Cat will die without urgent treatment but no insurance

[Missmuffin1984]

Hi,

just after some advice please, my friend’s cat rapidly came down with anemia while we were on holiday this week, literally went from normal to progressively weak. The charity vet she took it to did just enough to diagnose the problem but said they could not do anything except send the cat home on pain killers and leave it in God’s hands basically!
An emergency vet consultation at another vets said unless the cat has an urgent £1.5k blood transfusion and night in at the vets, at £3k a night, for however many nights are needed the cat will have to go home to die.
that was last night and the cat is still alive, although getting weaker and no doubt in pain.

my friend does not have pet insurance and I really don’t want to hear that it is irresponsible because it isn’t my cat and she has her reason I don’t feel necessary to divulge.

i’m just looking for any advice really, I have my own cats who are my children and keep tearing up thinking about it.

From what I understand charities do very little. It breaks my heart how expensive vet fees are!

The sole purpose of a vet's business is to make money. Why add to the profit and further increase the cat's suffering?

Put the poor cat to sleep and don’t have pets if you can’t afford them.

Where does the blood come from when a cat has a transfusion? How can a cat give consent to having its blood taken and sold?

The issue with the blood transfusion is one may not be enough, the cat may require several and many days/nights in hospital, constant monitoring of its PCV levels to make sure they aren't dropping again. There may be an internal bleed that requires surgery and ct scans/ultrasounds/x-rays. This will all add substantially to her costs.

The prices your friend are being quoted wont all be covered by insurance either, insurance companies have a cap on the max amount in one year you can claim back. Not sure about the UK but in Ireland Allianz is 4k per year in total. Plus those prices are first estimate only, they can and will get more expensive depending on what tests need to be carried out and transfusions aren't cheap at all as you say.

There is no shame in your friend deciding she can't afford all this nor does she want to put her cat through this, and it may still die, in hospital without her there, even if she could find this money from somewhere.

Personally if she was my friend I would advise her that its okay to say no, and stop the poor cat suffering by putting it to sleep. The prognosis is possibly poor in all honesty and no vets can guarantee you that your friend will be bringing her pet home.

Have a read of this link to try help your friend but if it were my cat and I have a few, I would be letting her cross over.

The vets put out an appeal for a blood donor and the owner of the cat consents to its pet being used as a blood donor

Sounds like it's time for kitty to visit the great cattery in the sky. 3k a night is insane.

How can a cat give consent to anything? It's a cat.

The charity vet she took it to did just enough to diagnose the problem but said they could not do anything except send the cat home on pain killers and leave it in God’s hands basically !

that is inhumane "Your cat has XYZ we cannot treat him, he can have painkillers but basically we're going to do Scientific Neglect " ( which was what the Vet in Animal Hospital called "Do Nothing"

Why didn't they offer euthanasia ?
Euthanasia means "A Good Death" which it seems is the kindest outcome for this poor cat ,

Find another vet or contact the PDSA as soon as possible.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, i will suggest the PDSA and euthanasia

I know, don’t get me started 😔

Sadly, I agree with this.

I've been in this situation and it's heartbreaking. I have insurance now but there were times I couldn't afford it. The cat can't be left to suffer.

Animal testing labs ?

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-vet/specialist-referrals/for-pet-owners/pet-blood-donations

I don't know if the "how can a cat give consent" is a genuine question but the owner consents . But of course cats don;t consider themselves to have owners , just some daft sap who feeds and tidies