Seriously, £10k for a cat?

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I suppose I'm deliberately putting myself out there for a pummelling. Feel free.

Cat was hit by something yesterday (presumably a car but the injury is very localised). Currently at the vet's. Serious situation but probably a treatable injury with surgery, maybe a couple of weeks to heal. Some quite technically complex care in the meantime and they will want him to come home for that, quite reasonably.

Right now, he's suffering. Not in pain I hope, but broken bones, unable to do what cats should do, not at home etc. Realistically it will be a couple of weeks minimum before he feels good again. But he's a young cat, only 6, every prospect of a good future.

He's not insured. And the reason I took that chance is because I know that I don't have a problem with asking a vet to put a cat that needs major treatment or is suffering in any way to sleep. To me, a short healthy life is as good as a long life. Animals live in the present. And also, I think it is incredibly self indulgent to spend what will probably be the thick end of £10k on a cat. I don't really agree with pet insurance which has hugely inflated what we do to pet animals (this is the opinion of a vet friend of mine as well so it's not purely my bee in bonnet).

Complicating this is the fact I am surrounded by sentimental family members who won't contemplate what to me seems not a very hard decision. I'm going to be the one paying the bill. It's going to mean not doing a lot of other things, holidays etc. I am confronted with the reality that I am a hard bitch.

I agree with you. I don’t insure my animals either. I don’t think it’s fair on my pets to be put through major surgery and recover for weeks on end when they’ve no idea why it’s happening. I love them all dearly but just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should. It’s personal choice though.

So sorry about your cat op ❤️
I don't think you sound like a hard bitch. Without the exact circumstances and knowing how this would play out it's hard to say, but no one can see into the future and say for sure. What is known is that a cat of any age not being able to "cat" is suffering. And as an owner your responsibility is to do what you believe is right, no one else can judge. x

It’s an animal, not a human and you’re not a hard bitch. I can’t stand all the sentimentality around pets but others will claim you’re an evil murderer. Not sure why you’ve posted this as you know exactly what will happen!

I don't think you are particularly hard. Probably find it easier to compartmentalise than others would but its a practical way to be. If the cat is solely your responsibility and you cannot pay for him/her to have all of the treatment they need to have a full and healthy life then there isn't an alternative- I think living with not very well set partially healed bone injuries would be worse x

I'm a cat lover and agree with you completely.

It’s you that’ll have to live with it, so if you’re happy with your decision, and know in your heart you won’t regret it then so be it.

I personally couldn’t live with myself if I hadn’t tried for the sake of my animals, to me they’re family but I get everyone sees this differently.

I'm a cat lover I have 2 cats who I adore but I agree with you op.

I agree with you and we have cats.

My younger two are insured but the older one isn't - the costs had soared, plus he would be absolutely miserable if he had to be contained in any way after an accident so we would likely have him PTS in that scenario.

If it makes you feel better insurance isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on as it doesn’t go nearly high enough. I was in a similar situation last year. My cat was hit by a car and fortunately taken to the vet by an onlooker. When I got there she was in a bad shape and it was clear that she needed to be put to sleep. The vets were very kind and said we could wait and see how she was in the morning etc erc but they also warned me that costs if she did recover would be £10k+. The bill for her treatment over about 3 hrs that night was £1.5k (I did have her put to sleep) and my insurance only covered up to £3.5k so I would have had to pay for most of the treatment myself anyway if she’d pulled through.

You have to do what it best for your cat and I think you are probably doing the right thing. I’m sorry you’re in this situation.

Yanbu and i dont disagree.

I have the money and would put my dog down in similar circs especially now she is 8/9 years old

But our girl is expensively insured precisely because of this. My dh is "sentimental" this means retaining everything include life as long as possible irrespective of cost or quality. 🙄🙄🙄

I'm sorry your cat is hurt.
Vets fees are expensive but another point of view is that it's not just insurance that has changed what can be done to treat an animal but instead advancements in medical knowledge and technology.

For instance, years ago vets didn't have mri or ct scanners etc, these things cost tens of thousands of pounds to buy and need specialist staff to run.

I think you are right in saying that you need to know when to call it a day and not just plough on with lots of invasive, expensive treatment where there is no chance that the animal will regain a good quality of life however I'm not sure that I would count a rta as that.

Ultimately though if you don't have the money to pay for it you don't have the money.

I'm an animal owner so do get how difficult this is.

At the end of the day, you need to put the well being of your cat first.

Family members may very well be putting their feelings first and not considering what your cat is going through.

It's not like you can explain to a cat that they just need to rest for 6 weeks or whatever.

As much as I love animals, these days people do tend to think of themselves and their feelings first. It's sad to lose an animal, especially under these circumstances. But it's the deal you have when we become an animal owner. Put their wellbeing first.

Thank you all for your considered responses (and anyone else who replies, whatever you say). I don't know yet what the outcome will be but it is helpful to know that I'm not the only person in the world that would at least consider this.

I agree. I also think it’s very hard for us to know what pain a cat would be left with in that situation. We might think after six weeks it’s right as rain but maybe it’s actually really stiff and achy still or its foot hurts whenever it runs and jumps. Cats hide pain so you wouldn’t always be able to tell.

I'm so sorry this happened.

My uninsured cat was hit last winter when he was about 18 months old. It cost £1.7k to amputate a rear leg and 6 weeks later he was out and about happily hopping. X-ray confirmed only leg damage and not organs - that would've been a lost higher cost and a much longer recovery. I am so thankful I didn't have to pts because I would have had to - couldn't afford the cost, wouldn't want him to suffer a long time. Such a hard situation. I'm so sorry for you.

What an awful position to be in. The most I have spent on a cat was about £2k which gave me another two years with my adored cat who eventually died aged 19.

I think, the younger the cat, the more I would be inclined to spend, but there'd have to be a cut off point and I would have to consider the effect on the cat - whether it would be selfish to put him/her through complex treatments when, as pps have said, there is no way of making them understand that it will be 'worth it' in the end.

There's also the consideration that the world is full of healthy but unwanted cats some of whom may be euthanised simply because there is no one to care for them - so many rescues struggling to keep the show on the road - £10k could go a long way towards supporting rescue cats. I don't mean that you should donate the money, I mention it to put it into perspective. If you have to let this cat go, it frees up a home for another cat, assuming you still have lots of love to give to one.

Only you can decide. I can't even decide on a hypothetical basis about my own cats, although I would probably say 'no' for my old girlie on the basis of her age, the fact she's had a good, long life, and likely difficulty of recovery. My 4 year old boy would be a harder choice.

Wishing you well whatever you decide, OP.

Very sorry about your cat OP. Before deciding to PTS I would ask the vet if there are other (cheaper) options for treatment. As an example, amputation of a damaged limb cab be much cheaper (and a much quicker recovery time for the cat) than repairing seriously damaged broken bones/joints.
Worth asking - or getting a second vet opinion, but I wouldn't judge you either way
💐

I do insure my cats, and like a pp the total per claim is lower than the amount it would cost to get them better after a major accident. I know that for example if dearly departed Boycat had needed hospital treatment he couldn't have coped for more than a day or so due to his mental issues.

But over his last few months the insurance paid out about 6 year's worth of premiums in vet visits and treatment, then paid for him to be PTS when his quality of life hit that point. My insurance is lifetime insurance in case of long term conditions that can be easily controlled like epilepsy, arthritis and in Boycat's case, CKD. All of these cost a fair bit in drugs alone plus regular check ups, but the cat can often have a long and happy life with medication.

I think you are getting a lot of people saying they agree with you here because it feels like poor etiquette to say otherwise in this situation when your don't have the funds to pay.

To me, your cat is young still, hopefully has a least a decade ahead of them and a short period of recovery is nothing compared to this. I wouldn't choose quantity of life over quality of life, drag out the inevitable etc, but here it very much seems like a financial decision rather than what's in your cats best interests. My cat is a member of my family.

Saying that, £10k seems very high to me (my petplan doesn't go that high and it's really good insurance), so I'd maybe get quotes from other vets before making any decisions.

I completely agree with you.

This idea of keeping pets alive for sentimental reasons, at huge cost, is at odds with fact that other animals will be slaughtered without concern to feed the owners and the animals themselves.

No doubt the majority will disagree with me.

I agree. That's the difference between pets and nearly every other animal on earth. We are pet lovers not animals lovers for the most part.

ttcat OP wouldn't even be posting here if what you say about her character were true - she would just go ahead and PTS. OP is clearly struggling with a difficult decision - calling her names is helping no one. You can say you disagree with her without resorting to an attack on her integrity.

Sorry to hear about your cat op. One of our cats was savaged by a dog. It didn't even get as far as discussing the costs of treatment. Her injuries were severe and I didn't want her to suffer months of recovery from surgery so we had her put to sleep. You're not a hard bitch at all.

To my mind it is utterly ludicrous to put an animal through such gruelling medical treatment. They have no capacity to consent to the procedures and no understanding about the temporary nature of the recovery. Pet insurance has made us do some crazy things in the treatment of animals, purely because it has created an industry around doing so.

our family dog died at a similar age after being hit by a car (not her fault, she wasn’t on the road), we couldn’t bear putting her through more trauma and it was far kinder to let her go.

I’m so sorry this is happening to you, but your willingness to consider
having her pts as a humane option show you are anything but cruel!