# Cost of having blood analysed from five stage vetting



## Willow2 (11 September 2007)

Hello - has anyone gone down this route and tested for painkillers present during a five stage vetting. Im considering it but would like to have an idea of the cost before starting the process. Many thanks.


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## Happytohack (11 September 2007)

Your vet will be able to tell you the approximate charge I would have thought.


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## KatB (11 September 2007)

Surely if you feel there was painkillers present then it was masking a condition which causes problems to the horse, so will be worth doing regardless of cost?


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## clairencappelli (11 September 2007)

Ive never understood why they arent tested. I mean if they are taken anyway then why not test them?. I have no idea how much its costs tho

In all honesty painkillers and other drugs can hide a mulitude of problems such as lameness etc.

Sounds like a very sensible idea to me. I have known horses to pass vettings with injuries masked by drugs they they were eventually tested but by then it was far too late.


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## piebaldsparkle (11 September 2007)

[ QUOTE ]
Ive never understood why they arent tested. I mean if they are taken anyway then why not test them?. I have no idea how much its costs tho


[/ QUOTE ]

Cost pure and simple - Bloods are taken at the time and then stored incase analysis required i.e. horse starts to show lameness or temperment issues.  I don't think all drugs will show in a blood test thou.


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## Jemayni (11 September 2007)

Had my horse vetted last week &amp; projected testing cost was £100!


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## RobinHood (11 September 2007)

Whenever I get a horse vetted I always pay for an additional blood test that is run so that I have something to compare future blood tests against if I think the horse is a bit off. We have had a lot of problems with anaemia and viruses on our yard in the last few years so it helps to know that the horse is coming in completely healthy and no-one can say my horse brought something nasty onto the yard. The cost of this has varied from £15 to £80 but we complained about the £80 one and got it reduced to £40. I've never had the bloods run to test for bute etc though but I would expect it to be under £100.


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## lastresort (11 September 2007)

Had mine done as part of the 5 stage vetting and was no extra so find out from the vet as you might be suprised as i was.

Would def have it though have heard some bad stories!!


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## Toby_Zaphod (11 September 2007)

People complain about vet bills all the time so for a vetting vets take blood &amp; store it should you require it testing at a later date. I find this fine &amp; it keeps costs lower. If the horse you've bought changes in character or shows sign of injury later then the vet can have the stored blood analysed &amp; if there are traces of various drugs in the blood then you can take action against the seller.

Simple as that....your decision really, the vet will analyse if you wish.


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## FRESHMAN (11 September 2007)

The time I had this done I was charged just under £200.00 initially. Then I found out that if you have a potential claim on a vet the VDS will automatically pay for bloods to be tested as a first line of defence against the Vet concerned. BUT you have to have notified the Vet that did the examination for you that there is a problem which may result in a claim.


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## beatrice (11 September 2007)

I had a horse i bought, bloods tested after it went lame and i think it cost around £100. 
The vets don't do the testing they have to send them away so you can find the cheapest place if you want.


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## stranger1612 (11 September 2007)

The cost is around £95 for NSAIDS and  a further £95 for corticosteroids, considerably more if you include various psychoactive drugs. Blood samples are sent directly to the lab not stored by your vet. The analysis is done by the HFL so you can't choose the lab. This is not done as a routine as it adds approx £200 to each vetting!


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