vet holding cats ashes hostage

[Saitama]

My poor cat had been at the vet on and off for months, but in the end unfortunately had to be PTS. This was on a weekend and so the cost of it was extortionate, but it would have been cruel if we'd waited until monday. We asked for him to be cremated and to have his ashes back and his paw prints etc.

We've spent several thousand £ at this vet in the last months for my cat, trying to diagnose and treat him, all paid up to date until the PTS. Now I owed £700, I paid 350 of that and set up a payment plan for the rest at X amount per month. But the vets are refusing to give me my cats ashes back until it's paid in full.

All my savings have gone into my cat and I have nothing left, so his poor ashes are just sat at the vet alone and waiting for me and I can't bring him home. I've been with the vets for years with my other animals, have always been a good client, paid on time, never missed an appointment, no reason for them to think I'd just take his ashes and not pay since my other pets are registered there.

It's going to be approx 4-5 months until I can pay the rest of the bill to get my cat back, it feels so cruel of the vet to be holding him hostage like this when taking all the above into account, and how many appointments I had had there with this cat alone. I'd even sent them a card and chocolates after some of the appointments before to thank them for their work etc.

AIBU to think it's super messed up and cruel that they won't just give me his ashes now?

Are the insurance paying any money towards it ?

I collected our dogs ashes last month and didn't have to pay straight away.

So sorry OP.

Quite. Clearly all vets aren't the same. They're not all just run as a 'business' as some are claiming on here. Plenty of people have given examples of how their vet is not like that. I think people are trying to make them selves feel better that they run their practice purely as a business by trying to make out all vets do this.

Indeed cash flow is another issue. You have to have x amount in your accounts to give credit. It's not something that is without cost. Chasing payments involves additional staffing costs just for admin purposes. That's assuming everyone pays of course.

There will be many reasons why different vets will have different attitudes to this. But the fact is, some practices have much higher levels of non-payment and bad debt than others. It often depends on the sort of area they are in.

Size comes into it too. A small, independent, rural vet (for example) may not have as much flexibility as a large corporate chain.

No, I'm not. Not knowing everything is not embarrassing.

But you haven't answered my question. If the vet could get into trouble for offering payment plans why do some do it as a matter of course?

And vets are meant to be compassionate and animal lovers so it contradicts that when they won't give a grieving owner any closure via the ashes

Whilst it's obviously an upsetting situation please stop with this rhetoric that vet care should be free because they care about animals. The vets don't get to decide these things, payment policies are decided by practice owners, most of whom are not vets. No other business is expected to wait months for accounts being settled, why should vets? They can't pay their staff with fresh air. They all still need paying at the end of the month.

Insurance usually covers the cost of euthanasia as well as health care, I presume you didn't have any?
Individual cremation with ashes returned is an expensive option, the most expensive. Communal cremation is much cheaper and perhaps what you should have gone for given you couldn't afford the option you chose. I certainly had to go for communal with my own pets much as I would have loved to have had their ashes back it wasn't in my budget at that time in my life and it really wouldn't have to occured to me to request this and ask if I could pay several months later as that just wouldn't be reasonable.

But of course all practices have to be run as a ‘business’. There should still be plenty of empathy too of course, but ultimately if a practice does not run successfully as a business it will not survive.

Other people have said they were made to pay immediately. Other people have suggested at their vet you even pay up front. Some posters have said the vet is just a business so it is expected to pay immediately/up front.

The vets is very different to Tesco's. It involves live animals. And why is it ok not to pay immediately/in advance? Because the vet says it's ok.

No practice which offers a 24/7 service is uncompassionate.

It's that simple.

People can't just pay when they feel like it vets are not a charity, maybe the costs would not be so high if people actually paid when they were meant too? It might be cheaper overall

Why is the fact that the vets' involves live animals even remotely relevant? They're still a business with all the associated costs and overheads involved.

If you can't afford to pay £700 for a cremation up front then you don't choose that service. There are much cheaper ways to do it.

I don't need to watch it on the news.

My vet is on the border of a wealthy area and less wealthy area. He offers people to spread payments because he knows a lot of people would struggle to pay the whole thing upfront. I mean if you are in an area of just wealthy people then they're going to be able to just pay upfront. So you're 'not rocket science' doesn't make much sense.

The sense of entitlement people have around vets and vets' bills astounds me.

They think they can emotionally blackmail vets by saying they are uncaring for daring to be a self sufficient business rather than a loss making charity.

Totally agree- If you have other animals I would tell them that if they don't give them back and trust that you will pay then you will be moving your other animals to another veterinary surgery.

This is not secured credit!

@RedToothBrush tbf this vet surgery services a huge rural area with lots of poverty & wealth & a lot of farmers. They will deal with ALL types.

When they talk to you about treatments they always give a rough idea of cost & preface it with 'it's quite expensive' - the last time they did that for me the cost for the test my dog needed was £150 - they've no clue about my financial status. They also refused to neuter our cat till he was a year old cos he he'd had ideopathic cystitis - they weren't happy it would be safe for him in the long run. I could have ignored them & gone elsewhere, losing them money.

When I accompanied my parents to have their dog put to sleep, the vet herself cried. They let my parents park out the back away from everyone & for their dog to stay comfy in the car, not stress him by taking him in & injected him there, in the open boot. She got in and SAT with him whilst he passed away.

Then they stayed outside with us being calming & caring till my parents decided to leave.

I know ppl find it hard to believe, but there really are decent, non-mercenary vets out there. This isn't some upper-class fancy vets (I'm sure that's a thing?), just an ordinary vets who love animals.

Yep, it's quite gross to be honest.

One of our cats has been quite unwell recently and has been at the emergency vets far more often than I'd like - he's fine now, but it would never, ever occur to me that I could just not pay for his treatment for weeks or months on end.

It's not the vets' responsibility to cover my costs - it's mine. He's my cat, I chose to have him, his bills are down to me and me alone.

Unfortunately like it or not ultimately they are a business, no other company provides goods before they have been paid for. There is nothing to say once you receive the ashes you won’t just stop paying, having other animals with them means nothing, its not uncommon for people to rack up debts with one vet then move on to another one. Chasing debts costs them time and money.

You are very lucky that your vets have been kind enough to allow you to actually have a payment plan because that in itself is a rare occurrence these days, payment plans come under financial regulation and they are not financial institutions. Most vets are employed by large companies and it’s their neck on the line when they bend the rules to help people out. My vets has large signs at the entrance and at the desk stating that payments must be made in full on the day. Having worked in a vets there is nothing more stressful for the vets than owners turning up with sick animals and pleading poverty and expecting hand outs because as a vet they should care, they do care very much but they are also an employee of a business that has policies they are expected to follow and that has overheads to cover.

I know its an awful time, losing a pet (family member) is tough but private cremation through the vets if unaffordable was an avoidable choice, general cremation with no ashes would have been cheaper or taken home for burial if you have a garden would have been free. You state a private crem would have been cheaper but they still wouldn’t have let the ashes go without payment so you’d still be no better off than you are now and thats assuming they would even cremate prior to payment. I have used a private crem myself where I dropped my dogs off in person, they expect payment prior to or on arrival before they will even do the cremation.

Is borrowing from a family member or taking out a 0% credit card a potential option to speed up the return?

https://vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/2021/07/03/do-vets-do-payment-plans/

have a read of the above article as it explains everything pretty well. But basically, it is illegal for a company that is not FCA registered to lend money. And a long-term payment plan could constitute lending money. I’m not talking about paying invoices a month or so in arrears.

I don’t think there are many (any?) vets offering long term payment plans ‘as a matter of course’. Can you link any examples? Where this is clearly laid out in their online terms and conditions? Most practices will just signpost you to the previously mentioned 3rd party credit organisations.

Where vets have allowed this to happen, it will be situations like the OPs ie their hand has been forced as a client is unable to pay their bill. They have no choice then between accepting payment in intervals or taking the client to small claims (which is often expensive and fruitless). But there’s no doubt that the practice is taking a risk in doing this.

"lots of poverty"
"lots of farmers"

Sorry what was your argument?

I said 'just' as a business. Someone claimed vets don't know anything personally about the animals they look after/wouldn't be interested in asking after another pet/ too big of a caseload etc. Some said they were asked to pay immediately when their pet was PTS. These to me are examples of a vet running purely as a business.

Happily, my vet doesn't run 'just' as a business. It has the personal touch and the staff genuinely care about the pets inside and outside of the practice.

I think you're just being argumentative. Not even sure what you're asking here.

Happily, my vet doesn't run 'just' as a business. It has the personal touch and the staff genuinely care about the pets inside and outside of the practice.

So does mine, which is why I hugely appreciate what they do and always pay my bills on time as a result.

Everyone defending the vet - a cat cremation costs less than £200. This particular vet is entitled to a profit but a 300%+ mark up is profiteering.