I can't afford my vet bill

[oldmind]

My 9 month old cat isn't well. 2 trips to the vets with anti inflammatory meds and she still isn't right. They've told me to bring her back tomorrow for bloods and possible scans and I could be looking at over £1k for treatment.

I'm a single mum of 3 kids with additional needs. I've just gone back to work but only work 12 hours per weeks as I just cannot do anymore.

I did have insurance for her but I cancelled it as the insurance company I chose were terrible and haven't replaced it yet - I only did this a few weeks ago! A random payment came out of my account and I cancelled the whole thing.

Is there anything I can do?

Please don't tell me to not have pets if I can't afford them.

Overdraft, creditcard, surrender, or put them to sleep. Any pdsa?

Speak to your vet to see if they can do plans/help

Also no one expects to blow £1k on vet bills out of nowhere, that doesn’t make you not worthy of an owner. The only mistake you made was cancelling insurance without having another. I’m sure it’s no one you’d make again. You’ll have to be aware though, new cover may now cost more or won’t cover anything your cat now has.

Dont fall for the trap of saving a little in a pot, instead of insurance. £1k for a cat is actually not much in the grand scale of things. My last cat cost me an additional £4k in vet bills - on top of the £4k limit!! Find a good insurance that is over £6k cover at least imo

Are you on Universal Credit, or any other benefits? If so, speak to the PDSA. If not, speak to your vets and see if they'll offer any payment plans. Otherwise, for me, it would be credit card. Which isn't ideal.

Please do look into a new insurance. I used to use Sainsbury's and they were good when I needed them (you also get double nectar points which can help when you're short of cash). I know the insurance feels like a waste when you don't need it but it's worth it's weight when you do.

What does the vets think is wrong with the kitten? What are the symptoms?What blood test are they doing? What are the scanning.

Could you see if you meet PDSA criteria? Failing that, Credit card? Or speak to vets to see about a payment plan? Unfortunately, those are the only options

PDSA or Blue Cross may be an option for you if you're on a low income/benefits.
What symptoms does the cat have?

Remember a payment plan will only be available via credit, so would be subject to credit checks etc.

Speak to the vet. They must come across pet owners that can’t afford big bills all the time.

They might be able to offer you a payment plan or refer you to an organisation like the PDSA.

Check if you're eligible for pdsa or any reduces cost vets in your area.

What are the vets looking for? If this is a case of doing multiple tests just in case then they need to prioritise them for you and possibly do one at a time to minimise anything unnecessary.

Tell the vets that money is an issue and the cat isn't insured. They'll be used to setting up payment plans. Alternatively loans etc but you need to be sensible with what you can actually afford.

Worst case scenario, contact shelters about surrendering the cat. Some will treat and rehome rather than pts in these kind of medical situations, especially when the cat is young.

also try blue cross and rspca they can help with vet bills:
https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/care/financial

Price it up with another vet. I have just been told £1000 for a heart scan by my vet. I have actually gone elsewhere as they can only offer it at another branch with a 2 hour round trip or wait a week. Rang a local vet and it's £500-£700 depending if she needs sedation.

Speak to your vet. If you can't afford it you cant afford it

Speak to your vets and explain you cannot afford it and ask for alternative options. Payment plans, cheaper options, PDSA etc.
But let’s be real here. £1000 is not a big bill in terms of veterinary care. Pet ownership is expensive, healthcare is expensive, we just have no idea how much things cost because we have the NHS and don’t have to pay for our own healthcare.
I know cost of living is rising but people need to seriously think about whether they can actually afford a pet before they get a pet. Because even a small animal like a rabbit or guinea pig is going to cost you hundreds of pounds in veterinary care if they get sick

Has the cancellation actually taken effect yet? Was there a notice period?

I am very unhappy with my vets as they haven't given me any ideas of what is wrong. She is completely off her food and she is sort of 'grunting' but no one knows where it is coming from.

I will try the pdsa thank you - I just went into complete panic mode.

Kitten very young to be ill. Can you get a second opinion

Look this is controversial but I think vets do far too much. A 9 month old kitten not eating and in respiratory distress?

The best case scenario is probably infection, have they looked for that? Most manageable conditions ought to be identifiable or at least suggested from initial basic bloods results.

Otherwise what is the point doing exhaustive investigations to find a condition she cannot survive in the long term (cancer, congenital heart disease etc)

My personal experience is when my 14 year old cat had multiple clinically malignant tumours - and those just the ones that could be externally palpated - they were offering bloods, infusions, scans, general anaesthetic ultrasound guided biopsy, chemotherapy etc. For an animal clearly going to die. It put me in the position of having to refuse. A colleague at work was asked by the vet whether it was okay for them to stop CPR (I'm not joking!) on their elderly cat brought to the vet in extremis. Ridiculous and frankly unkind to the animal. They are animals not children.

I would start with a frank discussion - what are the actual differentials here and which of them have a prognosis that involves survival with a good exercise tolerance and minimal regular medical intervention? It's worth taking out a loan to treat a condition your cat will recover fully from, it's not worth spending a fortune to find out that have a congenital heart defect that they can survive for an extra 12 months if you dose them up with diuretics, before deteriorating and suffering all over again.

Edit: I should add that I'm so sorry this is happening to your moggy and to you. I don't mean to sound brutal when I say they are animals - it isn't an insult or something to say they aren't or shouldn't be dearly loved, but they have different priorities. I'm really sorry to say that respiratory distress in a kitten of this age makes me immediately think of congenital heart which is usually not a good prognosis. But I'm not a vet, of course.

Speak to your vet to see if they can do plans/help
why do ppl trot this out? I've yet to hear of a vet that will allow payment plans

You should be putting money away for these things now any insurance you get won’t cover your pets pre existing issues

And if they do the minimum payments are £££

How long ago did you cancel, I accidentally cancelled my DD and my insurance gave me a grace period (maybe about two weeks). I had to pay an admin charge.

Vets charges are out of control. My dog has had £21,000 worth of bills since Dec. Including two MRIs costing 9k and one opp that cost 8k. I totalled it all up last night it's disgusting. Insurance have covered a good bulk of it otherwise I have no idea how we would have covered the rest.

It sounds like she may be suffering, poor little thing. In the short term you could try putting her in a humid environment (run the shower hot / use a humidifier) to try to loosen any congestion, and offer her the water from unsalted tuna in water. If you can get some fluids into her that way, and maybe even a little bit of the tuna, that would be a help. Or Liquivite or Oralade for cats are formulated to help when cats are not eating. I really hope you can find a way to get her the treatment she needs very quickly, as a kitten that age not eating at all and grunting is very worrying.

There is also a vets called vets non for profit (or similar). They are a much lower cost and don't charge for appts. They have several across the UK

She is extremely ill however I am annoyed at my vets that I have been twice now, paid twice and am absolutely no further on to know what's wrong with her.

I could try another vets - I have contacted the rescue where I got her from to see which vets they advise