and less expensive and we were then offered Apoquel. This costs less than £400 a year online. This has solved all of Flump’s itching and was the cheapest option that was only ever offered when I specifically asked for it.
In summary, it is my belief that we were upsold on treatment options that were more expensive and did not work beyond the short-term - although the practice has denied this is the case. We have spent around £1,200 trying to treat and resolve this issue only for the option that costs 50p a day to work, which was only offered when specifically requested.
We are a young couple and recently welcomed our little boy into the world. Only one of us is working and we feel completely taken advantage of. In our view, we have been sold expensive options and we simply can’t afford to keep getting ripped off. We can hardly afford all of the treatments we have paid for and if the practice had cared more about the animal than the invoice, his issues would have subsided much earlier without the additional and in our view clearly unnecessary costs to get us here.
I have requested an explanation from the practice as to why a £580 biopsy was either incorrect or completely unhelpful, and why we were offered an injection requiring a visit to the practice every 4 weeks for an injection costing £100 before offering us the cheapest and most convenient option which has effectively solved all of the problems we were facing for 2 years. Unfortunately, the explanations given by the practice have not satisfied us.
It has taken 2 years for us to solve the issue and that was only because I asked for this medication. I doubt they would ever have offered it.
In hindsight it was very naive of us to allow it to continue for this long. We have now moved to another practice as we simply can’t afford to keep giving this practice our money given the above. Disheartened to say the least.
