How much is reasonable

[happygardening]

My cat has just been attacked by my neighbours dog in her garden, neither the dog or cat are insured.
It's in a local vet but very ill they're talking about possibly transferring it to a university vet hospital, therefore running up a massive bill. The dogs owner is devastated and being really nice and has offered to pay for it.
If it was my dog I wouldn't want to pay out thousands what do others think is a reasonable amount to ask the dogs owner to pay out.
If the bill signifantly exceeded what we ask them to pay I would have to have it put down as I don't have the odd thousand pounds to spend on vet bills.

[lljkk]

so sorry you have to face this.
I would want a prognosis of likely treatment success before I could decide.
If your cat was in their garden then I would feel very strange if they paid for anything.

sympathies. . My neighbours have a natural born cat killer type dog & I just have to live with that risk.

[Pumpkinpositive]

Do you have any idea what the dog owner is expecting to have to pay?

How old is the cat? Would a long convalescence be required?

I'm very sorry, btw. . That must have been horrible.

[CrohnicallyHungry]

If your cat was in the dog's garden then I think the dog owner doesn't (morally) need to pay anything , sorry.

If you don't have the odd £1000s to pay vet bills, you should have had your cat insured. If you couldn't afford the insurance, then you couldn't afford to own a cat.

[Pumpkinpositive]

I missed the bit about the cat being in the neighbour's garden. I think it's very generous of neighbour to make the offer.

[Lauren83]

I also think they shouldn't pay if it was in their garden, although if I was the dog owner I would probably offer

I have 4 cats all indoor cats but all insured/vaccinated/chipped/neutered

Anyway I bet you are kicking yourself enough for not having insurance, so sorry this has happened, I'm too scared of not having insurance incase anything went wrong and I couldn't afford it

[AElfgifu]

Happygardening, how terrible, I'm really sorry this has happened. Ask the vet for an estimate then get back to the dog owner. Don't know the legal ins and outs, but they have offered. Just ask them to be upfront about how much they can manage, so you can make decisions. Also ask the vet if they are prepared to spread the cost, and also ring PDSA and see if any further help is available.

Poor cat.

[Writerwannabe83]

My cat got attacked by a neighbour's dog and needed almost £600 worth of treatment. The dog owner didn't even offer me a penny. Thankfully my cat was insured but the dog owner didn't know that.

I really hope your cat is ok

[shaska]

Oh I feel dreadful for you - we had a cat become very poorly recently and on top of feeling terrible for her there was a dreadful feeling about what it would cost.

I don't know where you are, but there are vets that will provide treatment at reduced prices - often only the cost of equipment/drugs. Some of them need you to be on benefits, and some don't. If you're in London I can send a list, but otherwise you could google Celia Hammond, or PDSA. Talk to your vet as well, ours was lovely about it - we were honest from the start that there wasn't a huge amount of cash available for treatment and he was extremely good about trying to help keep costs down.

W/r/t the dog - if the neighbour has offered then that's lovely, but I agree that they shouldn't be obligated. I would get an idea of costs, and I would probably take into account their financial position, or what I knew of it before suggesting a figure. I do feel that expecting them to cover the whole bill would be a bit U, unless they insist - I'd personally feel contributing 20% would be extremely kind.

Best of luck to your cat!

[FreeSpirit89]

That's why we insure pets!!

It makes my blood boil when people say "oh I haven't the money, I'll just put it down then" you wouldn't do it to a human why is it ok to do it to a pet.

[WooWooOwl]

I'm shocked that the dogs owner has offered to pay anything, she must have more money than sense.

The cat was on her property, in this dogs garden, and you think she should pay? Seriously?

If you're going to let your cat roam around other animals territories, then it's your responsibility to get it insured or pay for the inevitable consequences yourself.

It is not reasonable for you to take any money at all from this person.

[HavantGuard]

I'm sorry but the dog owner doesn't owe you a penny. You should have insured your animal.

[HavantGuard]

Some people have different priorities FreeSpirit.

[grocklebox]

Well your animal was in fact trespassing (obviously cats do that naturally, but its still apropos), and more to the point, you should have pet insurance to cover this.
You can't expect them to pay anything, and frankly if you are going to have it put down because you can't afford the bills, you shouldn't have a pet in the first place.

[FreeSpirit89]

Like not taking other peoples money haven't? Or being responsible for your own pets and not taking hand outs from someone else?

[BrokenToeOuch]

Very much in agreement with WooWoo tbh. Your animal was in another animals territory.
I wouldn't be making any offers in those exact circumstances, and you shouldn't be accepting them either.
Your pet, you pay. And yes, if you can't afford insurance, you can't afford pets. It's part and parcel of being a responsible pet owner which is one of the reasons why I don't own any.
I am sorry your cat is injured though.

[Shonajay]

Vet schools or specialist centres can cost thousands. Also, if they're teaching students they like difficult cases and in my opinion of working at a vets, they often prolong things that shouldn't be. Get a diagnosis, look online and check recovery rates. Highest bill I've heard of was a dog attacked, £7000. If you say to them you're not insured, they'll charge less.

[HavantGuard]

I don't understand it either.

[fluffyraggies]

IME it's practically impossible to get pet ins. to pay out! So many terms and conditions.

It's better to stick the £20 into a jar very month. At least the money isn't gone forever.

[HavantGuard]

I've never found that.

[Randomeclectic]

Maybe you could go halves on the cost with the dog owner? But cap it at 1k (so 500 each)

[CrohnicallyHungry]

fluffy my mum's dogs both have long term health conditions, as did my MIL's. Thank goodness for insurance as they must be quids in now. The only things that aren't covered is the excess, and occasionally my mum goes over her yearly ££ limit. But while my mum's dog was being diagnosed there were countless blood tests, stool tests, and even exploratory surgery. So not impossible to get them to pay up at all.

[AElfgifu]

Actually, I have a feeling you are wrong, grocklebox, I think cats have a legal right to roam, I'm not sure how it is phrased.

Either way, it is a terrible situation, and very sad indeed for the animals, and their owners and families.

It's a bit mean to go on about insurance in these circumstances, obviously nothing can be done about that now.

In an ideal world, we would all be insured about everything, but even I, who over insure to the point of madness, got caught out in the storms last winter and ended up with a £3000 bill because of some tiny exclusion in the small print. You might find you are not insured even if you think you are.

[Stinkle]

I'd speak to the vet and ask for an idea of cost first. How old is the cat? What sort of treatment are you looking at? i,e - aggressive treatment for an elderly cat may not be in the cat's best interests

fluffy I have 2 cats and a vert accident prone springer spaniel, all insured. The spaniel has the potential to bankrupt the insurance company with the amount of claims, never had any problems getting them to pay out.

[grocklebox]

They may well do, but I'm sure that if they roam into my garden, its not my responsibility to pay for anything that happens to it.

[WaitMonkey]

Hope the cat is ok.