Estimated vet bill cost?

[henkell]

How much do you expect it will be to have a cat check up and various tests to find out why our 15 year old cat is losing weight?

North west if that matters

£300 initially. If tests show things there will be more tests …
sorry OP.

Depends so much on why the cat is losing weight. In the case of Boycat, a quick blood sample and it was clear he had CKD. In Tobias's case, we'd already had the checks for a different symptom of what was wrong which had ended up costing us well over £1k (one blood sample but more tests on it than the basic, stool sample analysis, ultrasound & report done by a specialist veterinary Radiologist).

It’ll be whatever the examination fee is and then blood tests. £300 sounds about right I’d say. I’ve had two cats similar age both had this and it was advanced kidney disease both times. Which they could tell from the initial blood tests.

If it’s kidney disease do we think this is it 😭

Have they checked teeth?

Kidney disease it depends there are specialist diets

Kidney disease doesn't mean that this is it no

My cat had kidney disease and carried on for a few years with an amazing life. Sadly died of something unrelated ironically in the end.

Another reason for a cat losing weight could be hyperthyroidism amongst other things

Sadly in my case both times it was. They said the only thing was to give iv fluids to flush the system out a bit and dilute the levels a bit. But no guarantee how long it would last before needing doing again, could be a few days or a few weeks. But no cure. This was a few years ago. And I guess it could depend how advanced it is. We pts both times.

Hope it’s better news for you and it is something like teeth.

Initially several hundred pounds for the preliminary tests. Hopefully it is something small and trivial and easily and cheaply remedied.

Get ready though, (if it's not something trivial,) for the vet to suggest half a dozen different types of care, further tests, and medical treatment, costing a 5 figure sum. Firstly, they will try a series of tests and various types of medical treatment to try and get your cat healthy enough to take any surgery or operations or chemo etc etc, which will cost several 1000 £££, then they will try and foist 10 grand or more worth of surgery on your cat.

At this age, the ONLY answer (if they are very ill) is euthanasia. Do not let them talk you into multiple 1000s of pounds worth of veterinary treatment, putting your cat through stress and trauma, and putting you in lots of debt, just so your cat can have an extra 9 to 12 months of life. (Most which will be miserable.)

Sorry your cat is ill.

OP, my third kidney failure cat is purring by my side at the grand age of 19, she was diagnosed with early ckd 7 years ago after being treated for hyperthyroidism, and she also has IBD. She is not on any special diet for the kidney failure. Ignore my second because he died of something else aged 15 but my very first was diagnosed aged 8 and died aged 16. CKD is not an automatic death sentence, don't panic. Depending what stage (IRIS 1-4) you may not need to make changes yet. Oh and my girl has lost 18% of her body weight but she is bright eyed, alert and still chasing moths. IF it is your cat's kidneys it doesn't have to be "it".

my cat had kidney disease for years. she got thinner as she got older. eventually she was drinking all the time and had little appetite, and it was time.

if your cat is happy and the vet says not in pain then she may last a good while. it just depends how bad the disease is.

i tried and failed with the special food. she said it was crap and walked away from her bowl. so i gave her nice food and let her enjoy her last couple of years. prolonging her existence when she got no pleasure from crap food would not have been fair.

We were quoted a starting point of of £250 and a day or so wait for results for blood tests for our cat to see what was wrong with her. We went to another vet to have her tests done for £65 and results in 25 mins. Turned out she had kidney disease and has been in a kidney food with added supplements in it for joints (she has arthritis) and she has been doing really well. The £250 for the blood tests was insane though.
We are only still with the high quote vets as they prescribe the small pill Gabapentin our cat has for her arthritis and the cheaper vet doesn't prescribe it unfortunately.

Basically you have to decide what the chances of recovery/improve quality of life vs the trauma to your cat of the treatment. When my dog, at 13, had a lump which was cancerous I said if it’s stage 3 or 4 that I would not put him through chemo - you can’t explain to them why they are having to go through it. Luckily it was stage 1 and he recovered. If he had been a young dog that would have been different, but only if he had a good chance of survival. Last January my other dog, 14, was struggling to breathe and was just off, it cost £1200 to basically tell me she was dying (fluid in her lungs and masses on her liver). They asked if I wanted to resuscitate if she went downhill during the tests and I said no, it really would have only prolonged her suffering.

Wow £65 is really cheap

Wow that is a lot to tell you she's dying and really sad ☹️

Totally in agreement with @PrettyLittleRose . Boycat's CKD was incredibly fast acting, he went from perfect health and weight at his MoT in April, to having lost 800g by September. He was another who wouldn't tolerate the wet special Kidney food.

Unfortunately he was also a very stressy, nervous ex-feral who would get so very upset at vet visits and having anything done. The vet told me all the options for treatment, but in his case with how fast it had advanced from nothing we would be talking months only extra time. Bearing in mind he would have spent those months totally miserable with no quality of life it would have been selfish so we just waited until he told me it was time & had him PTS. He was only 7, coming up for 8.

With an elderly cat, which 15 is, I wouldn't go through all the other tests & procedures etc if it is CKD. They would make very little difference at all and possibly harm the quality of the remaining life in your cat.

A good vet you trust and can discuss everything with honestly is gold dust. Mine taught me to ask, To What End? ie if we do these tests what will we do about them, what treatment is available, how much trauma will the cat go through for how much good quality life. There is a brilliant website (hope this is allowed?) https://felinecrf.org/images/index.htm which really talks sense. The FIRST aim is to make your cat feel better, the SECOND aim is to extend their life - because who wants to live longer if they feel really ill? Your vet and you need to work together as a team for your cat's best interests.

Think that was about what my late girl fist. Although she also had an ultrasound scan of her tummy. Can’t remember what that cost. She didn’t need to be sedated for it, as she was used to heart scans. Though she was an incredibly placid Persian. A moggy might be less cooperative.

This is my fear. I can’t really afford to spent ££££££ to tell me she’s going to need to be pts. But equally I don’t want to spend fortunes on a 15 year old cat for there to be a new problem next month. I know this sounds really unfair and insensitive but it’s not fair to us or the cat

But surely you need to at least do blood tests

That might well give you all the information you need

And if it doesn't, well you take it from there but it might tell you enough...

The fear(s) of many people @henkell

Do not be afraid to say 'I am choosing euthanasia. Kitty is very old, and will just continue to decline.' You will be throwing good money after bad, and some vets will let you!

Some vets (not all) will milk people for every penny, by keeping animals alive, even if the animal's life is not very good. (Because they are very ill/experiencing a fast decline...) As I said, you could pay a 5 figure sum and still have your cat die 6 months later anyway. And the extra 6 months he has will not be a good quality of life for him.

That said, it may be worth doing the blood tests to find out what is wrong...

.

Ours cost us £360 last week, check up and blood tests. They admitted him briefly as he was not eating or drinking and said they would put him on a drip to rehydrate him. He was given pain killers for suspected tooth pain but then he ate a meal so they discharged him. He was diagnosed with thyroid issues so the cost included pain killers and thyroid medication. He has to return in 3 weeks for further blood tests which will be an additional cost and we will have to pay for his medication each month. We are hoping that his insurance will cover at least some of this. Thankfully, and to the vets surprise his kidney function was impressive for his 16 years.

It's worth having at least the blood tests done, as there's quite a few things that can cause rapid weight loss in cats. You never know - you may find it's parasites (usually very treatable), diabetes (usually successfully treatable), hyperthyroidism (treatable) or IBS (often successfully treatable), in which case you could have another 3-5 years of happy cat.

If the blood tests do show one of the more problematic or even terminal causes, you will still know better how to go forwards. If it's cancer, which is a possibility, then you know it's just a case of keeping her comfortable & happy until her quality of life deteriorates. If it's Kidneys, it would depend on what stage she's at whether you can do much more than changing her food (if she tolerates that) & again seeing how she goes.

Blood tests at our vets are £45 and you get the results back on same day. Urine tests a bit cheaper but again, same day results.