AIBU VET BILL £5700

[bellewilson]

Long story apologies- We own a beautiful Exotic cat she is one year old. Perfectly healthy took for one year vaccinations and she had a bad reaction temp and loss of appetite and started getting wobbly on back legs after 6 days. Obviously back and forth to local vet but when became wobbly local vet suggested she was better off being assessed in local veterinary hospital. Take her there (have insurance with £4k limit was supposed to be their top of range superior plus policy) vet hospital assessed her and said we need to admit her for tests and suspected neurological FIP (cat coronavirus) sedated her and did X-ray and scans and biopsies of fluid found in chest and abdomen and blood tests. Only had her in for 24hours and bill was £3150 took a week to finally get results as positive for FIP carrier with low probability of infection which means with her ongoing symptoms they think she has neurological FIP. So as now 7 days later our cat has got more poorly not eating or drinking having to syringe feed/drink. Re-admitted to hospital and they agree to only do minimal care to keep her comfortable whilst antivirals drugs kick in (drip and appetite stimulation) and would cost max £280 a night admitted for 3 days and everyday checked with vet the bill and costs and how much left on insurance. Collected today to be told owe £5700 so £1700 over insurance. Was expecting £600 max but £1100 more than I was told on the phone several times is a joke. Ask for bill breakdown and it’s CF at its best and laughable they can actually get away with it… from working it out the initial £3150 they have charged approx £1400 just for sedation to do the X-ray £450 and ultrasound £680 plus extra for biopsy and tests plus nursing care and £450 consultation. I made it completely clear to them we couldn’t afford a large bill and they agreed all along to do a direct claim with our insurance company and get pre authorised payments from them through a portal. Turns out didn’t do that either so if insurance doesn’t pay we have to. What can we do. I have Googled and average cost for Anastasia for a cat is £300/400 in Uk so how can they charge 4x the average cost. AIBU? Any advice please so stressed.

It's worth bearing in mind that vets cannot tell you to pts. The decision must be made by you and some people take that as the vet saying the pet doesn't need to be pts.

My rule of thumb is that if the vet brings it up as an option, then that is their preferred option as the best treatment for your pet, they will offer an alternative treatment/choice of alternatives but they don't bring up pts lightly. Often owners jump on the other options as the vet hasn't told them that they should pts, forgetting yhat this is because it's not allowed.

Well quite

@PinkSparklyPussyCat and if that's how you chose to spend your money and you can afford it, fine. Doesn't mean that people who make different choices, or can't afford £££ in vets fees (on top of insurance) don't love their pets. And sometimes loving a pet means letting them go - far too many people drag out their pets lives for their own selfish reason (don't mean you personally but I've seen it happen many times).

Nowhere have I said that people who make different choices is wrong, my issue is with your comment about 'pissing away money'. It makes it sound as though you think spending money on an animal is a waste regardless of circumstances.

This has been a thought provoking discussion for me to consider. It's a good point that animals are not people and have no concept of mortality.

I guess it becomes about what we want, sometimes, which is not right. One of my old bosses had a lovely dog who became really unwell (he was very old) and got thinner and thinner and started messing himself all the time. She just wouldn't have the dog PTS because she said 'it will ruin my Christmas'.

Quite frankly, if your cat had FIP and survived, I wouldn't be quibbling over cost, I'd be thanking my lucky stars the cat was still alive

Sadly I’ve not made my millions yet. Not even made a dent in my student loan either. Costs to run a practice are absolutely huge. Meds cost more to buy into a practice than wholesalers can sell online. Etc. This sounds like an issue of poor communication although actually the OP is lucky to have a cat alive with FIP because even a few years ago we didn’t have a cure.

Well, there is that.

We lost our cat to FIP and it was horrendous. It's horrible condition with very, very low survival rates.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Ebay? Why would anyone by any medication on Ebay?

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts

Why not it it's half the price or more?

Our vet recommends we get certain medication online - eBay, petdrugsonline or Boots all sell medication that's suitable and safe for pets but that doesn't cost the earth.

Exactly!

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

It was the EXACT SAME MEDICINE. 100% exactly. Sorry if that doesn't suit your agenda. As other posters have said, you CAN buy some meds/drugs the vet provides MUCH cheaper online.

Whether you like it or not.

It was only a bloody hairball dissolver. We weren't getting some rando offering to do an operation for her for half price FFS. You're making your snarky, judgy little snipes on here, but the truth is, you don't know what you're talking about.

@DisquietintheRanks

@PinkSparklyPussyCat ....and if that's how you chose to spend your money and you can afford it, fine. Doesn't mean that people who make different choices, or can't afford £££ in vets fees (on top of insurance) don't love their pets. And sometimes loving a pet means letting them go - far too many people drag out their pets lives for their own selfish reason (don't mean you personally but I've seen it happen many times).

Exactly this. Judging people and saying 'I hope you never get any more pets again ever' because someone says they are not well off and may choose to euthanize an older pet if the costs became too much, is just such a cruel and nasty thing to say. Shame on you PinkSparklyPussycat.

Oh dear. I am embarrassed for you @PinkSparklyPussyCat

You are clearly very angry now that you've been called out, and corrected (by me - and several others.)

I'll leave you to it. Now calm down.

I'm perfectly calm thank you @EbonyRaven . Nice of you to worry about me enough to feel embarrassed on my behalf but there's no need.

To be clear, I think buying online is fine providing it's a reputable shop (I didn't know that when I replied). I don't believe in keeping an animal alive for the sake of it or putting it to sleep because you can't be bothered to spend the money on it. Saying that I do understand that some people genuinely don't have the money for extensive treatment and I sympathise with them, it must be an awful situation.

I think the vet in OP's case was wrong to proceed with treatment when she had repeatedly told them she couldn't go above her limit.

As usual there is a lot of vet bashing going on but vets are highly trained professionals. My vet surgery has CT and MRI scanners so of course the fees will be higher than a smaller vet who would need to refer to a hospital. It worked out cheaper when my cat needed heart scans as he didn't have to go elsewhere. They saved his life on several occasions and that was worth any amount of money to me.

@Newuser82 @Maireas yes it was NHS dentist - I was quite shocked myself as I’d expect to pay nearer to £35 for a filling. But this time only £16 for some reason.

When my mum's dog was very clearly dying of a failing liver (his abdomen was swollen with ascites which was drained once but soon swelled again), the fucking vets tried to guilt trip her into doing all sorts of interventional treatments on him, which at best would have bought him a few more weeks of life. He was an old boy, she rang me in bits not knowing what to do but I think really she was seeking reassurance that PTS was the best thing for him. Of course I said put him down while he still had a bit of dignity left. I was disgusted really that the vets would even consider suggesting further treatment for a clearly dying dog, with an owner who was struggling to pay the bills as it was.

My own dog is 16 years old now and is quite happy pottering about. I decided about a year ago that if she ever gets sick I will have her PTS straight away, at her age her days are numbered anyway and she's had a great life, what would be the point of bankrupting ourselves for a dog who has lived to a ripe old age anyway? I'd let her go with a bit of dignity.

That's awful @RiderGirl. When my cat had heart failure we had the options explained to us and we decided to go ahead with treatment providing he didn't need to be sedated for the scan. Once we knew what we were dealing with we chose to put him on medication which gave him an extra 6 months of good quality life. In the end we think he had a blood clot that paralysed his back legs and the vet told us we could either take him home to see if he improved but explained it was unlikely, or have him PTS. We sadly opted for the latter. Thankfully the vet at no point pushed us towards any decision.

My Ragdoll cost me £6000 a couple of months ago. I was insured so they paid it. He was sneezing blood which turned out to be an allergy.

We have a rescue cat, who we absolutely adore. However, we have agreed that if anything happens and it's going to cost more than £500, we would euthanise. She had a shit life before we got her, and has a wonderful life now. I see cats as borrowed, not owned - she chooses to stay with us, and we will look after her for as long as we can.

This is why I'd never have a pet again! Vet bills are far too expensive and if you have insurance then as soon as you claim on that the next years bill goes through the roof. When we had dogs every time we took them to the vets they wanted to 'do bloods' - even if they'd 'done bloods' just a couple of weeks before. I don't think the bloods ever showed anything but they insisted on doing them every time before they'd do anything else. It's just a racket IMO.

Don’t get me started on vets!
go to the RCVS mediation.

Vets are like wedding arrangers, and funeral directors - the pound signs spin in front of their eyes.

If you can't afford it, then don't do it.

Try owning a dog which had to have surgery to have a tumour removed... then you'll find out how expensive things can get, and how little insurance covers...

I had to have my cat put down because there was no way I could afford the vet's bills. Admittedly she was 18/19 - a rescue cat - we had her for 17 years and she had a good cat life. She was very ill. But the costs of keeping her alive would have annihilated us! Just wait until we have to pay for human healthcare.....

I could be richer to the tune of about 15k of vet bills over a 10 year period - never had insurance for mine - as it was too expensive - so when things went wrong it cost me dearly. They absolutely take the mick because they know how much our animals mean to us.

And I know I'm going off point here slightly but I've been saying for years that vetinerary fees in the UK (because it's essentially a private system with insurance) - is effectively what the American Health Care system is there. Saline fluids cost the NHS a couple of quid in America it's $200 and if we don't fight for the NHS that will come here also..... people won't be able to afford health care unless they have insurance. It's all a total rip off - and you should fight them - they went over your agreed spending and so they need to reduce the fees. Threaten to go to the Daily Mail and name and shame......

I feel for you as I've been there.

My vet said “about 5k or put to sleep”. I said my insurance is 5k, crack on.

Made it clear I wasn’t paying more than that. If it was going to be more, they’d have to put him down.

Final bill £4990 🙄

NHS charges would also be astronomical if you got to see a bill, but we don’t.
Exotic cats are renowned for getting ill (have owned two Singapuras, both died young). Vet said to steer well clear.
I also think your cat was underinsured, I can only go by owning a dog now (not had a cat for a decade). My Chihuahua is insured for up to £12k.
Surely £4k is basic cover?