AIBU to wonder about help with vet bills beyond PDSA?

[Bedroomdilemmas113]

This is NOT intended as anything to do with benefit recipients, but something that just keeps whirring round in my brain.

Rushed a suddenly very poorly dog to the emergency vet a few weeks ago. Shared reception area with PDSA. Brain whirring, I read lots of the posters, and I think they’re doing an amazing thing. Paid our (extremely large) bill and also made a sizeable donation to the PDA desk next door.

Then realised the PDSA requires you to be eligible. Eligible is proving you’re in receipt of benefits. So that covers the pets of people on benefits, and I’m glad about that - but what I can’t stop thinking about is what about the huge numbers who aren’t on benefits but also can’t afford treatment?

Is there an equivalent, some sort of benevolent fund that could be donated to and called upon when really needed by vets? I can’t find anything online.

I have been tying myself in knots ever since thinking about pets of owners who can’t afford them to be treated - admittedly this is all heavily mixed up with my heartbreak at the situation we are in with our own dog. But I just keep thinking, what if we couldn’t afford this?

It’s not even that simple with the pdsa, they don’t cover the whole country, you have to live in certain areas.

We use to donate to PDSA until a couple of years ago. Someone we knew was receipt of benefit and their dog fell ill, the PDSA paid the bill, neutered the dog, paid for flea and wormer and a good groom. She then gave dog away and 6 months later was back at the vets with a puppy and they paid again no questions ask what happened to other dog.

Independent vets might, corporate vet practices probably don't... and yes, the PDSA eligibility actually covers a TINY number of pet owners. I've lived around the country and never actually been in a catchment area for them.

Vets have a duty of care to prevent suffering - so in cases where an animal needs urgent treatment but the owner cannot pay, that means euthanasia.

There is streetvet for pets whose owners are homeless,streetvet is brilliant and does a lot of good for pets who would otherwise have no veterinary treatment.
And there is also things like klana so people can manage their payments like with any other expensive items.
And yes if people can't/don't want to pay there is the rehoming option or euthanasia.
It happens so much and is one of the reasons the veterinary profession is so difficult to work in,it's constantly heartbreaking for the staff.
Insurance should be part of pet ownership.

There was a documentary on tv about the PDSA some years ago. What struck me was that none of the pet owners said thank you.

I didn't think PDSA asked financial questions they just treated animals. But my experience (even then not using them myself) was a long time ago and it seemed people having got a diagnosis from my vet then went to PDSA for treatment rather than pay.

Animals are ultimately a commodity. They get eaten, they get imprisoned as pets, undergo sometimes painful and unnecessary 'treatment' because insurance companies profit, and if their owners can't afford necessary treatment, they get killed.

When you have a pet you should consider insurance and potential medical bills as part of the cost, along with food and equipment.

A number of vets offer payment plans, the one we use also offers a well known online payment company.

I've also known vets waive part of their fees, e.g the prescribing fees to reduce the cost of medication.

Vets would like to provide gold standard care- the very best for your pet, but this is expensive, so if you tell them you can't afford it, vets will work with you to do the very best for your pet, within your budget. Your budget is not their responsibility though.

My pet dog was not a commodity but a living creature that had all his needs (physical, mental, health, welfare) met. He was not imprisoned, he had a great life and loved being around people. Neither did he undergo any unnecessary medical procedures, that would have been wrong for me as an owner to allow and unethical for my vet to prescribe. I trust my vet completely, she had my dogs best interests at heart. My experience is that vets have never pushed treatment on me. My dog was euthanised last week but only because it was the right thing for him.

isn't part of the problem the hugely inflated costs. £18 for 3 dog paracetamol. Or the fact that insurance is pretty much a gamble, with what is and isn’t covered, also it feels like once you have claimed it then very hard to change insurance companies as you can’t claim for a pre existing problem, which can make it tricky.

This post is horrible! Our cat is lying in his cosy bed by the radiator (NE Scotland so heating still on) after a busy day of being in and out of the garden, and sitting in his cat tree watching out of the kitchen window. He definitely doesn’t look like a prisoner. If anything I am his slave! We have good insurance and would get him any medical care that would improve his quality of life if he needed it.

With our previous cat we spent thousands - again covered by insurance - to reach a diagnosis of aggressive stomach cancer. We opted to let her go peacefully rather than put her through chemo to extend (but not save) her life, much as it broke our hearts to say goodbye.

OP, vet bills are so expensive. I follow a few rescues on social media and they are seeing increasing number of surrenders because people can’t afford to treat their pets. It’s so sad. I have a monthly direct debit to our local Cats Protection (where we adopted our boy from) and to a dog rescue charity based in Manchester. I know our CP branch have a relationship with our vet surgery for treatment/neutering etc so I feel like I’m doing some small good there.

Usually we sign them over to a charity or the vet practice, treat and then rehome.

In Ireland with a lot of insurers you pay first claim after. we have insurance but the basic one and they gave us pittance after our dog got out and got very badly cut on barbed and needed stitches. Insane people saying if they can’t pay eg op said 2500 so they’re saying if you can’t come up with 2,500 on the spot you shouldn’t have a dog?!?!

Sometimes breed-specific charities will step in if contacted by the owner.

I actually agree with you to an extent. We have rescue cats but I would never get a pet unless it was rescue as I don’t think pets should be bred or sold.