AIBU to get my cat put down.

[AssumeItWasSomethingClever]

Our cat is 5 years old. He had an abscess under his front leg which we got treated and cost us £160. About two weeks later he started to be lethargic and I felt another lump. Took him to the vets, they said it was another abscess and that they'd syringe it. They quoted us £200. They then discovered that there was another abscess behind the second abscess and that the flesh behind it had started to decompose. They then said it would be £600. He's then had further complications which was yet more money. He's now ripped out his stitches twice costing a further £400 each time. We've got pet insurance but we've surpassed the claim limit. We've got an almost 1 year old and I'm a SAHM so we've only got 1 wage coming in.
It's worth saying that I love the cat and do not want to put him down! If a vet even would. He's otherwise in good health but we can't afford to provide him with any further treatment. I'm at a bit of a loss here and was just wondering what I should do. I was thinking of taking him to a shelter but I'm concerned they'd also put him down.

ChewChewIsMySpiritAnimal

The question was if putting an otherwise young healthy cat to sleep was being unreasonable and the answer is yes

There are alternatives in this situation. It isn’t just treat or not to treat via a particular vet

It's not a healthy animal. It's got necrotising abscesses. She's not taking about putting it down because she doesn't fancy paying for its boosters.

PDSA, Blue Cross, RSPCA, Cat's Protection, etc. all have schemes that help people on low incomes with vet bills.

What would be unreasonable would be going straight to PTS before investigating these options.

One thing that concerns me is that you're being charged repeatedly for what is effectively an ongoing course of treatment when they keep finding something further within two weeks of the first treatment. Tell your vet you've run out of cash. Make sure they know they're not milking an insurer.

How are you getting that figure, @chew? I don't get that from the OP's figures, plus insurance has covered at least some of it.

It does make you a bad owner if you think 'oh can't afford this, oh well i'll put it down' i would always be able to afford it, no matter what. You always find a way!

I'd just like to point out that prior to us rescuing him he had a broken jaw which led him to being malnourished. We were not told this when we adopted him. We were told by cats protection that we could return him but he would likely be PTS because no one else would want to adopt him and the vets fees wouldn't be "economic" We pay approx £100 per month on special food prescribed from the vet. We have such a low limit on the insurance because that's all they'll give us. We also pay through the nose for the privilege. Like I said, I love the cat. I already feel awful for having euthanasia as an option. I don't know what other options we have. We don't earn enough to cover the unforeseen vet bills but we earn too much to get financial help. It's not as if we are contemplating putting him to sleep because he has a scratch.
Thanks @oohnicevase for the link. I shall give them a call first thing tomorrow.

I don't know why some people are assuming you're on a low income and may be eligible for animal charity help just because you don't have a spare few hundred pounds lying around. You're not a bad cat owner if you simply can't afford their treatment. I'd think less favourably of you if your first option was to put down but it sounds like you're exploring all avenues first. If no joy, the kindest thing would be to put down. What would be the alternative? Leave to suffer and die slowly?

It's not a healthy cat. With repeated, now necrotising abscesses it will be in pain. It has a previous serious injury that means it needs a special diet. Cats Protection have said they would probably pts. Is it really kind to keep it going?

@BombayTricycleClub surely the better option would be to give him to someone that could treat him?

@BombayTricycleClub my apologies, i just read the whole thing properly and realised what PTS meant!

Ah, well this is a different matter.. a very sad one at that 😭

I'd find another vet to be honest. Current one doesn't sound very competent. I used one like that, cat had an injury that required antibiotics and painkillers. A good vet will give injections for both and you start pills the next day. These didn't bother so took longer to heal so he got to suffer more. They also managed to misdiagnosed him on something else after that. I found a new vet.

Have they done anything else other than injections which I assume contain painkillers and antibiotics? I would expect to be giving the cat further pills each day, usually twice a day for about a week. Doesn't sound like you had that, hence why they came back.

Pdsa for vet bill help or ask for payment plan with new vet. Most will do this.

So if CatsProtection won’t rehome because he’s too expensive for anyone else to take you have to ask the question why OP has to be the one to foot the bill for a cat she rescued (without having all the info too) and is trying to do her best by. If she can’t afford it, she can’t afford it. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t love the cat but should she get into debt to keep it alive? How much debt? How long should she keep the cat going? Until she’s bankrupt? Until she has to use food banks? Until she can’t buy her child shoes or clothes? It is really sad but she’s getting a very hard time of it here when she’s trying her best to look at options. Is anyone here willing to take on her expensive ill cat?

No worries .. I'm an absolute animal lover ( much prefer them to humans frankly ) but I can see your point of view .. I'm sure a charity would too.. give him a change at least x

@SciFiScream why would anyone give me money? Is there anywhere in my post that has asked them to?
Just because I can't afford further vet bills on top of the £2k it's already cost doesn't mean that I'm looking for a hand out.

@AssumeItWasSomethingClever ignore all the posters who say don’t have a cat, Mumsnet is an awful place sometimes, and AIBU isn’t the place to post this, as people get judged for most things to do with animals and torn to shreds.

I’d possibly get a second opinion and see what another vet says. Sadly in your position I’d probably pts as well.

Horrible situation to be in.

You say that’s all the insurance would give you limit wise - your limit is tiny! You can have 15000 cover but you have to pay for it, which obviously you didn’t do.

YABU to have him put down. Can you open a just giving page to help with the costs? I'm sure lots of cat lovers would donate! Unless he is terminally ill or in a lot of pain that isn't likely to be cured. He is young, you can't get him put to sleep
Doesn't he have a cone to wear so that he doesn't rip his stitches out? You could even try and rehome him to someone who loves cats and can afford the treatment.

@Waveymaevey As I explained in my previous post. Due to prior medical issues, the highest limit I could get for him was £2000. We pay over £40 a month for it. But thank you for your input.

@rumandbiscuits he had a cone but started using things around the house to scratch up against. We've got a body suit from the vets but he's even managed to worm his way out of that. He hates being cooped up indoors so is going out of his mind as we're not allowed to let him out. ☹️
@MistyIsland thank you for your post! I shall shop around with vets tomorrow. Ours doesn't do a payment plan. I didn't even know it was a thing to be honest!

@Enchiladas That has nothing to do with the situation at hand and isn't even an appropriate comparison, bloody hell.

OP, I would look into every available option before considering putting the cat to sleep. Even if you cant get financial help you can try and reach out to some cat loving communities maybe on Facebook to try and get the cat the treatment it needs.
Or at least talk to your vet about payment plans or financial aid, they may be able to help you. And there are plenty of different places that rescue cats, I'm sure you can find one to surrender it to that would not put it down.

Good luck with sorting a new vet - I really hope you find one that'll do a payment plan.
Probably stating the obvious, but is it possible to buy food online (usually works out a hell of a lot cheaper), rather than directly from your vet?

Have you really looked at every single insurance company out there?

I've never heard of a company limiting it's insurance to 2k worth of cover before.

@NervousInYorkshire there's a couple of places that do it online but I don't really trust the look of the websites. Atleast if I'm buying it from the vets I know it's what it says on the tin. (So to speak).
@adaline we used a comparison website. Even the vets own insurance won't cover more than £1k per condition.