To think the vet/RSPCA are BU and what do i do now?

[Chaosdragon]

Saturday afternoon person knocks on the door to say that they have seen my cat staggering into the back garden and they think its been hit by a car as its dragging its legs. Me and DSs go and hunt for the cat which we find but it turns out not to be ours. Its quite clearly got cat flu or the like as has green snot running out of its eyes and its nose is completely caked over. It also doesn't seem able to stand.

I ring the vets to say can I take it in to be told they don't have a stray cat account and so to ring the RSPCA to get a log number so they can see it and the RSPCA will pay for it. Done and we take the cat in.

The good news is that theres nothing wrong with its back end, it seems to be staggering because its got an ear infection as well as the cat flu. Vet can't keep cat in surgery because there is noone there on the Sunday, so its agreed it will come home with me until Monday and I am given some medication to give it Sun night / monday morning.

Its the cutest little thing and mega friendly but its not eating or drinking and I ring the emergency vet sunday night to ask advice as medication is to be given on a full stomach. They say not to give one lot of the medication and ring my surgery first thing Monday as originally planned.

I ring my vet this morning and am basically told there is nothing they are willing can do. They can't have it at the surgery as they have healthy cats in and no isolation room. They won't see it or give it any more treatment as the cover vet on Saturday did a lot and bill is already £150 and she has only ever known RSPCA to pay up to £80 so they already won't get paid whole amount so cant do more. She knows local cat charities are full and it will be difficult for any of them to take cat it. Suggests I ring RSPCA

I ring RSPCA and am basically told to release the cat back where I found it as emergency treatment has been completed. I point out this likely means the cat will die and am basically politely told tough crap. After falling out with the call handler, it has been agreed that she will pass a message onto someone higher up the chain and see if there is anything else that can be done but am told that the policy with strays is emergency treatment only and then release.

AIBU to think both the vet and the RSPCA are utter jerks and what can I do with it now. I don't really have the funds for any expensive treatment for her, but I could pay to have her PTS rather than leave her to a long lingering death outside but that just seems grim.

Can you get a relative/neighbour to ring the RSPCA and say they have found a cat. Get a number and take it to a different vets for more emergency treatment?

@longtompot I have no doubt you love and care for your cats very much but if they are out door cats I strongly recommend you get them chipped. It is so easy to lose them, and if they are ever hit by a car (though fingers crossed that never happens!) you may never know what has happened to them if they aren’t chipped.

Is there a local PDSA you could contact?

I've never had a good experience with the RSPCA, it's a corporate machine with little or no interest in animals, just raising funds.
The PDSA is brilliant though, I found a stray (in Leeds) who had probably been hit by a car, she was very poorly and appeared to have multiple injuries. She was purring though, which at first I thought was a good sign, I have since found out that cats sometimes purr to reassure themselves. She had no microchip and no means of identification (my cat has a collar with her name and my phone number on a tag attached to it). The PDSA took care of her, and she had to be pts. They were very gentle and caring and they didn't ask for any money, not even indirectly.

Oh the poor little thing. Thank goodness she's got a kind person taking care of her now.

Agree RSPCA are useless - definitely another cat charity are a better bet to try :)

the RSPCA really are a pack of heartless cunts.

This I couldn't agree more. An abandoned Cat had newborn kittens behind my shed and RSPCA would not offer a droplet of help. Said to leave them and all the kittens would just wander off when old enough!!! Can you imagine now many new kittens that would have created.
Thankfully local cat rescue were out within an hour. Sadly 5 out of six kittens died and we now have mummy and surviving kitten.

The RSPCA have had £10 a month from me, with Gift Aid, for many years now. I think a local cat charity will be getting it instead.

A few years ago a cat used to come and go near my house but was very scared, over a long period of time she grew to trust me, I took it to the vets to see if it was chipped, i was shocked it was and the owner lived 10 miles away from me !

Once vet contacted owner she agreed to speak to me, she said she had it some years ago but it went missing long time ago didn't report it etc. Asked me how it got so far away !!!

She said she has other cats and it probably would not fit in with them now, I reminded her that as it's her cat she would be liable for any vet bills even if it stayed with me etc, she agreed to tansfer the cat to me which I was so pleased about the cat has been with me 3 years now. Cats can travel miles.

I loathe the RSPCA and everything they stand for. I truly don’t understand how people still donate to them, as so many people have had or know someone who has had a bad experience with them. Why they continue to fundraise yet don’t use any of those funds to help animals baffles me.

I'm an ex rescue centre runner. I confirm the RSPCA are a bunch of useless cunts whose directors are on a LOT of money. Also a group I was a member of used to do a collection for one of their shelters every year. One year they took our money, closed the shelter a few days later and refused to even speak to us about the situation.

Good on you for caring OP.

Agree that the RSPCA are rubbish (from other stories I've heard), but I understand the vets can't fund the treatment. Suggest the PDSA as others have said. Local news might be interested in a story/raising funds/finding the original owners etc.

I've only had positive experiences with the RSPCA - including loaning me a trap to catch a feral Tom cat with an eye injury (that was terrorising my cats), telling me to take it to the out of hours vet when it sprang the trap at midnight (in case the injury was serious), they collected the cat from that vet the next day, neutered it, kept it until it was habituated to people and then rehomed it.

If it hadn't been able to be tamed they asked could they re release it onto our land as they do better in territory they already know once they've been neutered.

A while later we caught another feral Tom and they neutered and rehomed that one too. I had the inspector's mobile number throughout.

The local RSPCA shelter not only do the usual pets, but also co-ordinate chicken rehoming.

I've currently got 8 RSPCA chickens, an RSPCA dog and an RSPCA cat. Have supported them for years and will continue to do so.

@Peachbubble I’m sure the vet’s are hardly poverty stricken! They could put a collection pot on the counter asking for donations and they’d probably have enough by the end of the week.

Sorry. Popped to shops on way to school run. Currently sitting in car park watching everyone scurry around because the council enforcement officers are about and they cant park on the yellow lines :)

I'm in staffordshire. Currently I'm just waiting for calls back from rspca and cats protection. Have spoken to our local cat charity (iris) and they have given me some suggestions for feeding her so I'll try that in the meantime which I'll do when I get home. They don't have the space to isolate her but possibly might be able to fund treatment until shes better which would be amazing. Hopefully the trustees sign off on that if the rspca fail to be useful.

They don't have the space to isolate her but possibly might be able to fund treatment until shes better which would be amazing. Hopefully the trustees sign off on that if the rspca fail to be usefu

That's really good to hear. You are very kind yourself. Just btw, I may have missed something but from the OP I understood you had your own cat too - are you able to isolate the sick one?

Another person here who had a bad run in with the RSPCA. I found an abandoned dog and they tried to convince me that it was a) not actually abandoned even though it was tied up in a carpark in the middle of the night b) to just leave it even though it was vocally distressed and it was a freezing cold night.

I think what really got to me was that the man on the phone couldn't have sounded less interested if he tried. His tone of voice was very peevish and he made it seem like I was a pain in the arse for caring about the dog.

I guess some people have had bad experiences with the RSPCA, but generally they just don't have the money or resources to do everything they would like

Are you joking? Last time I looked they were in the top 10 of 1000 charities!

They’ve got money. They just don’t like to waste it on helping animals.

Sadly people often do dump ill animals.
I did an end of life foster for a lovely little cat that had kidney disease.
She was chipped and they knew her owners, but the owners kept dumping her and when they were contacted would pretend she had wandered off.... 15 miles away!
Cats protection league chose not to return her after the second time and so she came to live with us for her last month of life ❤️

I’m sure the vet’s are hardly poverty stricken! They could put a collection pot on the counter asking for donations and they’d probably have enough by the end of the week

They probably get 100 of requests a year to help injured strays/wildlife and to reduce/waive fees if owners are struggling.

Do you work for free? If not, why should they? And it's not just the cost of their time - drugs, x-rays etc can be extremely expensive.

Not many people on MN seem to have a clue about running a small business. 15% of vet practices make a loss as it is link. The average (median) salary of a vet is £45k, which is not high considering they will have 6 years of student loans to pay off, plus the costs of post-graduate training.

Oh that's sad, chaos. My vet will take an unknown cat in that has been injured or is ill, it seems mean not to.

The Blue Cross has free clinics in various places and there are other animal charities that do the same. I wouldn't even of thought of contacting the RSPCA unless they had a clinic near me.

Hope the little puss recovers well, you're doing a great job. Your vet is mean.

Sub Q injections aren't that difficult on a cat and sub q fluids can really make a difference. For a very sick cat you may have to syringe liquid food into them because if they can't smell they won't eat.

Your vet is mean

The vet has already subsidised the cat's care by at least £70.

I am sure that the vet would happily continue to treat the cat if you pay the fees.

If there’s a tv crew around they’ll spend two hours giving mouth to mouth to a pigeon. Otherwise they’re not interested.

Ain’t that the truth - sadly. RSPCA are useless uncaring bastards. Hope Cats Protection are able to help you. If you’re in London Celia Hammond Trust will help the poor thing.

My late brother had the theory that the RSPCA are only interested if it's going to be on TV!

I called the RSPCA about an injured seagull. They suggested I kill it, in front of my toddler. Luckily (?) for the seagull it expired on its own shortly afterwards.