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.

I paid under that but about £2k for tests and treatment at Noel Fitzpatrick’s surgery and also had emergency vet treatment. As far as I can recall some of this was covered by insurance but Fitzpatrick’s wasn’t. He had brain encephalitis and epilepsy and then the vet at Fitzpatrick’s wouldn’t respond to my calls or emails so he had to come back to my vet who advised putting him to sleep. He was only 5.

I do think vet bills are awful and they should give you a quote. Often they offer a repayment plan if you don’t have insurance or it goes over or you don’t want to put on credit card.

I am sorry you are stressed but you are VV unreasonable.

How much did you pay for your cat?

It’s a bit late but a quick google would have told you that £4k is woefully inadequate. You should have spoken to the vet and said that was your limit. If you don’t tell them they don’t know.

I am sick of the abuse heaped on vets. If you want state of the art treatment you pay for it.

My daughter is a vet and works long hours. She is not well paid. The profession has a very high suicide rate.

I am sick of people who probably spend more time researching which cat looks best on their Instagram and think nothing of spending £££ on buying the creature but can’t be arsed to spend 5 minutes on Google researching insurance and then moan about vet bills.

Our sweet girl had FIP and survived 2 months with it. During that time, for diagnosis, several overnight admissions, medication and eventual euthanasia it only cost us £1.5k.

Vets spend a bloody long time training to become vets. I don't remotely begrudge them charging highly for this. Even though I'd love to have a dog or two.

The point is that most modern vet practices are corporates. The vets don’t get the money, they used to when they were all old fashioned partnerships but not now. They are paid 35-50k based on seniority, unless they are lucky enough to be rich enough to set up their own practice and employ other vets.

These days vets specialise in lucrative insurance business. A farmer who wants one out to help with calving is likely to struggle. Round here we have one old fashioned practice who do large animals (apart from horses obviously lots of money there).

You think E90 is expensive? She was there all day, probably had half an hour with two professionals, as well as regular checks during the rest of the day. The building has to be heated, lit, insured, have a burglar alarm. The professionals have to pay indemnity. They have to buy all the medical consumables, plus all the boring stuff like computers, biros, paper, printer toner. Honestly, you have no idea what it costs to run a business in the medical field.

Firstly I am sorry your beloved pet has been ill and hope you get most of it paid by the insurer. Secondly, this should be a wake up call for anyone wondering what would happen if the NHS went private!

I think it’s a lot for a quick clean of teeth yes, you could do it yourself

This is what we’d face for human care if the NHS falls! A few private companies would no doubt have a monopoly. I would urge anyone if they can to find an independently owned vets. We are lucky to have one not far from us. I would rather drive 30 mins than use the one on our doorstep that has been hoovered up by these large corporations. The vets I know are utterly depressed with how veterinary care is going in the U.K. They didn’t get in to this career to rip clients off.

I made it clear from outset when first admitted we couldn’t go over our limit on insurance and they said they would get treatment pre approved through insurance portal to make sure covered and not go over limit. Yes animal friends they had good reviews and took their top policy. Never had pet insurance and googled average cost of treatment for operations etc and £4k seemed good (stupid now but hindsight is a wonderful thing) I work in insurance industry and read policy but not knowing costs of vet specialists how are you supposed to know limits are low? Their first bill was £3150 and obviously when re admitted a week later every day I asked costs and total bill and what was left on insurance before I agreed for them to keep her in and on treatments. There was another bill for £600 for FIP antivirals I had paid a £300 deposit so when she had £550 left on insurance for her stay and we would cover the rest being told £250-£280 a day (so potentially only a few hundred worst case maybe £600 to pay) and them confirming all prices etc everyday…then to get a bill of £1700 over my limit from no where when it wasn’t agreed. That is what I am moaning about plus the initial bill seems excessive for 1hr of sedation at £1400 is way over the top. One injection of ATIPAM cost £616 (on top of sedation costs and other medications and vet costs etc) I have Googled how much this medicine costs and it’s £50 a bottle. X

Indeed! Think about what kind of insurance you'd need.

I can easily believe it and I pity you. I'm on a very low income and I had to take a 4k loan out to pay my labs vet fees. I don't regret a penny of it as I'd have done anything to keep him alive but he passed away over a year ago and ive still got over 3 years left to pay on the loan. I'd love another pet but I know I just cannot afford it if they need vet treatment. I had insurance but it didn't cover what was wrong with him.

This is a public forum and we can complain about veterinary costs if we want to.

I maintain it is not vet bashing. I am well aware how much vets get paid. Nobody is blaming the vets themselves.

That doesn’t take away that practices are there to make lots of money. It’s a business, yes 100% a very greedy one at that! Those aren’t my words, they are the words of an ex vet, very well known and respected who has walked away from the profession in absolute disgust.

I'm sure the poster could have chosen to do that. She didn't. She wanted a professional to do it.

£4k is low for an insurance limit. As you've found out, it barely (or doesn't even) cover the initial diagnosis and treatment for a condition, let alone ongoing treatment.

I spent more than that for about 6 hours of trying to save my horse from colic (including surgery) and she still died the same day. She wasn't insured as she was old and most insurance policies for horses don't cover illnesses past age 15. So I was over £4k down in one day with no pet at the end of it. It's what you do when you love your animals 🤷‍♀️

Our dog has a £10k a year limit on his insurance which also covers dental treatment and treatments like hydrotherapy and acupuncture.

My friend's dog fell ill with a UTI whilst on holiday in France just 2 days before their return. Ultrasound, injection, medicine for a week and pet passport completed. Total cost €75.00. She was expecting a couple of hundred based on experience in UK.

Yep my family cat was 20 years old and vet wanted to do scans, tests all sorts. Ended up with strong painkillers for end of life care for her. Why they’d even want to put an old cat through things like that is beyond me.

We have been with the same vets for nearly 28 years but have just left as a year or so ago they were bought out.
We have some pet cows and to dispense medication they need to see them yearly.
I needed to vaccinate them, they said they would look at them when they passed some time soon. All good.
Get a bill for £182 (£120 of which was for visit and examination fee.)
Thing is, I knew the vet hadn't seen my cows due to where they were grazing.
I rang and challenged it. They argued. I asked to speak to the vet directly who confirmed that they hadn't seen the cows.
Insisted I did need to pay the bill or they shouldn't have dispensed the vaccines.
I said that sounds like your problem.
I moved to a new independent vet.

Vets deserve to be paid fairly but some things take the mick.

When I used to buy vaccines it cost me nearly double what a large farm down the road paid for the exact same thing. All because they had a weekly visit. That's not fair.

Also, what is the point of insurance if you have to pay the vet and claim it back?

I wouldn't have the means to do that, so it's a useless waste of money!

PS- will add as may help one person on the thread - if you claim certain benefits you may be able to approach the PDSA who will treat your pet for a voluntary donation. You can check if you have a local PDSA by googling.

Hope you cat feels better soon OP.

My vet practice was bought out a few years ago by a private equity firm, and since then costs have rocketed. The vets are now mostly young and not so experienced, and they have a high staff turnover. Speaking to the staff, they don’t see a penny of the extra fees, it all goes to the organisation that owns the practice. Unfortunately all three of our local vets are part of the same practice mini chain, so there’s really no choice.
On top of that, there was a massive hike in veterinary meds costs a few years back (I can’t remember when), when a badly written piece of legislation meant all animal medicines needed to be ok to enter the food chain for humans, not just that for animals intended to be eaten. Amending legislation costs an eye watering amount, and I’m pretty sure that one was never amended.
I remember speaking to my folks a while back and asking how they afforded for our family to always have pets when I was growing up, and they said it was a heck of a lot cheaper then, partly because some expensive treatments just weren’t available. My mum would love another pet but admits she can’t afford it. When mine die I think I will be in the same position. It’s horrible as have always had pets. I guess I could just not pay for expensive treatment / insurance, but it would feel irresponsible to not do all I could to look after any animals in my care - and that includes healthcare.

Googling… cat fip farality rate is 90%- and your vet did not offer you to put the cat down and cut out milking you and your insurance?

@EbonyRaven Insurance is all about risk. Anyone who pays for private healthcare such as Bupa will tell you how much it does up as you get older even if you are pretty healthy. Rates also vary by where you live in the country (London can be double the cost of the NE) and the level of care and hospitals you can use.

I’m not surprised an older cat costs more than a young cat. Just as a 24 year old
will pay less than a 40 year old, then get to 60, 70, 80 and have an underlying condition and the sky is the limit. Look at the BMJ report on the costs of cancer drugs!

Does the bill include the antivirals?

We have a cat who is proving to be an expensive little monkey. He had an eye injury followed by surgery when he was a kitten (uninsured at that point, he is now). He then presented with a sore eye again, took him back to the vet hospital where he was treated previously, they said uveitis in both eyes and they needed to do quite extensive testing to work out what was causing it. There were several things being tested for but in particular FIP. So he spent a night in hospital, had a drip/IV antibiotics and a similar barage of tests to your cat. Thankfully FIP was ruled out (as far as it can be), but the bill for those tests and the one night stay was £1500. This wasn't an insurance price as our insurance wasn't going to cover because we were under 2 years from the previous eye issue.

However, the only treatment was a shitload of eye drops. The treatment for FIP is incredibly expensive (and goes by weight and our cat is HEAVY!) so that could well explain a chunk of the difference.

In Animal Friends defense, we've just had to submit two claims to them (simultaneously and for one cat who turned out to have two medical conditions so the bill was split - that confused them!) and they were pretty easy to deal with and approved both claims although we did have a bit of excess to pay due to the lab fees mentioned above. In our case a per condition per year limit is probably going to work in our favour.

My horse recently had surgery and I was surprised at how much cheaper it was than small animal surgery.

As has already been said though these things just are expensive. Drugs are expensive, staff wages are expensive, cost of running mri scanners etc is expensive.

I think you will find that the profit margin actually isn't as high as you suspect.

I really hope your cat is doing well.

I wondered this too

At Christmas DS1’s girlfriend’s little dog was poorly. He needed an x-ray under sedation. When she got the bill they’d charged for the cannula, the bandage and the tape. That’s just ridiculous imo. It should all come under the cost of the sedation, because you can’t do one without the other.

We’ve only got 2 Guinea pigs. Once they die we’re not having any more pets. They’re just too expensive, even with insurance.

I’m so sorry about your cat @bellewilson