Lion Heart

Hi guys!

We're in Nova Scotia and brought our dog over with us.

She has a bad knee and so has been on a drug called Loxicom. This comes in small 100ml bottles, and they are around the £25-£30 per bottle range in the UK, which we have always thought was expensive!

In Nova Scotia have been discussing continuing the medication. They do not have Loxicom but instead would use Mecacam, which is quite a generic pain killer and ant-inflatatory.

For the same size 100ml bottle they charge - and I'm not joking here - $130 plus tax = $149.50 (£88).

That's over 3x the price of the UK, and this is just per 100ml bottle!!!

Has Canada gone mad? $150 for a 100ml bottle of medicine for a dog???

She's a big girl at 55kg so a bottle does not last long! We'd be in the $2,000 per year region most likely at those prices!!!

That's not taking into account her Propalyn (urinary medicine) which she also has.

Due to her knee injust we are going to a consultant in Halifax to decide if she needs surgery on the knee. But before the consultation she has to have an X-Ray and blood test done locally. The same vet quote $400 for an xray and blood test! Phones around as thought that sound mental, and it's the going rate.

This is very concerning for us as owning a big dog is a costly affair already.

She was fully insured since we've had her in the UK, but that stopped two months ago when moving to Nova Scotia and she's not insured here. Not that this would change the medicine prices?

What's going on here? Has everyone gone stark raving bonkers? $150 for 100ml of metacam?!??!?!?!??!!!

scrubbedexpat091

Veterinary care is expensive in the US and Canada, its also very expensive to operate a veterinary hospital/clinic and prices reflect that.

Online options might be lower and worth looking into as well.

https://www.petsdrugmart.ca/Home

dbd33

I'm going to guess that you've never taken a horse to a horse hospital.

CanadaJimmy

Reminds me of Richard Hammond's rant about looking after horses on The Grand Tour.

dbd33

Haven't seen that episode, will google later.

Our dogs have health insurance (not the people, just the dogs). It doesn't cover consumables but the $800/year/dog easily pays for itself if one of them needs any sort of procedure. The dog in the OP might be too old to enroll and there's doubtless a pre-existing condition exclusion but it's worth asking about.

scilly

Welcome to Canada!!!

Human medications are also much more expensive than you are used to from the UK ............. ie, you have to pay for everything. Nothing comes free, not even aspirin


Did you not check out things like this BEFORE you moved?

Jerseygirl

The vet I used in NJ charged me a couple of hundred to clean my dog’s teeth. Here it’s into 4 figures.

Edit: That amount was for both dogs...not each.

macadian

Was warned when I moved to Canada that to appreciate the true cost of health care in Ontario, take your dog to the vet! We lost our little guy last Fall, he was a week off 14 years. In his life he had a few major surgeries....over his life time with us, a little over 13 years, our total vets cost was just under twenty thousand. Would we have gotton a dog if we have been aware of what having him would cost us? Probably not. However we have no regrets, he was a wonderful companion and brought much joy into our lives. Fortunately we were able to afford the various bills. We have just adopted another dog and can but hope he remains healthy. We have a separate account which we add to each month to at least take the sting out of any future fees. Insurance was a concideration....but to be honest, don't like dealing with the industry unless I have too. Saving 150 dollars a month is what we do. Pet ownership here requires one to fully appreciate the potential costs concerned.

scrubbedexpat091

That seem's pricey.

We paid $199+ tax last time.

We have been lucky with Charlee, she has needed very little vet care beyond routine stuff, so far been a healthy dog.

Jerseygirl

My daughter’s dog had to have a scan, because she has a heart murmur, before teeth cleaning could be done. Teeth cleaned and a few extractions. $3K.

dbd33

One of our dogs is a greyhound. Annual teeth cleaning is suggested, certainly cleaning every two years is required. It's about $750 or, put another way, the cost of an equine taxi to and from the horse hospital.

Still, I expect Jsmth321 will concur with the view that, if you want an expensive pet, a fish is it. I suppose the school of chromis in our kitchen tank ran about $1,000 apiece counting the equipment and backdrop.

Almost Canadian

Why not just feed them proper food?
We wouldn't dream of paying a vet to do that which proper food or bones can achieve.

Jerseygirl

I do feed her proper food and she is not fed human food. She eats hard dental nuggets only available from vets. She also has a daily dental chew and I brush her teeth most days.

I would never give my dog a bone. I lost one dog after ground raw bone got impacted in her intestines.

Piff Poff

You can always ask the vet for a prescription to take to the drug store. Might work out cheaper.

Oink

That "great" thing about pet medication is that no one really monitors it. It's the wild west of recreational pharmaceuticals. Apparently.