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.

Expensive when you consider an 'overnight stay' by person in somewhere like the Dorchester can be booked for around £500 ?!

Yes, very expensive. Vet fees are being looked into for a reason - and it's not because we're all being charged perfectly reasonable amounts of money for treatment

I’m with Tesco, they have paid out 6k without a single question. Am slightly dreading the renewal but even if it goes to £100pm, it’s still cheaper then vet bills
they also don’t exclude anything as I have lifetime cover

We're at the cheapest vet in town too,other are much more pricey!

It's insane how much the cost varies isn't it? When we lived down south we were charged about triple what our current practise does

Once again. There is no Investigation into vet fees. The Investigation is to ensure a fair and competitive market and transparency. There were concerns that certain corporates owned every practice/pharmacy/crematorium/lab within a certain area, and also that private practices who sold out to corporates were not being clear to clients they were no longer independent.
That is what the Investigation was about. No-one can dictate what a private business charges for their services, not a vets not a dentist, not a hairdresser. They are free to charge whatever they want and vet fees are only going to go up.

We paid £1600 for an overnight for our little cat after a mysterious incident which stopped her back legs and bowel functions. It was steep, but we have always saved money instead of putting toward insurance and could cover a five-figure vets bill if needed.

We did have other savings before this pet-pot built up, but it would have had a bigger impact on our overall emergency fund. It was the chance we took.

If we didn't have any emergency savings I think you do just have to bite the bullet and insure. It's one or the other - specific savings or insurance.

It does not sound excessively high. I sometimes try to think what kind of tests a human would receive and how soon and i guess the answer is none soon. What's your gut feel? I'm not giving medical advice, but have decided next time one of mine is ill I won't make rash decisions. Unless it is a very clear emergency I would give it more time before any new tests or treatment.

You shouldn’t be allowed a rescue cat without insurance. If you can’t afford the insurance, it’s unlikely you’re able to financially provide for the cat. That invoice doesn’t sound insane, but I guess you probably knew you couldn’t afford to pay it before you took the cat in.

When we took our cat to the emergency vet on a Sunday it cost 595 just to see him

I don’t have insurance for my cats but I pay £100 into an ISA every month to cover any vet bills. I’ve just paid £1300 for six extractions and a teeth clean. My cats have been relatively low cost and I would rather do this than pay insurance. I’ve been paying into it for about 30 years now (multiple cats!) and am very much in credit (also used this fund a few years ago to cover a shortfall in school fees).

That is absolutely insane. We're not charged anything extra to be seen OOH.

Our cat was sick on a weekend in November - he was seen twice (once on Saturday, once on Sunday), plus again on the Monday - and the total bill for all three visits, including two lots of medication, was less than £200.

My dog was hospitalised in November £8k 5 nights stay in hospital with MRI /ultrasounds and other tests and meds . We thankfully have pet insurance up to £15k so covered us . No diagnosis and put it down to a virus .

When we had a big potential bill for an uninsured kitten, cats protection were very good in pointing us in the direction of a sympathetic independent vet who did the job at reduced price out of kindness. Aware that may not be normal, but cats protection may be worth a call?

It’s not about affording insurance, it’s about staying in control and because I know that in all likelihood it’ll work out cheaper if I self insure. I’m 70 years old and have had many cats and a few dogs in my lifetime - virtually all of them rescues - and there has never been a case where insurance would have been cheaper. I’m not saying this never happens, but it is a risk I am willing to take, and I have the funds to pay for any treatment that is necessary or advisable.

Giving chemotherapy to a dog with haemangiosarcoma is pointless. By the time it is diagnosed, it will have spread too far to be treatable. Most of these dogs die within a month of diagnosis. All one can do is give palliative care and make them comfortable - and PTS once they start to deteriorate.

Petplan is great but won’t help in this case as illness/treatment is already underway.

The bill was so high for the emergency vet our insurers said it was excessive and wouldn't pay ,think we got a couple of hundred quid for a 700 bill! They even charged us £16 for the bill to give to the insurance company,I want allowed to go to the desk as it was during Covid. Still pissed off about it now!

You do realise that most insurance companies don't cover pre existing conditions that many rescue cats have? We looked at adopting an FIV+ cat and there was very little point insuring him as so little would be covered (that wasn't the reason we didn't adopt him). As far as I know only Many Pets will cover pre existing conditions and the cover is limited.

Also, how do you expect rescues to impose this compulsory insurance?

No idea whether this is reasonable or not. We have a dog who will be 13 in mid January. Her pet insurance increased to £180+ per month at which point we didn’t renew and have been putting £200 a month aside for potential vet bills. The advice of 0% credit card is a sensible choice but would take time to apply and get. My advice is in the future put money aside to help cover vet bills. Put it in an account that gains interest.

They get 4.5 stars on Trustpilot, mostly because they payout without any problems.

One thing you might wish to consider for your cat, is getting the vet to come to your house to euthanise, we did that with our last two cats and it was so much easier and kinder to them. Oscar who was 19 was actually lying on my lap and he just went to sleep, no panic or fear.

Absolutely, @AliceandOscar - we did this with our last 3 pets and it makes the whole, sad experience so much less stressful - especially for the animals.