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.

Have you tried fish? We boiled fish when my cat had a poorly stomach. We got some frozen white fish. He loved this.

Not a troll. Just someone who believes in taking the best care of animals.

Which is exactly why OP is asking for help and advice … and she’s received good advice from most posters, which has enabled her to move forward in a more positive way. Why bother with unkind comments that just don’t help?

Have a day off you self righteous horror.

As do I, and the OP, but why be so horrible to someone asking for help? Thought you were over and out anyway?

Sprinkle water over her food before giving it to her so she can get some hydration in.

OP, I am concerned this could be dry FIP. I would ask your vet to test her FIP markers. I’m afraid if it is that, there is nothing that can be done (there is medicine but it is the 10s of thousands) but at least it could put an end to the vet bills and the cats suffering.

There would be alot more cats in rescues if only people who could suddenly pay a load of vets fees were able to adopt.

Glad you found a way forward and I hope your cat is on the mend soon.

Hi can I ask if your cat is a hunter? Some cats who hunt mice/birds but are used to eating cat food eat mice as quickly as they would eat cat food instead of chewing slowly to aid digestion like a feral cat would do. As a result they sometimes get some of the mouse caught in their digestive system. I had a cat that used to get very sick and go off her food and it turned out to be that (she hunted mice in fields). The lovely vet we were with advised when she got ill and went off her food to give her 1ml milk of magnesium to help her pass the mouse - it worked and for years we used to keep a bottle in the fridge for every time it happened. Cats can get fatty liver disease if they don’t eat for a few days so important to get her to eat!

I have found there is such a difference with different vets - my cat (the mouser) sadly passed away from a ruptured pancreatic tumour two years ago but for days we didn’t know what was wrong (she wasn’t moving and in pain). I dropped about £500 in a commercial chain vets as it was a weekend and her usual vet wasn’t open (crazy charges for fluids IV and staying overnight), they then gave me a quote of thousands to do ultrasounds, ct, bloods etc or to pay them several hundred to put her to sleep. I decided to take her out on the Monday and bring her to her usual vet instead, they did an ultrasound and said it seemed like a tumour that had ruptured and she probably wouldn’t survive the surgery to remove it also a low survival rate even if she hadn’t been hit by something. I paid less to them for the ultrasound, IV, bloods and putting to sleep in the second vets than the overnight and small tests in the first and they actually were very upset for her so a much more human experience. I think what I am saying is you should change your vets - I understand they need to earn money but anyone who talks about the money side more than the treatment side would make me run a mile.

It could be other things though … once bloods are done, they’ll no doubt screen for that. One of mine was thought to have FIP, she was eventually diagnosed with e-Coli in her bladder that should have killed her, but she survived, and thrived thankfully.

Agreed, of course it could be other things. It took my poor girl a couple of months to be diagnosed with FIP and she suffered terribly during that time. I wish I had had the test up front (I had never heard of FIP before) so I could have put her out of her suffering sooner rather than trying to get her better from something she’d never recover from.

Many vets have a hardship fund, funded by their customers - we give to ours every year or so. At the very least, it's worth asking (they'll generally be very picky about who gets help from it, and you have to be absolutely desperate and you'll probably have to have tried every other option).

Ah no way .. I’m sorry you went through that. Our vets tested automatically for it (as she was so unwell), with all her other screening they were doing.

I thought you were over and out

Here’s hoping

Look this is controversial but I think vets do far too much.

I agree. Much of it is fuelled by insurance but the truth is there is no limit to the amount you could spend treating an animal who may or may not benefit.

It's my other cat that is the hunter - this one not so much but that's not me saying she hasn't caught something. It was actually my first thought that there was something lodged in her throat but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Yes I am absolutely going to change the vet - this vet I saw today was just speaking to me about costs despite not being able to do anything at all for her at that time of day that I brought her in. She really didn't seem to show much empathy towards me cat and I feel turned her nose down at me and my children despite my children showing they were clearly visibly concerned.

I'm keeping her close to me tonight and hoping we will get somewhere tomorrow. The new vet is only 15 min drive from me so fingers crossed they can help.

Sorry you had such a tough experience

I was looking at thousands for probable lymphoma- really wasn't any other differential diagnosis. I chose no treatment and euthanasia once she started to have issues. What are they looking for? Is it to diagnose a life long condition which will require on going meds and treatment? I couldn't afford that, didn't feel it was fair to the dog, and so didn't. If you can't either, sorry, I wouldn't be wondering how to pay, but where to surrender to cat.

PDSA /Blue Cross if on UC /passported.

“My vet receptionist told me to come back in at 6pm as an emergency so I did however it was a different vet I saw today. She basically said there was nothing she could do at this time of day and said I would have been better to wait and bring her in the morning.”’- what’s this cheeky fuckery? The only time I paid emergency (at midday £400) was when my dog stood up, collapsed, threw up, and lost bowel control. (They discharged him after an hour for being hyper- had an ear infection- £40 drops!) Hadn’t the cat already been seen with those symptoms? That’s a follow up not an emergency. Are they owned by evidensia?

Could you contact insurance, say it was an error due to unexpected payment taking place? Then recommence… prob too late.

You love your cat, you are doing your best.

Don’t be afraid to challenge, mine wanted to charge me £1k for an MRI that might show nothing, ended up paying £70 for steroids instead. They must have some clinical knowledge surely.

I wouldn't get the bloods and scans done I can only imagine what comes after that. £1k could end up being the tip of a very big ice berg. Please don't get into debt when you're on low income and have kids to look after. I've had vets try to get me to have all kinds in the past and my animals have perked up a few days later!

£90 for a further consultation sounds really steep under the circumstances. I'm pleased that you have some support sorted out. Fingers crossed things improve by the morning. I saw a different vet recently who wanted to put my elderly dog on regular injections, she still jumps up and runs upstairs. He wasn't the slightest bit interested in the real reason I had made the appointment. Needless to say I declined.

She didn't buy this animal she rescued it from a shelter. Which on the whole are overcrowded with too many animals for only the affluent to be able to adopt.

Accept that people with different means will take on shelter animals, or they remain in wholly inadequate overcrowded conditions or that large scale euthanasia of these animals has to take place. It's that simple.

Edit: we are not talking about food or shelter or basic care, but of the ability to provide expensive medical care to artificially extend an animals natural life, if it is even possible to do so(!). Equally the OP is going to do her best and her lovely moggy may be absolutely fine (fingers crossed).

90 seems a lot for just a consultation. I paid 83 yesterday for a consultation, flea treatment and steroid jab. It was a new vet place to me but they were lovely and will be her vet from now on.

Buying animals because it gives them a high … are you high?? What a stupid comment. Does that also include homeless people whose dogs actually keep them alive?