Vet Bill - £500 and mounting :-)

charlearose

we have six dogs 4 douge de bordeauxs and two bullmastiffs 5 are insured the eldest one who is 8 isnt as its almost double what i pay for the others but to be fair she is a grand old dame and is in good health for her age
i pay an eye watering 34 a month for each douge de bordeaux and 27 for the bullmastiff its all life time policys with argos
yes i could self insure but to be honest with 5 big dogs that are prone to hip and elbow problems i would rather pay monthly than have a huge sume or faced with having them put down

[Deleted User]

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Glad Keith's on the road to recovery .....

The only thing I'll say re the insurance issue is ... what if the bill had run to many £000s and not £00s - would you still have been abl to pay .....

For me, personally, although I could stretch to a few £00s in vets bills, a few £000s would be beyond me and I'd hate to be put in the position of having to pts if I couldn't afford treatment ...... my wee cat is 3 - if I'd put the insurance money away, I'd have around £300 saved now ... that wouldn't go very far - especially for an ongoing condition.

Yes. I would be able to pay if it was £1000s. Wouldnt be happy though and it would put me in debt but I do have space on credit card at least.

Personally, I think you shouldnt be allowed to put pets to sleep just because you cant afford. Will vets even do this? Thats awful.

If you cant afford to pay then you should HAVE to have insurance.

[Deleted User]

snowman2 wrote: »

You were very, very, very lucky then. It cost me 44 euros for 1 tube of frontline, a worming tablet and a stamp in my dogs pet passport in France last year. For 50 euros to get xrays and medication it sounds like you managed to find a charity clinic. My xray equipment was second hand (ex-NHS) and still cost £10,000 to buy, let alone running costs, safety checks, anaesthetic, etc. You had a bargain and you cannot go making wild claims based on that (ridiculously cheap) experience.

The vast majority of vets want to help your pets first - they also want to make a decent living but I know I can do that by looking after my patients / clients and charging a fair price.

I agree with you. Vets are professional people and have a right to make a decent living.....

[Deleted User]

winterwhite11 wrote: »

i forgot to say.
i have a new kitten coming in a few days and i am getting insurance for sure.
even if i never claim , at least i know that if a really expensive bill is coming then it will be taken care of.
i can make my self terrible ill from worry so insurance now is a must for me.

Good for you for being sensible.

Croatoan

[quote=[Deleted User];50052431]Yes. I would be able to pay if it was £1000s. Wouldnt be happy though and it would put me in debt but I do have space on credit card at least.

Personally, I think you shouldnt be allowed to put pets to sleep just because you cant afford. Will vets even do this? Thats awful.

If you cant afford to pay then you should HAVE to have insurance.[/QUOTE]

It's difficult though, even those of us who always have insurance have limits. Mine's 7 grand, what if the bill comes to 27 grand?
You do your best for your pet but for just about all of us there comes a point where we'd be unable to meet the cost.

bugslet

Like paul, mine went on the credit card.

Unfortunately circumstances change - mine shouldn't for 3 years in terms of income - but hey, the way the economy is going who knows for sure? AFAIK, vets will put a dog down if it is the owners instruction and it's ill....I'd be very happy to be corrected on that one! So you can only work to a degree, on your current level of income when it comes to provision.

I remember someone on here saying that they always had insurance after their parents had to have a dog put down because they couldn't afford to pay.

Back on track, I hope Keith ( great name for a cat BTW), is still doing well this morning.

RosieChad

As Krlyr mentioned before, pet insurance is one of those things that is never worth it until it is. I have 4 cats, but only 2 insured, and they happen to be my male cats. The youngest got into a fight with (possibly) a fox about 18 months ago and ended up costing us £600 in vet bills. We immediately got him some pet insurance as he's a bit of a hunter and enjoys 'playing' with animals (cats/dogs/foxes/squirrels) so we knew this wouldn't be the last. And we were right! About 6 weeks ago he got attacked by another cat and had to be rushed to the emergency vets, We had to pay £150 upfront and then around £30 for antibiotics for a few scratches and bites. We're with Tesco insurance and got all but £50 back, but it was a big weight off our mind.
Our other male cat had a cloudy eye which we left for ages and ages, so we got him insured and then took him to the vet (as we had never been to the vets since his vaccinations as a kitten the condition wasn't counted as a pre-existing condition). They gave him eye drops which seemed to clear up the eye, but after a while it became cloudy again, so we had to take him back. As it was an on-going condition it was all covered by insurance, which was another god send.

It's hard with pets to work out if they'll need insurance, whether you think they have a high risk factor of getting ill or injured, or, if like one of my other cats (aged 14), has never had to go the vets since they were little. If you can afford to pay the money per month for insurance, I would definitely say it's worth taking out, then you don't get hit with the big sting when something does happen. I hope Keith continues to make a good recovery

bagginslover

For every 'never insured so saved in the long run' story, there will be one like mine-had my dog for just 5 months and he was hit with a auto-immune disease that cost £5000 to diagnose and treat. Self insuring g wouldn't have paid for a fraction of that.