All due respect, but l think and find that a relatively naive statement.

Of course they are passionate about animals, hence why they took the years of education and study to become skilled in their craft.

But even vets have to be paid for their skills, experiences and services, and unless they are private practitioners, they will belong to a practice, and as such deserve to be paid.

R

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You have got me there

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That's five years of study, or six if you study at Cambridge.

It's also five (or six) years of student debt!

If it was only about the money, I'm sure there would be better paid professions requiring less training.

According to the web site I just found, a vet with five years experience averages £48k - nice salary but cannot compare even to a GP

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Vets are a business. You have to pay them for the service they provide. As a parallel I wouldn't expect an undertaker to bury my loved ones for free and that's a LOT more emotional.

I think in general they are expensive for what you get. Maybe they are good value for dogs and cats, but for reptiles it's a different story.

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No, I do not think this service should be provided free of cost.

Vets train hard and work hard, they deserve to be paid for the work they do. Some vets overheads are huge, dont think they all make large salaries.

Imagine you are a bricklayer, someone cant afford to buy a house that you worked on but needed somewhere to live, should they have that house without paying you or the other workers involved?
Should a supermarket give away food free because some idiot spent all their money on booze, clothes and night clubbing?
examples could go on and on.......

There are charities that help in some circumstances and some vets do allow customers to spread the cost of vets bills.

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I don't agree with doing it for free. My one charges £150 to euthanise any animal. If you have a little mouse, it will cost you £150 just to euthanise it. And that is for only 5 minutes work.

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the_batten_raver@hotmail.co.uk

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A few of my reptiles 60 Retics 50 royals 30 Burms 30 boas lots more

Bonus if its cows your getting rid of then Sucks if its mice.

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and I thought our vet was expensive.

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I don't think it is unreasonable. Most vets cover the costs not only of putting the animal to sleep but to also safelyt disposing of thier remains in a respectful manner. I wouldnt put a cost on that at all.

I know that some vets won't change thier price but all of our vets up here have different charges for varying animals. A mouse would not cost half as much as say a cat to have put to sleep.

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No, I don't think there should be a discount. Vets need to make money as much as any business - and costs do add up for them - price of drugs, syringes, waste disposal, their time, petrol, equipment etc - all needs to be paid for somehow. By paying a vet to put your animal to sleep you (should!) know that you're getting a professional service that yes, you will need to pay for, but will be the quickest and most humane way of ending a suffering animal's pain.

If somebody can't afford the vets' bills for euthanasia as well as treating live animals then they shouldn't have the animal. If an animal needs putting to sleep due to ill health or age it's our duty as responsible animal owners to make sure it happens as soon as it is needed, regardless of cost.