This is Oliver, today I took him to the vet.

“This is Oliver, today I took him to the vet. He had a problem with his paw, it was reddish and he was limping a bit. I already had an idea that it was probably some sort of allergy but it’s always better to seek professional advice. The vet examined him, chatting away in the meantime. He said Oli probably has an allergy but we need to do a blood test to know what is he allergic to and then we could create a targeted medicine for the specific allergy, which would be more effective. I asked how much that would be and he said €134.00 (only the blood test, excluding consultation and the personalised tablets.) I told him that’s grand, but is there any other option? He said there is a tablet, but it will only mask the symptoms. I asked would it work the same way as an Antihistamine for my own allergy? He said yes, it’s very similar. I said I would try that for now and let’s see if it helps. He also offered me a spray for his paw which will reduce the redness. It’s another €17. When I asked how much the tablets cost, he looked them up on the computer. I watched him type the name of the tablets and then multiply it by the number of tablets in the box €1.29 x 20. He said it would be €25.84 plus the consultation fee of €42.00 plus tax which made a total of €84.64. I asked if I decided not to take the spray for an other €17.00 would there be any other way to get the same effect at home? He said, well yes, if you soak the dog’s paw in salty water every day it will do the same thing. I decided to take the tablets only. So I paid €84.64 for five minutes of consultation and the tablets. On the way home I wondered how is it possible that these tablets are like antihistamine but cost so much more? I googled the name and price of the tablets. Different prices came up from 70c up to €1.29. Not the €25.84 he told me. Then I realized I was being done. I went back and confronted him. He tried to justify himself using very poor reasoning but it didn’t work. I asked for full refund. He gave it all back and I walked out. On the way back home I wondered was this an unfortunate incident? Or is it a more regular thing?”