vet - house calls?

weeclick

Hi,

I found out lastnight my cat has fibrosarcinoma - an agressive form of cancer - shes been very "quiet" today and my parents phoned the vet, its unlikely she will willing go into her cat box to get to the vet so he can give her a morphine injection for pain and we cant lift her in due to the scar from where the lump was removed this week.

He has quoted a call out fee of £70 and then the injection on top - just wondering if anyone knows any other vets who offer this at a better rate? The operation and treatment so far must have almost cost £500 - shes worth it but money right now is tight to pay for all the other treatment in the last week.

mallada

You would need to ring around other vets in your area to see if its possible to get a better price.

Fortunatly vets are abit like doctors, so you will find it difficult to find an alternative vet to give the injection who would not want to do a full check-up etc on your cat first. They would also have to request history etc from your previous vet.

Its hard to say if the £70 is worth it, obviously I wouldn't expect to pay that for him to cross the road.. But if I was a few miles away, perhaps a 15min journey. That is potentially 30min travel time (for both ways), which the vet has to stop working and cannot see other animals, plus travel costs on top.

Though it wouldnt hurt to phone other vets and ask. Though alot of vets close saturday afternoon and sundays i would of thought?

cbrown372

i'd say the longer you leave this the more it will cost for an evening or sunday appointment

thetope

would she not go into her box if you put a bowl of really tasty food in it? Or is she too poorly to be interested in food

MrsTinks

Try a larger cat carrier... one where there is a seperate top, bottom and door... these can be much easier to put poorly cats into... and they don't usually feel as claustrophobic in there.

£70 actually is not a bad price for a home visit... I know it depends on where you live but as other have said... you have to factor in travel cost and lost income for the vet in being unable to see other patients in the probably 30mins to an hour this is going to take them to get to you, treat the cat and then get back...

themull1

Is this treatment going to give her a quality of life or is it prolonging her suffering?

Februarycat

I paid £50 when I had to call out my vet for my elderly cat (about 2 years ago) I had no transport or anyone to take her to the vets, and she hates going in a car, it was expensive but she had collapsed when I got in from work, luckily she is still with me

Hope you manage to get something sorted for her.

jjd

Don't know what area you are in but I pay lots less for lagan valley vets to come out to large animals... that I can't transport!
I would however say that as it is the weekend the cost will be higher.

weeclick

Thanks everyone. So far we havent needed to call out the vet but that is his weekend out of hours rate, Im happy to pay it and already gave the money to my parents but just wondered if this is a standard sort of rate - we are literally 4 minutes away by car so not a huge distance but never even thought of factoring in loss of business! My heads everywhere at the moment.

In reply to the comment about prolonging life. She only had her operation on Tuesday so the injection is for the wound area as apposed to the cancer itself, she could be one of the lucky cats make a recovery from the operation and live at least another 3 or 4 years, its still early days and more tests now need to be done but if we find her quality of life compromised then we will have to make that hard decision. At the end of the day our only priority is making sure the cat is happy, even if that means the outcome makes us unhappy.

I actually mentioned to my parents about getting a cat box with a removal lid from top to set her in and they are looking into it this week as thats the cat box I have for my own cat and much easier to get the cat in and out even we they arent willing!

The cat seems alot better from late lastnight so obviously the wound is a bit easier for her to handle and was able to get up and have something to eat so its all positive signs and we wont get her the morphine injection unless its really needed.

Thanks for all the help

warmhands.coldheart

Do you not have Pet Insurance??

hazelc56

Februarycat wrote: »

I paid £50 when I had to call out my vet for my elderly cat (about 2 years ago) I had no transport or anyone to take her to the vets, and she hates going in a car, it was expensive but she had collapsed when I got in from work, luckily she is still with me

Hope you manage to get something sorted for her.

I paid £50 also for the vet to call out to see my dog who had taken a stroke..My dog had to be put to sleep so he took her with him...It was a Saturday....dont know if weekend charges are more or not.
The £50 was for the call out fee not the rest of it....Lethal injection,removal,cremation etc.