Help - cat

[Sunflowers76]

Please be kind, very stressed. Have a rescue cat. Owned for 5 years. Thought I couldn't get him insured as he has a heart murmur therefore pre existing condition. Diagnosed today with gingivitis so needs teeth cleaning plus possible surgery under anaesthetic. Looking at hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Panicking. Does anyone have any experience in this area of:

• how much these things normally cost from the vet
• any insurers who will cover pre existing conditions

TIA

ManyPets cover pre-existing conditions (although there has to have been a certain amount of time elapsed since the last had treatment for it I believe) but still this is better than many insurance companies who just say a straight no.

Sorry to hear that. It might be possible to keep your cat comfortable with ongoing metacam and/or additives on their food to help with plaque. I would ask your vet.

The teeth cleaning could be a couple of hundred, good luck.

Are you on any benefits? It might be worth checking out whether you're eligible for help from the PDSA?

Thank you @purpleme12 I've checked them out and they only cover pre existing conditions that ended 2 years ago which I don't really understand as if its pre existing then it wouldn't have ended.

Thank you but no, I'm not on any benefits

It just means last treated 2 years ago and cleared up.
I guess it's not applicable to everything but say for example my cat had bladder stones years ago (she did) but it was successfully treated at the time. Never reoccurred yet.
So on most insurance policies that would be an exclusion. But ManyPets would cover if it happened again.
So it can be very useful depending on the illness/incident.

We're talking about seven years ago, but my lovely old cat needed teeth removed and vet cleaned her teeth. From memory it cost £200-300 including follow uo as she was elderly, so I'd be surprised if it cost thousands. She had hyperthyroidism and a heart murmur and I was told there was an increased risk, but she was 17. However, she coped well. I'd try and pinpoint vet to quoting a more specific figure.

I did a quote at one point with one insurance company. Household name although can't remember which one now.
I put in that my cat had bladder stones in the past expecting that to be excluded, but at the end it comes out saying all illnesses will be excluded!!
Couldn't believe it!!

No one will now cover the dental treatment. Most will still offer insurance but put exclusions in place for heart related issues as that's pre-existing.

It's worth starting to put money aside for any future treatment if you don't get insurance though.

It's impossible to give an exact cost, or even a very narrow range as it varies hugely around the country, but as a very imprecise guide, a straightforward dental with no difficult extractions can be anything from £150-350. A cat will usually be on the lower side as the anesthetic is charged by weight. Your vet might offer a pet health plan which sometimes includes dentals at a discounted fixed price, I think CVS practices offer this so might be worth checking out.

What type of surgery does he need? Is it related to his dental issues? Unless it's a very straightforward minor lump removal or a castration I don't carry out surgery at the same time as a dental due to high risk of bacterial contamination. If it's major surgery he may well require that as a separate procedure but that depends on your vet.

No insurance will cover a current diagnosed condition in a new policy unfortunately. Even with a heart murmur insurance would have covered him for accidents and conditions not related to the murmur, but any current or ongoing conditions will always be excluded when you take out a new policy. Some policies don't cover routine dental work in any case.

Thank you for replying, I really appreciate it. I don't know exactly what he needs yet, the vet today just looked at his teeth and said he has plaque and gingervitis and they needed to put him under anaesthetic to at least to a clean but possibly extractions too. I should find out more at his follow up next week. I took him in for an unrelated issue but during her assessment she checked his teeth and found this.

Sorry to hear your cat has this problem, it is very painful. I have cat insurance and it doesn't cover teeth, apart from accidental damage. Other policies may vary.

Last time I took my cat for a scale and polish it was about £300. My friend took his cat and it was more like £700 because the cat had 4 teeth removed (they charge per tooth). Your vet should give you a quote, although it's difficult with dental work.

Have you asked your vet for a payment plan? Some vets are kind enough to let you pay in installments if you cannot afford to pay in one go.

Might be some helpful advice...www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/care/financial

My own vet quoted £300 for a scale and polish. My parents vet charged £180. So madam went there.,insurance doesn't usually cover dentals.

It is quite unusual for any insurance providers to cover dental work anyway. Where did you get 'thousands' from? I work in a vets and the most expensive dental I can remember was around £650, that was for a dog with almost a total clearance so nearly every tooth extracted. For your cat it is likely to be around £450 max. Your vet can put your mind at rest, please try not to worry! Also see if they are able to offer you a payment plan.

I recently took my two cats separately over 2 days to the same vets surgery to have a check up and flea stuff. Saw 2 different vets and they both tried to get me to take the cats back for a tooth check at a basic price of £450.

1. It seemed like a hard sell that the vets were having to do with every pet they saw.

1. Shop around as it seems there are different prices at different vets

They should be able to give you a proper estimate of the cost. We don't give exact quotes for dentals as there's no way of knowing if/how many extractions will be required and how complicated they are until you get in there, but they'll be able to give you a price range, so £x for a standard dental/scale and polish and then additional costs if extractions are required per tooth or per set number/type of teeth depending on their pricing structure, so you know what you're working with. They may well include pre-op bloods and fluids in the estimate as that's 'gold standard' procedure, but those are both optional.

My cat had to have a lot of teeth out earlier this year, it cost about £750 and included X-rays, medications and two return check ups. I didn’t claim on insurance. I don’t know if it could have been covered or not but last time I made a claim the premium shot up so much that I had to cancel it and start afresh (not an going condition).

Our uninsured cat needed some dental work and it was approx £900 and she had to have some teeth removed. She had a condition where her body started to re absorb her teeth so it was quite tricky to remove them. This was with our vet in Pets at Home

My cat had two extractions and a scale and polish and I think it was around £400. It definitely shouldn't cost thousands, but I guess it will vary between vets/locations and also the complexity of the case. I add plaque off to her food now, and it seems to help as the last time she went for a check-up the vet said her teeth looked good. We are insured with Pet Plan, and they do cover dental work. We were unable to claim though as my husband had taken her for a previous check-up when the vet first mentioned it but (annoyingly!) my husband didn't tell me and you have to claim within a reasonable time of the condition being made known.

This is what I use op

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/plaqueoff-cat-granules-40g-%28online-only%29?weight=40g?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_shopping&cm_mmc=Google--CPC--%20google_shopping-_-google_shopping&ita=1976&ito=google_shopping&istCompanyId=7255ccad-a1fc-4729-af31-478f79e5071c&istFeedId=385e6b9a-8b03-4076-a8bb-e4737df8549c&istItemId=itxmxarmm&istBid=t&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=10908489065&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_plt=gp&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9MCnBhCYARIsAB1WQVXdTsGcrKlDLyTwQw8v5dynnXMaNXhhaQnwdoBVonLxjE6fKMb7Dn4aAltvEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

My cat doesn't love it so I have to mix it really well with wet food. It won't help with your cat's current situation, but should help with dental health going forward.

I think some charge more than others. I recently took my Jack Russell dog to have teeth cleaned and polished and 3 teeth extracted under general anaesthetic and that cost £270. May be shop around.

One of our cats had two back molars extracted last year. The whole thing came to approx £400 including the post-op antibiotics and pain meds.