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.

OP has given her rationale for not taking out insurance. I, like her, have been stung too many times by insurers. They have almost always found a way to whittle down or wriggle out of paying, then after an issue they double your premiums whilst simultaneously adding to their exclusions.

Each month I put aside the same amount as the old premiums, and am coming out better than when I was insured.

Caveat is that we have savings to cover the unthinkable were it to happen (serious accident, for example, needing Supervet-style intervention). I don’t know how I’d feel otherwise, I just feel totally ripped off by insurers.

You need to tell the vet the cats not insured, tbh I’d have done that when I first took the cat in and wanted an estimate in terms of cost.

I wouldn’t agree to any more tests and would want to know what the options are ie would trying antibiotics and steroids be an option?

And fwiw £1500 seems very steep to me for bloods and a scan…

I think that’s an entirely reasonable decision 💐

I have an older cat, she has an autoimmune condition which has meant she’s been on medication all her life. Insurance became unaffordable once she was over 10 years old so i cancelled it. I wouldn’t put her through any tests if she became unwell, my priority would be that she would be comfortable and have a dignified death.

Sometimes having insurance is pointless as it won't pay out for existing conditions etc. once our dog went over 7 weeks stopped the insurance, but we carry on putting what we paying each month into an account to pay for any vet bills that do come up

We have always had pet insurance and pp are right, it is almost impossible getting them to pay out. My mil wont pay insurance for her dog but she has money for vets bills.

Thing is, veterinary costs have gone up so much, many vets surgeries are now owned by hedge funds, which have pushed the prices up to maximise profits (to the extent that is has been raised in the Commons), plus when vet medicine rules were changed such that they had to be ok to enter the food chain for humans (fine for medicine for farm animals, daft for pets) the prices of some went up by a factor of ten. My vets were bought out and suddenly started pushing lots of needless scans rather than adopting a sensible ‘try antibiotics and wait and see’ approach as mentioned by a pp. It’s pushed insurance costs up too. The assumption seems to be that everyone has insurance and is willing and able therefore to fund every possible scam and test ‘just in case’. Insurance for my cats went up to £180 per month, per cat!

Why is everyone insisting that the op should have had insurance? Does insurance pay for all the vet bill in the uk? I live in a northern european country. I would have to pay the first £170 myself, then the max would be 85% of the rest (and I guarentee not all expenses would be covered). Honestly if I could go back in time I would stick the money in a bank account and use that.

We’ve not had insurance for any of our pets (horses, dogs, cats, rabbits) for over 12 years. The premiums were getting ridiculous. I also find we get more sensible advice and treatment from the vets. In those 12 years weve had a horse operated on, dogs scanned and x rays, a rabbit hospitalised for 24,hours (£800) and a cat on diabetic meds. All those procedures have cost a fair bit, but we have still saved a lot more than we would if we’d paid the insurance all those years. Initially we had a £10k savings pot but life has thrown some crap at us over the years and it’s not been replenished. At this point most of the animals are elderly and won’t be being put through any big procedures now. We’d have them pts peacefully after a good life.

Re pricing, I’m always surprised at how much X-rays and emergency treatments/stays are for small animals. It’s never much more for a horse, sometimes less. I also find the large animal/farm vets are easier to discuss things with and more like “old fashioned” vets. I feel like I actually know them.

You'll be paying a huge amount extra with it being a bank/public holiday today as well. I'm sure the cost for a Sunday appointment in our area was about £250 just to unlock the building and that was 20 years ago.

The staff working nightshift on 1 Jan will probably be on quadruple time.

It’s almost like looking at what will happen when the NHS is privatised isn’t it 😬

We have never had insurance for any of our cats that we’d had over the past 30 years, and despite some high vet costs for overnight stays and treatment, it has always worked out cheaper than paying for insurance for them.
My vet always asks if you have insurance and offers staged payments if needed. I would suggest asking your vet if they can do this.

Bloods, scan, sedation (try scanning a cat without!), overnight care.

I think too many people put themselves in their cat's place when it comes to a) treatment and b) PTS. Cats live for the moment, and don't understand why we are putting them through the things we do. Equally if they do need to be PTS they don't know in advance that they will be dead, that isn't even a concept for them - they just go to sleep.

There's also the thought about just how much we are prepared to make our pets go through for what result. My Boycat would be a perfect example. He developed very fast progressing CKD when he was only young and we knew he only had a short amount of time (in the end, 6 months from him starting to show any signs to having to be PTS). He was an exceptionally nervous cat around anyone except me, exceptionally thick too (we think he was either ND or had had a brain injury when a young feral). Vet and I went through all the options at each stage then we got to the time when he was getting dehydrated despite the amount he was drinking. The options then were basically that a visit to the vet every week for sub-cutaneous fluids would help extend his live by up to maybe a few months at most. This would distress him so much we both agreed we'd just let things take their course and PTS when his quality of life deteriorated a little more.

I also now have Tobias, who was a stray for years. Again very little trust of almost all humans, can't be picked up etc., has to be sedated for us to even get him to the vets. Gets separation anxiety if shut away from Girlcat for any reason e.g. starvation the night before bloods or if he needs full anaesthetic the next day. He has stomach issues, and in the course of getting the reason for that diagnosed we discovered he has FIV.

He has thickening of his lower bowel walls, and beyond the scan by the specialist vet sonographer the next thing would be surgery which is a big no no for a cat with FIV except in life threatening conditions due to the chances of infection. The very action of taking him to the vet, an overnight stay away from me & Girlcat, a major operation the next day & a further 24 hours away from home and us with strange people around would be so very distressing for him and would probably undo most of the 3 years I've spent turning him into a happy cat. There's a 50/50 chance it could be a cancer and the prognosis for that with surgery and chemo for even a healthy cat is maybe a couple of years.

So Tobias will be monitored, loved, cared for as a happy cat then PTS when his quality of life deteriorates. I will be heartbroken, as I was when my soulcat Boycat was PTS, but content in the knowledge that he had his best life with me then one day just went to sleep.

TL:DR - cats don't understand the concept of dying, or understand what we do to them to help heal them. Don't anthropomorphise them.

OP I would seriously consider taking out insurance now. What are your plans when one of them falls ill again, or has an accident?

Try PetPlan and Agria, I have had insurance with each (for different cats) for 20 years and have never had any problems with claims, they pay out promptly with no argument.

But if you don't want to take out insurance, at least put money aside each month so you can build up a pot for vet treatment.

I hope your cat is okay.

@YorkshireGoldDrinker

agree - I stopped paying an insurer for my cars when they got to about 10. I put that money in a separate account each month and took costs out of it. I put away £50 a month and that also covered annual vaccinations. One cat had nothing until they developed thyroid issues which was some blood tests and then mediation I bought online. The other had a couple of wounds from fights and nothing until they went missing and unfortunately had to be put to sleep as soon as unwell.

given I never upped the £50 as an insurance policy would have by the time they were 15/16 I reckon we came out even.

Out of hours treatment costs are high, especially if a Dpet has to stay in for treatment. Imaging costs add up fast too.

An itemised bill lay out exactly what you're paying for.

Do ask the vets if you can arrange a payment plan given the unexpected £££ costs.

Hoping for the best for your Dcat.

Lol, the government? Really? Where on earth did you hear that? The government have zero say on what private businesses charge for their services.
The competition and markets authority have done an investigation and the outcome is they want vets to advertise their prices and they suggest a cap on prescription fees. That is it. That is the outcome of the investigation. So now your little independent vet must give you a cheap prescription so you can go and purchase cheaper drugs from the online pharmacies who are owned by the big veterinary corporates, putting more money in their pockets, plus a cap on prescription fees will just increase fees elsewhere 🤷

Meant to add - I haven't had any issues at all claiming for Boycat in the past or Tobias nowadays. I have lifetime cover, as I remember DSis spending more every month on a cat's anti epilepsy meds than the insurance premiums would have been, but I have a comparatively low maximum spend in a year (£4k rather than around £15k) which should be enough to cover tests and meds. Petplan is mine, my vet loves them as they direct charge the vets and never quibble.

Another poster on the Litter Tray will sing the praises of Tesco lifetime cover, she spent well into figures in a very few years on her cats and again no quibbling.

Re: insurance costs for older cats - My cat is 14 and his insurance renewal for next year is £378.48 with Animal Friends (£31.54 pm), that's for Superior cover. Last year's cost was £293.40 for the year. I've always had decent cover since adopting him aged 2, and thankfully I've never needed to make a claim. He is a moggy, so I'm not sure if that makes a big difference to insurance premiums?

Everything @Allergictoironing said - especially this:

too many people put themselves in their cat's place when it comes to a) treatment and b) PTS. Cats live for the moment, and don't understand why we are putting them through the things we do. Equally if they do need to be PTS they don't know in advance that they will be dead, that isn't even a concept for them - they just go to sleep.

And this applies to all pets. Always try to do what is least painful or upsetting, unless whatever procedure they might be subjected to is brief and/or under anaesthesia, and likely to restore them to near perfect quality of life.

I’m sure that makes a huge difference. Let’s hope they are happy to pay out when you do finally need to use it. My experience was pretty negative to be honest but we have the funds to be able to pay an expensive vets bill out right, so our current cat isn’t insured and has never been insured.

Happen to us we had a 12 week puppy passed of parvovirus we could of pay out so much but he's quality of life was low so we made the decision to PTS it could of gone in the thousands

I pay 50 a month to PDSA lifetime cover for my 5 month old puppy now

They should have given you an estimate before each stage of treatment.

I’d find a new vet surgery.

I'm glad you posted this, although I feel for your sad situation. I'm with you on this one. Quality of life is more important than extending life. I had a cat in a similar position and despite the fact that we could have "kept him going" with expensive meds, and the vet seemed obliged to push this regime by the practice, the cat was truly miserable.
I opted to have him PTS, and in retrospect I think it was the kindest thing to do.
Interestingly, once I had made the decision the vet visibly relaxed and agreed it was the best thing to do. I felt a bit sorry for her. I'm sure see had been pedalling a corporate policy to prolong expensive intervention that she didn't actually believe in.