Cats come home injured, can't afford vets fees!

[Ohb0llocks]

DCat has just come home from being out, and will not weight bear on his front right leg ☹️ he also seems to have cut between his claw and skin on another foot, however this isn’t bothering him much.

Obviously I’m going to call the vets when they open in 15 min, but at the minute we haven’t a pot to piss in. New baby due in a few weeks, DP hasn’t been working as much due to weather (self employed outside job).

I’m in bits. We don’t live in an area where PDSA etc can help. What are the chances of the vets allowing a payment plan without a huge deposit? We can probably afford around £30 at the most.

And please please no one lecture me re insurance. Bloody stupid mistake on my part and I feel bad enough already.

I think that legally pets are classed as property and as such an owner can, theoretically, get it put down for any reason. How this actually works in reality I don't know.
More than happy to be corrected with someone with more knowledge (not a massive challenge tbh)

Why are people saying they hate vets rather than people having pets they can't afford to care for?

How is it ridiculous that a vet won't provide their service for free?

It's your responsibility to insure your pet, or to have a little bit put aside for stuff like this. Not your vets. What an attitude.

I won't ever hate a pet owner who was left with little in the kitty after leaving an abusive relationship. That's a spiteful comment.

Amy- OP wasn't suggesting her vet treat the cat for free, just to give her some time to pay?

I take full responsibility for not having the money at the time, although won't go into what led to those circumstances.
I most definitely do not hate vets.

That being said it is absolutely irrelevant to the animal who needs help, no pet should suffer because the owner doesn't have the cash there and then. Vets fees are massively expensive and you often don't realise how bad they are until the worst possible moment!

Yes no pet should suffer hence people should be responsible pet owners and not slag off vets who won't treat for free.
I don't mean you op

Yes, I see that I guess. But what if the vet needs the cashflow? What if everyone asked to pay later? I don't know, as a business owner they must have to make decisions that, while unhappy for some customers, mean they're able to continue providing the service overall.

Yes no pet should suffer hence people should be responsible pet owners and not slag off vets who won't treat for free.
I don't mean you op

Quite. And vets shouldn't leave an animal to suffer either

Why should no pets suffer because the owner doesnt have the cash? You choose to get a pet. Its one thing having an NHS for people but that doesnt apply to pets. Who would fund it? Why on earth should vets work for free? Would you work for free?

your skint and having a baby? you can just about scrape together 30 pound? what about if your child had an emergency or needed treatment not covered by the nhs? if you cannot pay for a cat how are you going to pay for a baby.

Jesus Christ no wonder the worlds gone to shit.

It's not about working for free. It's about not seeing an animal suffer never mind the fact the op is looking for time to pay. At no point as she said she wants her pet treated for free.

As it is there are owners who will never be able to afford to pay the full bill up front. not the vets fault but not the animals fault either.

What eemrgency treatment is OP going to have to pay for for her child??

And also she didn't want free treatment for her cat!!

It's the owner with no insurance making the pet suffer not the vet. It's not their responsibility to give free treatment to pets. I wouldnt!

My cats often come back with a limp. Unless I can see cuts or obvious swelling/deformity I leave them to rest for a few days. They always end up recovering after a few days and back to their normal wild selves. Whenever I've took them in the past, they're usually given an anti-inflammatory and told to rest and come back if no improvement.

My cat has limped at times. It goes away after 48 hours or so. I reckon she lands funny when scaling down fences and the like.
Anything more sinister will still be apparent after that time frame one way or another, so you'll definitely know then Cat needs real treatment.

Poor puss - hope he is not too badly hurt.

My reply wasn't actually aimed at you Hayesking but at the previous poster who said "I hate vets, they are money grabbing scum"

Most vets don't go into the job to make money ....that is incidental if it happens. Most struggle to cover the overheads of running a surgery.

It's hard work, it's emotional work and thankless when you get people referring to them as "money grabbing scum" because of course treating an animal costs nothing.

I am glad the OP was able to find a vet to help her cat.

Really pleased you've found someone to help & I hope it all turns out well. I'd definitely consider using Vets4Pets myself now!

I hope your cat is okay

Please get insurance after this, though. It doesn't have to be expensive (I pay £12.84 a month for two cats with Tesco) for their premier coverage with a £120 excess each time. You can choose a lower excess (£60) but your monthly payments go up.

Please get him insured. He goes outdoors and as he gets older, he could easily develop diabetes or arthritis or any other number of problems that are really expensive to fix. Our old cat got urinary crystals and he wasn't insured - his bill was over £1000 and our vets didn't offer payment plans. We had the money saved so it wasn't an issue but not everyone has that kind of spare money.

Vets4Pets seem to be very good.

A friend of mine had a cat with a leg tumour and the vet wanted a huge amount of money to operate. They wouldn't offer a payment plan.

Vets4Pets not only quoted her significantly less but also agreed a repayment plan too.

It's not about working for free. It's about not seeing an animal suffer never mind the fact the op is looking for time to pay
You do realise most vets don't actually own their practices? They're employees who do not have the authority to offer their services for free ffs. What other professional services do you think we should all be able to access for free or on tic? New hairdo maybe? Pay for you your food shop in a few weeks when you have the cash? No, thought not. Honestly some of the replies on this thread are shocking, British people have no clue how much medical treatment costs, no fucking clue.

Oh and vets for pets are franchises so what one practice offers will not be the same across the board.

It's not about working for free. It's about not seeing an animal suffer never mind the fact the op is looking for time to pay.

But don't you see? They often can't afford to do that! Medicine isn't free, the vets/nurses time isn't free. They can't just offer everyone free treatment, or payment plans, because they can't operate on that kind of income.

Healthcare is expensive - I think in the UK especially we don't appreciate just how expensive, because we're fortunate enough to have the NHS and we don't see the costs of things upfront, so we're shocked that painkillers for cats, or surgery for dogs, is as expensive as it is.

How do you propose the vet pays their overheads and costs if people don't pay their bills? Payment plans are all well and good, but why should they offer thousands of pounds worth of treatment to people who might not have the means to pay for it?

If you have a pet and can't afford the vet bills upfront, you need to get them insured. That's part of being a responsible pet owner. It's not the vets fault your pet got injured/sick and you weren't covered. They might have a moral duty to alleviate suffering, but so far as I know, all they have to do is make your pet comfortable. They are under no obligation to put your pet through expensive surgery or offer them expensive treatment you have no means to pay for it.