not to agree to £1500 dental surgery for cat

[catlover1000]

I am not convinced she even needs it. She seems perfectly happy, eating normally, playing etc. There is a risk with the anaesthetic, which is one consideration. She is not insured for dental work, and I would have to borrow, which is another consideration. She is 17 which is another consideration. I don't trust the vet, is another consideration..... He thinks she needs a tooth removed. But he also agrees she isn't in pain. And that health testing ( which is what some of this price is) might show she is not suitable for aesthetic anyway. He wants me to commit this money, have all the tests done to see if she is fir for surgery, then have the surgery, and I'm thinking, well, what happens if we just don't?

My 10yo cat's teeth dissolved in his gums and we didn't notice the vet was like oh his teeth have gone we would usually operate and take them out at the first sign of this but he was absolutely fine. Also the cat is 17 I wouldn't bother!!

I'd get a second opinion from a different practice.

At 17 I'd be more worried about her dying under anaesthetic tbh. I wouldn't risk that unless I knew it was 100% necessary.

£1500 is an extortionate amount. I would definitely get a second opinion. I would not put a 17 year old cat under an anaesthetic.

I'd be getting a second opinion OP. At 17 putting her under a general anaesthetic is risky as you say, personally I think at 17 she shouldn't be put under for anything other than a life-or-death issue which it doesn't sound like this is. Sounds a bit like a cash grab attempt from the vet imho.

This sounds extortionate, pre-op bloods for organ function don’t cost much. My small dog cost £500 for 17 teeth out and pre-ops but no x-rays.

My friends spaniel cost just over £1,000 with pre-op and x-rays. He had 10 teeth out.

That is a lot for a cat and one tooth. I’d be getting other quotes.

Age is not a disease, as a student in a vets we often did dentals on old cats, I wouldn’t rule out a needed, routine procedure based on age.

Another vote for a second opinion at least. One of mine survived cat flu but developed a secondary condition meaning most of her gums were in a dreadful state with teeth dropping out. This was identified at the age of 12 months.
First vet ‘This will be expensive. Let me first check how many teeth a cat has. Oh that’s 32 well she will need them all out and it will cost you an estimated 1400 pounds’ Me - let me think about that. Visit to second more experienced vet. 20 teeth out for £600.

A reasonable amount given the fact she was one I thought.

I wouldn’t even get a second opinion. Just carry on as normal.

My parents had a similar issue with their elderly cat he had an abscess and tooth issue.initially he became lethargic and was entirely off his food They had the abscess drained and then were offered 3 possible routes -
£1000 Dental work with anaesthesia
£250 Put to sleep
£12 Cat ibuprofen to make things comfortable until he was ready to be put to sleep.

They went for the make him comfortable option, once the medicine kicked in he was back to his normal self although the abscess had to be drained once more - that was 6 months ago the abscess then cleared up on its own and he has been right as rain since and did not need the cat ibuprofen for more than a few weeks.

I doubt many pet insurance covers dental treatment. At 17 the reality is that your cat won’t live much longer and whilst not having the surgery might shorten the time left, so might plenty of other things.

I’d get a second option. However, do bear in mind that the tests run should include checks to see if your cat’s thyroid and kidneys are working properly and both of those are usually easily medicated to prolong and increase the quality of life.

That's one scary picture of a cat 😂 I wasnt expecting it at all.

@LoserWinner I remember when my dog broke her leg.

The vet offered a cast (cheaper) or an op. We tried the cast initially, as it would be less invasive as well as cheaper. The vet was quite contemptuous of us trying the less expensive option.

At a follow up, the vet said that the bones hadn't knitted at all, so she would need the surgery to repair it or the limb amputated, so we got the surgery to repair it.

After the operation, the vet told us that the op hadn't been as smooth as expected because the bone had in fact started to knit itself together, so they'd had to re-break it to put the plates and screws in.

Only then did she tell me "oh, btw, after all the time she'll have had off that leg, she'll need physiotherapy and hydrotherapy from us or she'll never be able to regain use of it". There was no way we could afford this too, I told her we'd see how she went after the cast removal, because we couldn't afford all this as well, and she looked at me with total contempt.

The day the cast came off, my dog was tentatively putting her paw down intermittently. Within days she was putting weight on it, and she regained full, long-term use with no hydro/physiotherapy.

We had dental work done on our 17 year old cat under anaesthetic so I wouldn't necessarily rule it out completely. However it does depend on circumstances. In our case she'd been lost for 10 years, not seen a vet in that time, and had many teeth needing to come out and kidney issues probably impacted by her teeth. The vet wasn't sure how it was going to go but we decided to risk it.

She did not do brilliantly under the anaesthetic and needed adrenaline and a fast finish. We could very well have lost her.

If her teeth hadn't been bothering her the vet wouldn't have recommended it though. They were feeling cautious about it but we all wanted to give her a chance given her story.

That’s a lot of money. Our vet quoted me about £400 for removal of 4 teeth for my 15yo cat. This was a couple of months ago.

I've also just checked and it cost us about half of what you've been quoted and she had a LOT of teeth out.

As she is eating well and still playing either leave her to it because she seems okay, or get a second opinion.

We have dogs and our old boy had a growth, easily removed as it was just under skin. Vet wanted to test for cancer, 4 grand. DH asked what they’d do if it was cancer? Answer? Nothing because he’s too old for surgery. He lived another 4 years happily until last year.

Spending on unnecessary surgery is always madness, but the age shouldnt matter.
We had a Saint Bernhard family dog when i was a child. When he was 10 he had a gastric torsion. Vet recommended to pts, because old dog, not fit for Op etc. Luckily my mum rushed him to a different clinic where they did the emergency OP. Dog lived another 3 years which is amazing for that breed.

You should get a second opinion if you dont have any trust in your vet and then make a decision.

You can shop around at vets you know, that is far in excess of what we paid..I am not sure if I would do surgery either at that age unless really essential and cat is unwell or in distress as I would worry about them getting through the op

Our cat had some teeth out at 17 and recovered well. She lived to be 20. It cost about 400 if I remember right and that was with extra fluids due to her age. It is 10 years ago though. I took her because she stopped eating. That is how we discovered she had bad teeth. She cost me a fortune over those last few years as she ended up on blood pressure and thyroid meds as well as joint relief. She was a model patient at the vets though so that was something.

What you have been quoted seems very high. How did this come about if your cat is eating fine and does not appear to be in pain? I would get a second opinion.

Op said some of the costs is for pre anaesthetic testing (presumably full blood analysis. )

It seems bonkers money to me. Our 12 yr old staffie just had a dental op. Some teeth removed, otherwise full clean round. £750.

Even if you had the money, I would be wary of performing such an invasive surgery on an elderly cat. And your vet sounds weird-I would not trust someone like that to have my pet's best interests at heart.

Would you want to go through an invasive dental surgery at the age of circa 85? Because that's the human equivalent of a 17 year old cat. At that age the most important thing is being comfortable and pain free, and if your cat is both those things I wouldn't approve any surgeries.

I paid £550 the other day for my dog to have a broken tooth extracted... our vets is considered to be on the upper end in terms of costs so I'm surprised you've been quoted that much. Anyway I agree with everyone that you don't need to especially at 17.

This. If you don't trust your vet then find one that you do trust. I have been through the old pet thing several times now. Every time my vets have been on the side of what is best for the animal and they are firmly on the side of limiting treatments for pets who are old or otherwise frail and at risk and where the treatment would not benefit the animal.

I would get a second opinion. Cats are known to hide pain very well. I once adopted an older stray and she was eating fine and seemed ok, but needed a bit of dental work. When they put her under, it turned out things were a lot worse than the vet had thought and she would have been in a lot of pain. This was ~15 years ago, and it wasn’t all that expensive, so I don’t think it was a ruse to overcharge me.

It seems to me that the biggest problem is that you don’t trust your vet. I think having one you can trust with questions like “what would you do if it were your cat” is really important, so in your shoes I would find another one. Quite aside from whether the current vet has your cat’s best interests at heart, £1,500 for a dental with one tooth removed seems ridiculous. My 15-y-o boy was in for a dental that involved one extraction two months ago, with full bloods and other supportive treatment (he has kidney and other issues), and it was £1,000 – and that’s in a very expensive part of North London, where costs will be high, and with an experienced vet.

At 17 I would not risk a general anaesthetic unless it’s an emergency!

I bought dental surgery for my 12 yr old cat and they had to stop the operation before the tooth was out because she was going into cardiac arrest. Cat survived. I asked what about the tooth (as cat clearly had toothache, wouldn’t eat dry food etc) vet said oh don’t worry it’ll just fall out.

A couple of months later the tooth fell out, cat cheered up and went back to the dry food, and cat lived some years after. I’m still shocked that they recommended the dental surgery at all.