Please bear with me, as I'm quite upset right now so I'm hoping this makes sense.
My cat was attacked by an unnetured tom last Monday. Monday morning she went to our vets as she could barely stand and was clearly in pain. They sedated her to check for injuries, shaved her, did an ultrasound as she had a large mass to her abdomen and gave her pain relief. Cost £330 (she was covered in loads of bite marks too).
Went back on Friday for follow up, Mass had grown but she was otherwise well, and more mobile. So left with keep an eye, bring back if any changes, and we'll see her in a week.
Today when we woke I found that the mass had burst - abscess (which I knew it was although the vets didn't call it that, I've seen lots of cat abscesses before to recognise what it was) with her constantly licking the area to clean. She was tender in the area again after being okay for the last few days. I called the vets, which directed to the local out of hours service. They advised she should be seen. I took her along. They took her straight in without me for triage.
10 minutes later a vet came out and took me to the consulting room. She explained that she needed admitting for sedation, or quite probably a GA to drain the wound, IV abx, blood tests, fluids, and another ultrasound. They wanted to do the operation the same day, or overnight if they couldn't get it done in the day. She would hopefully be home the next day. Estimate of costs was 1.8-2.5k. I admit I was surprised at the cost given what my own vet had charged previously. But I thought that it would be best she is treated as they made out it was urgent to have the operation.
I rang at 8pm for an update and they didn't have anyone available to speak to me but said someone would call back. At 10pm and wanting to go to bed, I decided to call again. This time they said she was comfortable, had pain relief and IV abx. I said so has she had the operation then? Did it go okay? Oh, no she hasn't had the operation she said. So I said will it be tonight as I was told earlier then. No, apparently the workload doesn't allow. So I asked what that means for the cost. After some back and forth between her (receptionist) and the vet (I assume) I was still non the wiser.
Just as I was typing this, they have rang me back. The vet has said she has had a scan (which showed NAD exactly as it did earlier), blood tests, pain relief and IV fluids. So far this has cost 1.3k! They aren't sure what she will now need tomorrow, whether it will be a wound cleaned under GA, debriding, or just more IV abx and a longer stay. She said the wound clean is another £700, debriding £1500 and a minimum of £260 a day per stay plus the antibiotics if she needs that option.
What on earth do I do? These costs seem obscene to me, but I've never had to use a vet before for anything other than routine care.
Yes, she is insured. But it has a 4k limit! And that has to last her the rest of the policy year too (which renewal was in April!).
Do I go and collect her first thing? Take her to my vet? I asked them that too, but she said that she will have to be transfered back to them for overnight care. So am I just making things worse by doing that?
I feel totally lost and like they are escalating costs. For example she didn't need the scan. It was confirmed to not be a hernia, which is what the vet today said about the mass. I said she had already had a scan that ruled out any hernia. But they did it again anyway.
I'd appreciate any helpful advice.