What happens if you can't afford vet bill?

[witchycat2]

Not happening to me, but a scenario of someone else has got me wondering.

What happens if your dog is injured and the treatment would cost say, £5k, and you literally can't pay it and have no insurance?

Does the vet put the dog to sleep? Do they seize the dog? Do you have the debt collectors round?

I suspect our dog should have had more overnight stays as the vet was concerned that he looked like he wanted to vomit all the time after surgery but unfortunately as this was not his first encounter with this type of emergency surgery 🤦 I reassured the vet that this was 'normal' and we knew how to manage him at home so he came out the next day. Dogs, got to love them even though they are a money pit.

Most vets would accept a reasonable payment plan if the bill cannot be settled in full. If the payment plan is not set up or adhered to then they'll likely use a debt management company to attempt to recover the debt - initially the company will likely ask for the full amount, plus their admin charges, all at once, but you can also normally negotiate a reasonable payment plan with them.

We have a lot of animals. Those that can be insured are, but some aren’t for various reasons. We have an emergency credit card for such situations.
Id advise all pet owners to have some sort of back up like that.

As someone in the profession I can 100% see how this costs this much.

Honestly, how would this work?

a credit card?
perhaps people should be realistic rather than get into debt.

i remember someone telling me their cat was run over and the treatment was £3000 or something, and she said, well you have to pay it dont you.
er , no you dont have to pay that

my dd flatshare cat was also run over, quote was about £6k, unfair for a young person to pay this amount, kinder to let the cat go

Agree. Pet insurance should be mandatory like car insurance.. people should be responsible if they want a pet.

Some Vets will pursue through the Civil Courts although I do agree that they are unlikely to be paid if the person genuinely has no money or assets.

Well yes, but sometimes horses will rack up a whopping bill (£15k was one such- that was a fun Christmas present!).It was easier for me to put it on the credit card and pay off monthly.
Smaller amounts I just pay out of savings.

of courses horses are a different scenario altogether

My cat is insured, a 5 year old moggie. It was only a few months ago he went to the vet for an ear infection but I pay £30 a month with PetPlan. Although I could have paid the bill myself I thought stuff it I'm going to claim on the insurance.

That's where the problem is the insurance premiums. I pay the same amount on the annual insurance on buildings and contents insurance on my house and fully comprehensive on my car.

My dog broke his wrist/ankle in the summer. My vets referred him to a specialist who was lovely & so honest . He said we could either do nothing & splint it for every walk for the rest of his life, he'd manage fine as he has 3 other good legs but would risk arthritis in the next couple of years. Or he do the surgery to plate it back together, eliminating the arthritis risk & back to full health within 6 months.
Because he's insured we went for the surgery but there's absolutely no way I'd have been able to afford to do anything otherwise. All in the insurance has pains about £8000 for his leg this year- with still a bit more to go for hydrotherapy. It's going to cost me more in premiums next year but I'd not be without it- he'd have had to been limping forever or lost his leg otherwise.

Are you serious? Pets are a lifestyle choice, and if you can't afford their care then don't have them. Far too many people have pets when they really shouldn't for many reasons.

Pet owner here. Would be horrified to pay taxes for this. Pet ownership is a privilege and one we built into our monthly budget before committing.

We only paid £250 to have our medium sized dog cremated this year. Our guinea pig was just buried in the garden. Sorry I do think guinea pigs are delightful but wouldn't pay to have one cremated either. I guess I may pay £800 for GP treatment if it was very young and otherwise healthy. Ours lived way beyond normal guinea pig years and was about 7 years plus when the vets was still suggesting expensive treatments.

7 years isn’t particularly elderly for a Guinea pig. They can easily live to 9 or even 10. Many people keep them outdoors which isn’t ideal for them and then they live to 3/4 and people think that’s normal, but it isn’t.

My Guinea pigs lived in a huge indoor 6ft by 4ft open topped indoor cage, they were very much part of our family as much as any cat or dog. I think if you get any pet you should be prepared to cough up for the costs of keeping them safe and well if they’re likely to make a full recovery and live a longer, happier life because of it.

But then I admit by other peoples standards I’m a bit of an animal nut - I’ve had one of my fancy goldfish euthanised when it developed an untreatable tumour and I cried all the way to the vets and back. 🙈☹️

I can't get decent insurance for our cat due to his FIV. Everywhere we've tried won't cover infections, eyes, dental issues or skin issues. Or "anything related to the FIV" which could probably exclude various tumours etc. He's an indoor cat so low risk for accidents and no risk of fights/attack. At the moment we just chance it and have not had any massive bills but if anyone knows of anything else we could be doing I'd be interested.

I paid £250 for my medium sized dog to be cremated in November 24 . £170 is the price for small animals , we’ve had all of our Guinea pigs and rabbits cremated . As @Pigeonqueen said Guinea pigs actually have a good life expectancy . My sister only has abscess piggie left now , she’s happy as an only , lives indoors . She had a lump taken off her nose / face this year and she is nearly 7 .

Our 7 year old dog, who had never been ill, suddenly stopped eating and drinking a few months back and got very quickly very weak and turned blind.
The vet who did a variety of tests. Within a week we had spent £9000. Antibiotics, x rays, IVs, blood tests, CT scan - our insurance covered £1500. But nothing was conclusive, and our dog did not get better.
We were in total emotional turmoil.
The vet suggested as a next step "the gold standard": an MRI. Cost, £4800.
We just couldn't afford it. And felt terrible about it.
The vet said we could either put her to sleep or try steroids which might make her very quickly even worse and we would then have to put her to sleep. Or it might make her better.
We opted for the steroids. She slowly got better, but remained blind.
We never found out what caused it all. She has gotten used to being blind and has otherwise recovered.

Once our pet insurance runs out, I'm not sure if we can afford to renew it, as it no doubt will increase massively.

On a different matter - I recently suffered an injury and it was suggested I should have a private MRI, which would cost between £300 and £600.
I find it unbelievable that my dog's MRI would have cost £4800.

i think it is often the case of you can treat this animal but Should you?

How awful for you. The cost of the MRI seems extortionately. I can only think maybe there are a lot fewer dog scanners around thus inflating the cost, and also I guess they would obviously need an anesthetic to perform it.

I personally just think it should be a legal requirement of owning a cat or dog (and some other animals) to have insurance.Tbh this would stop a lot of idiots buying animals they can't afford as well.

but some things are not covered by insurance

And what happens when the dog is 14 and his insurance is £250 per month ?