Expensive bill for removing grass from lung (cat)

[Tarcietiger]

5 year old cat has a habit of eating grass but it sometimes gets stuck. 3 years ago he got a piece stuck right up inside his nose which required sedation to remove. A few days ago he started hacking like he had a fur ball and we discovered that a similar thing had happened again but this time the grass had gone right down his windpipe into the top of his lung. He had another sedation today to remove it and the bill with X-rays and I’ve antibiotics was over £500!

My concern is that his insurers might not cover the cost of the treatment today as he has previous form for getting grass stuck …

Wonder if anyone has any experience? Will it be classed as two sep incidents or will they treat it as a pre existing condition / habit?

I know they won’t pay out for a medical condition that reoccurs 😩

We are with the insurance emporium with their bronze life plan. I’d call them before claiming but I don’t want to give them any excuse not to pay out by saying the wrong thing iyswim?

That sounds pretty cheap to me (vet nurse). Honestly, that would be a tricky procedure, anaesthetic, xrays, nurse and vet time. Could easily have been way more in places I've worked.

Your insurance should pay i would think, it's not a medical condition, it's accidental and this incident is not related to the last one. Your vet will complete your claim form you just have to start the claim.

Absolutely amazing and life-saving skill, extremely reasonable price and I can't imagine that it would not be covered.

Sorry I didn't mean £500 was nothing, obviously it's a lot of money but as far as vet fees go I was expecting higher when I opened the thread!

New grass should be a new incident. They may eventually refuse to cover grass eating issues when you renew though.

Thank you so much everyone- sorry for taking a while to come back! I’m so relieved it is likely to be considered a new incident. Agree it was a skilled job to remove- I worded my post clumsily - just a bit scary to have an unexpected £500 to pay if insurers don’t.

Any tips for stoping it happening again? We’ll keep our grass cut obviously but who knows where he’ll find his next long blade of grass to snuffle?! He’s a big cat and has quite a large territory.