Vet Bill - £500 and mounting :-)

[Deleted User]

Looks like poor Keith got hit by a car at the weekend. Hes been really lucky or so it seems but credit card hasnt had :-(

Initial cost for weekend appointment, x-rays, wire his broken jaw, stitch his wounds, £460. £30 this morning for check up. It all adds up :-(((((

Never considered insurance because the excess always seems so high. Had 2 cats (different ones) over the last 20 years and this is the first time its been this expensive (apart from odd £30 appointments etc) so over the years its prob been cheaper not to have insurance.

Catslovelycats

Poor you and poor Keith. I hope he makes a quick recovery and that his after care isn't too stressful for you.

I have 5 cats and don't insure them but have always put money aside each month in case of emergencies. I never have much in the account because it seems like when I get to about £300 someone needs something major and it goes back to £0 again! However, I've never found I haven't got the money to pay - though if there was more than 12 emergency at the same time I'd be stuck.

i did get stuck many years ago with a huge vet bill and that's what made me look into insurance. It was then that I decided to save instead. I agree. In most circumstances insurance isn't cheaper, but obviously it depends on people's circumstances.

Please kepp us posted on how Keith is.

[Deleted User]

catslovelycats wrote: »

Poor you and poor Keith. I hope he makes a quick recovery and that his after care isn't too stressful for you.

I have 5 cats and don't insure them but have always put money aside each month in case of emergencies. I never have much in the account because it seems like when I get to about £300 someone needs something major and it goes back to £0 again! However, I've never found I haven't got the money to pay - though if there was more than 12 emergency at the same time I'd be stuck.

i did get stuck many years ago with a huge vet bill and that's what made me look into insurance. It was then that I decided to save instead. I agree. In most circumstances insurance isn't cheaper, but obviously it depends on people's circumstances.

Please kepp us posted on how Keith is.

Hes much better now. Lucky escape he had I think.

Just looked at insurance. £5 a month but excess is £100. So this means unless its serious they aint gonna pay so I wonder if its worth it.

krlyr

Insurance is one of those things - never "worth" it until it is. You could spend out all those premiums and never claim, but that one time the pet gets into a serious accident or develops a serious illness (especially if they're inconsiderate enough to do it in the middle of the night or during the Christmas bank holidays! ) and costs you £1000+, the insurance more than pays for itself.
Personally I'm happy paying out £40 a month to keep my two dogs insured, I've not claimed at all (and had the policy years) but the ability to be able to tell the vet to go ahead and perform that lifesaving surgery without having to consult my bank account and weigh up if I can afford it is priceless, IMO. Worth more than the couple of grand I've spent out over the years.
A colleague at work's cat was in a car accident recently like yours but it was his pelvis broken - numerous operations by a specialist (pins and plates inserted) and treatments later and I think their bill is around the £2k mark and they've very glad he was insured!

[Deleted User]

krlyr wrote: »

Insurance is one of those things - never "worth" it until it is. You could spend out all those premiums and never claim, but that one time the pet gets into a serious accident or develops a serious illness (especially if they're inconsiderate enough to do it in the middle of the night or during the Christmas bank holidays! ) and costs you £1000+, the insurance more than pays for itself.
Personally I'm happy paying out £40 a month to keep my two dogs insured, I've not claimed at all (and had the policy years) but the ability to be able to tell the vet to go ahead and perform that lifesaving surgery without having to consult my bank account and weigh up if I can afford it is priceless, IMO. Worth more than the couple of grand I've spent out over the years.
A colleague at work's cat was in a car accident recently like yours but it was his pelvis broken - numerous operations by a specialist (pins and plates inserted) and treatments later and I think their bill is around the £2k mark and they've very glad he was insured!

Yes. I must admit its made me think now....

Keith seems to have got off lucky with no major injuries.

dawnie1972

I do sympathise with you.
My dog got seriously ill just before xmas, trip to the vets on the Friday night, bill for £180ish plus another £30 for meds from the pharmacy, admitted to the vet hospital on the Monday, once ultrasound done had to pay another £150 as a deposit to continue his treatment, collected him on the Friday and bill was another £650, plus 3 visits since both around the £50 mark. None of mine are insured but the eldest is 9.5yrs old, he's 8.5yrs old and the youngest is 7, to insure all 3 would've cost me approx £50 a month and this is the first big bill i've had, no-one will insure the poorly dog now so i'm going to put so much a month away into a savings account, i've found the money but the credit card bill etc had to wait. One thing I will suggest is, if your pet has to have tablets do some research into whether you can get them online/at the chemist - my vet gave me a prescription for the antibiotics my dog was on (synulox) - at the vets it cost me over £40 for 21 tablets - at the chemist (Boots) it cost me £11 for 63 of the same tablets!!

MissMitch

You have my every sympathy and if it's any consolation my kitten is currently in the vets after lifesaving bowel surgery yesterday, thankfully he seems ok so far but he's far from out of the woods as his brother died last month of FIP and there's a chance that this could cause it in him too! So far I'm on over a grand in vet bills - he was insured, but not for long enough for them to pay out, and now the policy is probably all but worthless.

But Keith has been very lucky & I hope that's a comfort to you. I had a beautiful Keith many years ago who wasn't so lucky after an encounter with a car, and he was such a special boy it took me a long time to recover from his loss.

Angela

I hope Keith makes a quick recovery and is back to his old self very soon.

I do not have insurance for my dog she is 5 1/2 but have always put money by for any emergencies.

She did have a very small op when a puppy, she was bitten by a staffy and needed some stitching luckily it was paid for by the person who had control of the staffy when it bit my dog.

Apart from that I dont think anything else she has ever been to the vets for would be covered.

GET WELL KEITH

But hes getting loads of cuddles

ka7e

Miss Mitch - my Tig had very expensive intestinal surgery last year and wasn't insured. The surgery was only expected to cost £400, but he collapsed with an auto-immune problem afterwards and spent over a week in the vet's . I found the best thing was to do a balance transfer to a 0% credit card, which meant I effectively paid the bill in interest-free instalments!

cjmumto2

I think vets in this country are a rip off, they all seem interested in the money and not the pet. It is criminal how much they charge and really they dont need to. My cat was hit by a car in France, broke his pelvis in 5 places, cost 50 euros for xrays and all meds then a check up xray was 20 euros. So all in all 70 euros. A cats protection league cat had the same issue here in UK and it was £2000. How can they charge a charity that? Another story a friend was paying £300 per month for meds til she looked online and found them for £100, told the vet she no longer needed the meds and the vet said we can price match. So had basically been overcharging her by £200, disgusting

Hope Keith gets better soon

[Deleted User]

Yeh. I know we've got off relatively lightly with £500 compared to others. It is still a fair chunk of money though. :-(

I suppose I'm lucky to be in a position to chuck it on credit card whereas some people are not.

My MIL has just got a cat off someone. Following our experience I think we'll try and talk her into insurance to be honest because I dont think she'd be able to afford it if it ever happened to her cat (and to be honest she wouldnt pay it).