Dental cost for cats

[Poppiesway]

Hi, my cat is 17. As a young cat he was hit by a car and had to have his leg amputated and lost half of his bottom jaw.. (He came to me as a rescue as I worked in the vets at the time - he was a ferral cat).

Since we've had him he has never been ill. He now has a tooth abscess, he had antibiotics and a pain killer inj a few weeks ago and now needs to have the tooth out (he has hardly any teeth as it is due to his car accident) however, I have been quoted £295 to have the one tooth removed.
Since I last worked at the vets the price must have quadrupled!! Is this now standard cost or am I being over charged?

I'm a single parent and will have to beg and borrow from a few people to be able to afford this, as i don't qualify for any help towards vet bills. I never took out insurance as my old boss used to do anything needed for my pets free (I took on the old strays regularly), now my old boss has retired and the practise has been took over.. Hence the massive bill (massive to me) I was hoping he would be ok till pay day next week but it's started to swell again today so poor boy needs it out ASAP. I'm just horrified at the cost of taking one tooth out! Is it really almost £300 to take one tooth out?!

[cozietoesie]

Trouble is that it's not just for that one tooth - it's the whole cost of a GA procedure for an older cat, including post-op care. (And it sounds as if it might be a quite demanding one: not just a quick 'in and out'.)

Costs vary so much by practice as well. I can't recall the precise cost of a dental for either of my two - they were complicated by lots of factors - but I'm afraid that it sounds comparable overall at today's prices.

Would the vet do any sort of payment plan? I think many vets do.

[frikadela01]

That's about how much we paid when dp cat had a lot of his teeth out (dp was his 5th owner, poor bugger had been about a lot) cat was estimated to be "significantly" older than 10 whatever that means. It's the only time in the 8 years dp had him he's needed any treatment so we obviously didn't have insurance. We went to vets4pets and they let us pay in 3 installments I think.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Do you have a breakdown of what's included in the estimate and then get another local practice to do a like for like estimate. Prices will vary hugely across the UK and will depend whether your estimate includes bloods and fluids which would be very common for a 17 year old cat.
On the basis of the time that dentals take they are usually much cheaper than other non-standard surgical procedures in a practice.

[cozietoesie]

I recall being given a complete breakdown of costs for Seniorboy's procedure before I handed over my (weeping) CC and being staggered by the cost of the fluid support as a proportion of the total bill. He was 16 at the time, though, so needed that extra safety precaution.

[Poppiesway]

It's £213 for the GA and minor dental,
£28.50 for antibiotics to come home with and £55 for pre anaesthetic bloods.

I rung them today and they won't allow a payment plan. I don't have a credit card or anything to fall back on and use to pay the bill. My heart is breaking for him as I can't even pay for a pain killer inj and antibiotics to keep him going until I get paid next week. It's £80 for those again. I have £40 till payday next weds. Which would be plenty for us till then usually except this cropping up has thrown everything.

ex dp wouldn't help me with the bill. Frustratingly I was awarded an unexpected payout by the bank 2 weeks ago but I had to return the chq as issue with the name and I couldn't bank it. waiting for the new chq to arrive is taking forever and that could be paying for my little man to have his tooth sorted out now :( just frustrating.

[cozietoesie]

That breakdown sounds OK to be honest. That cost for bloods is pretty comparable to that which I paid last time Seniorboy had an op, and at their ages, it's definitely a good idea to my mind.

The payment Is a PITA though. Any chance of phoning the bank tomorrow and getting a cash payment?

[Poppiesway]

he had a GA today and sadly it wasn't a tooth abscess as they thought. He had a tumour which had grown down through his nasal cavity into his jaw/mouth. I opted to have him put to sleep while still under so he didn't suffer any more. Poor old boy. My DC will be devastated when I tell them. But he had a good 17 years with us after his early beginnings, and considering he was a ferral when we homes him he became the most friendliest loving cat I've known.

[cozietoesie]

I'm so sorry, Poppies.