What has your cat cost for different vet treatments?

[ifonly4]

In a dilemma over pet insurance. We didn't take it out last time, just put money aside and have £2500 left after we lost our babies. We''ll carry this over for our newbies to which we'll add a monthly amount. I can't believe we'd be so lucky again, so can decide over pet insurance. Having said that I'm a believer that I'd only put them through so much treatment and anything really invasive I'd want to know they'd have a good quality life after. At the same time I'm aware costs have gone up.

Our previous cats saw vet for:

Toby - infected bite, cost approx £50
3 visits for fast progressing CKD, £210
We were very lucky with him

Lottie - chin acne - £40
flea bite allergy £100
ongoing cystitis, testing, xray £500

Fatty
cut to neck. £200
Jaw stuck open £200 x 3
Ct Scan £1500
Surgery to fix jaw problem £5000
Post op check £180
Cardiomyopathy treated for 9 months approx £2000 including drugs.
Final visit to vets and PTS £260
Cremation £100

Snorg
Pancreatitis/ triaditis. In the vet for a week critically ill. £5000

Both indoor cats, insured with Tesco.

My eldest has cost me lots over the years.
She has hyperthyroidism and the tablets are about £85 for 100 tablets (of daily medication), plus twice a year blood tests (and she requires sedation because she's become so difficult to handle at the vets) are about £300 at a time (because of the sedation).

She got constant anal gland infections that cost around £70-100 to treat three times during an 18 month period and then she went onto have an operation to remove them at a specialist animal hospital; bill was around £3,200 for that.

I volunteer at a cat charity and all too often hear of cats who need to be rehomed or have been surrendered at vet's to be PTS because owner doesn't have insurance or only had insurance with limits per condition and has maxed it out. For that reason and because of my own experiences I feel £15-30 a month on insurance (premiums go up as your cat gets older) is always the safest option - most of us can afford that but would struggle with a sudden large vet bill.

A friend of mine was also just telling me about their cat - he came home with an injured leg and within 2 days (including emergency out of hours hospital) their vet bill is already £6,000 and going up as we speak. He is only 7 years old and expected to make a full recovery so of course they are paying.

Harry

Fractured jaw £2600
Osteomyelitis £1085
Kidney disease £565
Sprained leg on Christmas Eve £375
Heart problems including scan £880

We’ve been very lucky with our two who are nearly 9. They haven’t needed to see a vet aside from booster shots since they were 18 months old. However, in those 18 months, one was scratched in the eye and needed treatment (about £200 worth) and the other had her abdomen slashed open by another cat and needed surgery and other treatment (about £1k worth). We have always had them insured since we got them. We are about at the stage where we’ve paid in insurqnce what we would have paid out back then, but I like the peace of mind of knowing I won’t ever have to make a difficult decision on the basis of cost alone.

Shadow
Chronic asthma: initial diagnosis ~ £100
Asthma treatment (steroids in summer): £28/year
Bladder infection: £38 (moved away from our cheap vet)

Izzie
Food sensitivities: ~ £50 across several appointments
Prescription diet: ~ £12/month
Eye infection: £40 (again, this was our new vet who is a lot more expensive)

Last years premium for Fatty and Snorg was £42 a month. It will take 19 years of premiums to be out of pocket!