Cat has an abscess

[Coldhouseflowers]

My poor cat has an abscess, it needs to be drained and I have just been quoted £750 upwards. Just paid £110 for consultation and an antibiotic shot . Is it worth me getting a second consultation as I am not sure this is highly priced or average 😞

I paid £60 for consultation & antibiotic shot recently, abscess related.
The vet had missed treating the abscess the week before, so is possible he gave me a discount.
Poor cat had had the abscess (top of his head) for at least a month before but I only realise in retrospect. Gone almost immediately after the jab.

Aww thanks, I give £750 seems excessive ! Not sure whether to pay for another vet to give me a price .

Mine had a nasty one on top of his head - it was drained and cleaned out, and he had a long-lasting antibiotic (? Or painkiller?) injection and cone of shame for a week.
That was c £150 2 years ago.
I know vets have got a lot busier and a lot pickier since then with all the extra lockdown pets but £750 sounds excessive. Where is the abscess? Is some surgery involved?

He said it needs to be drained and flushed .

Flushed with vintage Bollinger by the sound of it.

Yes I am getting another consultation, the vet said it like he was saying it would cost £20 😂

My cat had an abscess, we gently put a warm wrung out cloth on it and it burst letting us flush it with Vetericyn. No infection and it healed quickly. If the cat will let you maybe see if it helps?

I have being doing that ! It’s squishy though ! My cat has bucked up after the antibiotic jab 😊 It’s awful to think people can’t afford to get their animals treated 😞it’s the last thing I need with Christmas, most of my monthly wage gone

Any scabs on it that you can pick off?

The scab seems to be higher than the swelling ! I am nervous of making it worse and then the vet telling me off !! If it bursts will she need antibiotics still ? Scared she will go septic

We paid under £200 for a badly infected leg that was lanced and cleaned

Are they planning to anaesthetise your cat to treat the wound? If so that's a large part of the bill.

Im not a vet but surely you only drain and flush if it’s persistent after antibiotics have been given . If you went to the GP with an abscess you wouldn’t get carted off for an operation . I’ve had various animals with various abscess and the only one that has required surgery was on a Guinea pig and that was persistent , huge and ended up needing packing .

Abscess is on her head.

Yes he said he would give her a general anaesthetic.

Mine was squishy too 🤢
But vet managed to do it without a GA
I suspect the GA is more for your vet’s benefit. They should be able to immobilise the cat without one though!

That does sound a lot - one of ours had an abcess under her tail and we didn't realise til it burst (and smelled like pure death 🤢)

The treatment came to about £200 including the check-ups after.

Yes , unfortunately I am thinking there some unnecessary costs involved here 😞

Ask the vet what the problem is with seeing if it clears up just with antibiotics .

This seems extortionate and I've never heard of a cat being anaesthetised to drain an abscess.

Think the vet is perhaps a wee bit cowardly, trying to make an a crazy margin,or your cat has a reputation for being challenging to handle perhaps?

My ex-stray Tom cat gets into the odd scrape and has had 5 or 6 abcesses over the last 10 years. Two of them very large as he'd hidden that he was suffering for some time.

He has never been anaesthetised for treatment and all have been drained manually, albeit with the assistance of several vet nurses to pin him down as he is an escape artist.

I would definitely ask why it cant be drained without sedation and potentially have him seen elsewhere.

I've used our local vets4pets franchise and don't feel they've ever overcharged or reccomended an expensive treatment route inappropriately.

That quote is excessive. Get second quote and tell vet you don't want cat to have anaesthesia. Just held down, treated and antibiotics after. Cats heal quickly.

Youre not a caring carer. The vet wouldnt mention anaesthesia if they didnt need it. It would be very cruel not to. Hope youre not allowed to own any pets

Poor baby. Anaesthesia will knock it up massively. Not a vet but a doctor but we can't do many abscess drainages under local anaesthetic because local anaesthetics don't numb the infected tissue abscess area properly. We have to put people under GA for it (and do several every day in my average town hospital) because it's the only way to incise, drain and adequately clean the wound out. I'm not so sure that is overpriced for what the vet needs to do imo but I admit I'm not an expert. By not doing it under GA you risk not being able to get all the infection out - creating deeper infections that get much more serious and possibly life threatening.

Not a vet but a doctor but we can't do many abscess drainages under local anaesthetic because local anaesthetics don't numb the infected tissue abscess area properly. We have to put people under GA for it

That's interesting, as I've had to have a few abscesses drained (HS) and never been offered a GA for them - sometimes they've even been done at the GP surgery. With HS it's not uncommon for the larger ones (think duck egg sized) to decide to burst & drain on their own and as long as you flush it out properly, take antibiotics and keep the area clean & dressed they clear up fine afterwards.

The vet wouldnt mention anaesthesia if they didnt need it. It would be very cruel not to.

Not necessarily. The procedure is quite quick, and as soon as the pus starts to drain properly the relief is immense. There's quite a few cat slaves on this board who have had abscesses drained without a GA.

I think vets are too used to insurance picking up the bill for pet owners, so SOME vets go gold standard on the slightest thing as they know they can charge for it and the insurers will pick it up.

That does sound excessive to me.
My cat is an ex street cat and has had a few nasty abscesses in his time. One on his tail took 5 visits to clear it up, but GA was never mentioned. The vet took the scab off and prescribed antibiotics.
The others were on his face head and chest. Same treatment. The final one also on his chest, I managed at home, with advice from the vet of course. This was during lock down. I bathed it 4 times per day with cool boiled water, using a seperate cotton wool pad for every wipe. Gentle squeezing at the same time.
I'm not suggesting you do the same though.