No pet insurance, no money

[Crystalclair]

I'm ashamed to say, that despite having had my cat 3 years, I have never taken her to the vet due to finances. She's an indoor cat, well loved, fed etc.

She has what seems to be, an eye infection. I can't afford vet fees - especially in this current climate. What can I do? Are there any vets that will see her for free?

I'm in London.

Thanks

www.pdsa.org.uk/taking-care-of-your-pet/eligibility

Try The Blue Cross and ring them anyway for advice about bathing her eye.

If you do not qualify for pdsa , they are quite strict with which benefits they accept , rspca hospitals may offer subsidised treatment.
If you look online there may also be a local rspca group in your area , they may cover your vets bill.
At the practice i work at the local group have an account they give permission , the client brings the animal to us to treat and we put the charge on rspca account , we suggest to owner that they pay rspca back when they can.
Also try cats protection league , again look online .
The rspca local group in my area do a lot of good , it is run by volunteers ,i know main rspca sometimes gets things wrong !
You need to act quickly with an eye problem ,it can worsen ,also probably painful .

Hi OP,

PDSA can help if you are receiving benefits & live near one of their pet hospitals ditto for the Blue Cross....

Hope you can get cat seen too as eye infections are painful & could cause sight loss if untreated

Also:

www.animaltrust.org.uk/our-services/free-consultations/

In the mean time boil some water, add salt and let it cool. Then bathe the eye with cotton wool buds on sticks being careful not to reuse after each wipe. You can also buy golden eye eye drops from the chemist (say it is for your partner) and dot a small amount onto the eyeball.

Unless you're on benefits it's pretty impossible to get free treatment- can you borrow the money from someone? I'm sure you don't need me to say how irresponsible it is to have a pet and not be able to care for it - our cat insurance costs £5 per month so please look at taking it out

Credit card. And get insurance ASAP!! It's so so important.

Our cat would be dead if we didn't have insurance, he had vet bills over £8k in the first year we had him. There's no way we could have paid that ourselves without putting it on a credit card or begging family.

A consultation will typically be £35/40. Meds for the eye say another £30 max. If you were insured your excess would be say £70 anyway.

Your cat needs to see a vet as an eye infection can become ulcerated and that will cost a whole lot more to treat as would an eventual eye removal operation.

Thank you for all your help!

I was given my cat as I suffer with mental health problems and it was to help me. I lost my job a week after and I'm in cc debt. So, I cant even afford the £5 insurance. But thanks for all the links.

I had my cat treated for an eye infection recently and it cost £40 including medication cost. So maybe not as much as you fear. Some vets will let you pay in instalments. If you can't afford insurance try having a small savings pot of even £100 (I know that's not always easy). They are lovely but a source of stress :-)

I buy human chloramphenicol drops from boots as she gets conjunctivitis a lot. The vet gave me the same stuff we use at work.

@Toddlerteaplease

I buy human chloramphenicol drops from boots as she gets conjunctivitis a lot. The vet gave me the same stuff we use at work.

I second this, depending on the type of infection of course. We used to foster kitties and were given and told to use human eye drops for them when they came to us with cat flu. We have used to since on our cats with no problems.

It's quite tricky to get the pharmacist to actually sell it to you. If I tell them my non existent son has sticky eyes only in the morning, they say it's viral and won't sell it! And I'd have no hope if I said it was for a cat!

Another thought, if you explain to the receptionist what the problem is you may be able to see a vet nurse which wont cost as much.

Also is there anyone you can ask for a loan? People may be happy to lend for a pet.

Thanks for all your advice. I generally dont have any spare money and cannot lend any.

I'm going to try the blue cross as there is a clinic near me and I'm eligible.

Would the person who gave you the cat be willing to help? It's really not fair on the cat to deny her vet care.

I would 10000% try and get insurance.

My baby ended up at the vets for a “temperature” and was in for 3 days. Cost me £1300 (well insurance). They never found out the cause.

Blue cross are brilliant, I hope everything is going ok for you and your cat.

We had to take our boy to the vet ( as an emergency - our usual vet was closed so we went to the one that was listed on the out of hours phone message)
He had a scrape on one eye thankfully it healed well , they prescribed Chloramphenicol 0.5% drops .
IIRC about £60ish

Once the eye infection is treated look at vaccinations too. Indoor cars should still have vaccinations.

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

We had to take our boy to the vet ( as an emergency - our usual vet was closed so we went to the one that was listed on the out of hours phone message) He had a scrape on one eye thankfully it healed well , they prescribed Chloramphenicol 0.5% drops . IIRC about £60ish

And this is why vets are bastards - you can buy them for £3-4 at a pharmacy but they charged you £60!

The £55 is for the cost of running a practise and training to know if it was a scratch or something more serious.

Chloramphenicol from my vet, costa pretty much the same as OTC. They issue is that they insist on seeing the cat as Well.