I took my little one for his neutering yesterday, poor little thing

Anyway, when we went to pick him up the vet tried to push some specialist recovery pack (basically some food packaged differently onto us). They went down the angle of 'it's the best way to ensure he recovers as quickly as he can' and it made me feel like a complete bag of ***t for even considering saying no. I declined the pack but went onto say: "if it's a desired requirement after an operation then why not just include the price of it in the op and hand it out as standard afterwards?, then it won't feel like I'm being emotionally guilt tripped into buying something I had no idea and wasn't advised I should get".......I got a blank look in response.

As someone who's pretty new to all of this, are vets basically going to try and take extra money at every given chance? It just made me feel awful and really put on the spot.

How can they recommend and insist on something, but then not make it part of the procedure fees?

I've never heard of that before, mine doesn't even sell food.

He has a few treats and toys for sale but they are behind the reception desk and you have to ask for them they are not suggested.

When we used pet doctors they were very keen on branded foods but we never felt pressure we just said we home cook and were not interested.

I had a similar thing with my vet after an operation. They sold me canned meat which was basically rice and chicken. Very bland food that wouldn't upset his tummy.

I was new to the animal lark and I bought it. I have never bought it since. I now just give them boiled rice with plain scrambled egg or chicken after an operation.

Having worked at a vets I know, from experience, that a lot of people won't have their pets neutered when they hear how much it's going to cost. Maybe your vet was worried it might put people off even more if they added extras. But basically at my vets it was up to the client to choose whether they wanted to buy any particular product or not although they did, and still do, advocate certain ones.

As a pet owner myself I know how hard it is not to feel guilty at not always buying what the vets might suggest. I actually applied for the job at the vets' surgery not just because I'm an animal lover but I thought it would be wonderful to work somewhere where the main issue wasn't to make money. But I soon realised that though the vets did their absolute best for the animals in their care, profit was still a prime concern as it was first and foremost a business.

Yes and I believe its more true for the big Vet surgeries who have lots of outlets, then the independant Vet.

Maybe its because I am older, but I tell the Vet outright if I don't want what they push (like the special dog food), or even sometimes meds if I believe they wont do any good.

Yes I tend to go in knowing what I will agree to and what I won't, it's really up to us to educate ourselves about some of these things so we can have a conversation with the vet. It's our pet and our money don' just say yes to everything, they are not God.

You are right mollypops, in my Vets (a smaller outlet of a big surgery) they tend to have different Vets often, and mostly younger ones not long qualified. So I take what they say with a pinch of salt so to speak. They get told to sell as much as possible but once you tell them your thoughts, they quite often agree with me, and understand my wishes.

My vets - a fairly large practice sells all sorts - toys, food, toothpaste etc.
When my dogs kidney values were slightly up they flogged me a 'prescription' renal diet formulation. Apart from the fact that you can get it a lot cheaper online, I later found out that you are not supposed to use it longer than 6 months. Plus the protein is very restricted and that's not advised anyway particularly when they don't actually have kidney disease.