Advice about crazy vet’s bill

[eyespartyparty]

DCat was kept in overnight at our vet’s last night (we had a 5pm appt).
I posted previously about her using the kitchen sink as a litter tray, about a week or so ago, and then the last 4 days she’s vomited all her food up after eating so we took her in.

They phoned just now to say they did some blood tests and scanned her tummy, the bloods were normal but her intestine looks inflamed so they want to do another scan at lunchtime to see if there’s any change. She’s not vomited since we took her in.

At the end of the call the receptionist said we are looking at a bill for around £1500 so far. Is this normal?

We have no insurance for them (we have 2 rescues) as we had trouble receiving a payout with our previous cat - he died at 13yo and every little claim was a quibble or not covered.

I absolutely adore both of our cats but financially if it goes any higher we just physically couldn’t pay it. What are you meant to do in that situation - go and pick them up??? Does this sound like a normal bill for her being there overnight? We have very little vet experience so would really appreciate any advice.

Ask for an itemised bill

It doesn’t seem unusually high for a last minute overnight stay with lots of tests carried out

It can be. IME charges of vets can be very different. I’ve paid £1700 for one overnight stay for a dog and another time (different dog, different vet but exact same treatment) it was £650. Can you put it on a 0% credit card? It is hard to know what is necessary, because some vets absolutely do bump up with bill with loads of unnecessary tests but I’d be reluctant to bring one of mine home against vets advice.

Yes it’s normal. Why didn’t the rescue insist you take out insurance? The only other option is to ask the vet for an instalment arrangement or be honest that you cant or won’t pay and euthanise the cat.

Yes will ask them to send me the bill when they phone at lunchtime. Ok if that seems about right to others then that’s just how much it’s going to be - I just wanted to check whether it seemed miles away from normal prices.

I hope she improves very quickly as I really don’t want to bring her home if she’s not 100% well but we literally won’t be able to pay it if it goes up any more.

Does this sound like a normal bill for her being there overnight?
You can absolutely ask for a breakdown of costs - did you not receive any kind of estimate on admission? Our vets and the ones I worked at previously (receptionist) would give an estimate for any initial investigations and hospitalisation costs with the consent form.

Its not just an overnight stay - there's been a consultation, blood tests, a scan (ultrasound?), overnight nursing care and any medication (I'd assume she's had antinausea meds and pain relief at least?). But yes, costs can ramp up quickly especially when investigations are needed to find out what is causing the illness.

If costs are a concern make the vet aware ASAP and discuss a plan for more conservative management - you may not be able to afford the "gold standard" approach but there may well be a cheaper option.

You need to tell the vet to consult with you before doing tests and scans so you can agree to these in advance. When you dropped off the cat what did you say to vet ie did you just say do whatever is necessary?
I have limited insurance and self pay most stuff but I do have a monthly plan with vet which reduces any costs of treatments (and I get flea and regular checkups etc included on that) but I don't let them just do anything. Overnight stays are expensive though.
I'd just be honest with staff and say this is more than you can afford so what else do they suggest?

Ask what they think it is and if they can treat without the other scan (which will be expensive). If treatment works you will know as the committing will stop. Explain your finances and ask if they can give good instead of gold star treatment. Then get her insured asap and make sure it treats new ongoing conditions in case she has any future chronic issues that can be very expensive. Not all pet insurance is equal

I was told £300 for an abdominal scan about ten years ago so £500 now doesn't seem out of place. I would assume they have to sedate the cat?
So two £500 scans and £500 for an overnight stay and tests sounds about what I would expect.
This is why I don't have pets anymore – they have become - like many things we used to take for granted - an expensive luxury. My cats weren't insured, but I don't think you can get away with that any more -
If I did get another pet, I would factor in the cost of the most comprehensive lifelong insurance I could buy, before I made a decision.

Highly recommend petplan insurance. Hope DCat has a speedy recovery

Yes, that's about standard. The care we can give pets now is similar to the care we can give humans, and that gets eye-wateringly expensive very quickly.

Because of the NHS we don't see the high costs for human healthcare, so the cost of those same scans and tests on our pets comes as a shock.

I hope your cat is well soon.

You’re insane not to have insurance.

Sounds on the lower end of normal to me for an emergency visit. Emergency bloods and scans overnight. That’s why pet insurance is invaluable.
You don’t hear people in the states complaining about their (even higher) vet bills because they know how much healthcare costs.
We’ve become immune to the cost of it thanks to the NHS.

I don’t think that sound out of line with what I would expect. For reference we’ve just spent £1000 on four tooth extractions for our cat, no overnight stay. That included X-rays, painkillers and a follow up appointment. Petplan paid up immediately.

I'd really suggest speaking to them about the costs ASAP; if you can't afford for it to go any higher, then can you afford the extra scan (& costs) incurred today?

If you’re uninsured, I’m surprised you didn’t ask for an estimate when you took the cat into the vet.

My dogs are uninsured and recently I had to take one to the vet with what looked like a mouth wound from a stick. Vet wanted over a grand to sedate the dog for exploration, a scan (in case a piece of wood had migrated internally), and an overnight stay. I suggested painkillers and antibiotics with a ‘watch and wait’ approach. Cost me £300 and dog was fine within a week.

In your shoes, I’d collect the cat today. If they’ve not vomited again and there’s no obvious cause, what’s the rationale in incurring more cost?

I will phone them now to see if I can have a talk about the bill before they do the scan.
Yes I know we should have insured but as we took in 2 at once (siblings who had to stay together) it didn’t seem do-able with the quotes we received. But yes hindsight is a wonderful thing! We are just animal lovers and want them to be well and happy.

£1500 is steep but reasonable for an overnight stay:

• Overnight staff pay
• Use of the building, utilities, ie lighting, water, gas and warmth
• Use of medical equipment (much of which is single use)
• The machinery used for doing the scans
• Cost of any medications used, including any numbing or anaesthesia

It's especially disconcerting because we humans are used to not being billed for healthcare seeing as it all comes out of NI contributions.

Is there an option to pay it off in smaller chunks? Say £50 pcm?

As a cat owner myself, I know how harrowing this must be for you. I hope your cat gets better soon. Lots of scritches, nose boops and gentle belly rubs await her.

If you want them to be well and happy, you have insurance.

There should never be a cost concern when it comes to care, but without insurance there will always be.

The relief of insurance when my cat was sick and I could agree to everything he needed to make sure he stayed happy, healthy and comfortable was worth every penny I'd paid in years I didn't have to claim.

If you can't afford insurance, you can't afford the pet.

To actually get around this problem... you could always try asking the vet if you can pay in a couple of instalments. They will have come across this situation before, so it won't come as a total surprise to them that people can sometimes struggle to find the money.

"If you can't afford insurance, you can't afford the pet."

True, but that doesn't seem to apply everywhere, does it? You'll get a tremendous amount of flaming from certain groups of people if you apply this to children, for example, and you'll likely be accused of benefits bashing as well.

We used to have insurance for our two cats, but it worked out cheaper to just deposit money into an account exclusively for all their needs rather than paying an insurer who will inevitably hike up premiums even if you've never made a claim, which is what happened in our case.

We have an account for all sorts; unexpected expenses, car costs, human healthcare, pet healthcare etc. It all depends on the age and general health of the animal. Which also applies to vehicles, humans etc. Cost balancing is tricky, but worth it if you can do it.

£1500 sounds reasonable for the treatment so far , you need to speak to teh vet and explain about the financial constraints . What you can’t do is just take a sick cat home you either need to treat the animal or euthanise it unfortunately, the cat cannot be left suffering because of finances .

Our vet tells you up front what any tests will cost. I don’t have insurance but I’m on their VIP plan, so regular check ups, vaccinations and worming is included and I get a discount on any treatment. Still I had one cat in and one dog in for a skin issue and was prescribed steroids and antibiotics - about £200 - which did absolutely nothing for either pet . Next step for the dog is to scrape her skin for analysis but I fail to see what that will do and the cost is a few hundred. She’s 14 and you make a judgement call, her skin is rough but she is not scratching it and seems unbothered. When my other dog had cancer at age 12 the vet said if stage 3 that means chemo. Fortunately it was stage 1, as I would not put an old dog through chemo, but if he’d been much younger I would have. You factor in these costs when you have a pet.
Your best bet is to work out a payment plan, and what if there’s something further revealed? If you can’t afford it then they’ll probably tell you to put the cat to sleep.

Yes that’s very normal for that level of treatment. This is why - and I appreciate hindsight is a wonderful thing- you should never, ever have a cat (or dog or other insurable pet) without insurance. It’s incredible how expensive it can be. If you can’t afford the insurance you can’t afford the pet. My 7 year old rescue cat with no previous health issues costs me £50 a month with pet plan for top level insurance. I don’t ever want to be in the situation where I’m choosing between paying for something potentially treatable and putting him to sleep - which is what you may be facing if you can’t pay. I would absolutely love another cat but can’t afford the same insurance again for another one so can’t afford to get another. Simple as that.

The vet should make the costs clear before doing anything except maybe if the animal is under anasthetic and they have to decide quickly.

But insurance, or saving, is a good idea