The Edcawber Principle

beanielou

Poor wee cat.
My mum's cat broke her leg & 'twas expensive.

Suffolk_lass

That is awful. My friend's cat fell from a first floor window-sill and landed in the spokes of the motorcycle underneath which made the fracture extremely complicated (and expensive).

Suffolk-cat is a timid girl who was the runt of the rescue (feral) cat's litter - we chose her deliberately so she would not be too confident. Since her litter-sis died (car) she has been a 99% indoor cat. She has a cat-flap with a window in and sometimes sits and looks out of it but is perfectly content when it is locked to be indoors, and "herds" us so we are together. I have peace of mind too, knowing she is indoors as the road is much busier than it was when we came here.

edinburgher

I suppose it's an object lesson in financial emergencies and preparedness. Sometimes your protections aren't sufficient, even when you think you have made a good stab at covering yourself. We'll need much better insurance (I think I'll look for a lifetime policy offering £5,000+ of annual cover), but the pets forum have already made it clear to me that any future issue with said limb will be considered an existing condition, even if it heals fully.

I had considered creating a cat emergency fund of sorts, but the problem with vet fees seems to be that they escalate incredibly quickly, you've no real option over whether or not to pay them and you don't know the true cost until after the event. Take the other day - vet tells me an x-ray will be roughly £250. Once everything was taken into consideration, it was £413. I don't see how I can realistically plan for an unpredictable number of vet visits with +/- 60% vet estimates of cost. So I think a meaty new insurance policy with an increase to our general pets budget will be required.

Let this be a cautionary tale (tail) folks - in the last year we have bought a small fancy aquarium (60l) and have had one nasty cat injury. The direct costs (pet supplies, equipment, food and vet bills) average out at £10/month less than our 5 year old human child's direct costs!

Karmacat

Ed, that's a really interesting analysis of the pets/finance needs situation.  Especially about how quickly the costs escalate.  Neither of mine needed much at all, apart from annual vaccinations and end-of-life issues when they were 16/17, though nowadays there'd probably be things that would be caught earlier, since veterinary medicine has advanced so much since then.

edinburgher

@Karmacat - it's only getting worse - the wee sod just caught the splint on the litter tray and has pulled it off entirely. Cue meltdown from DD who thought she'd pulled her foot off and our 4th trip to the vet in a week 

edinburgher

She will be the death of me 🤦

earthgirl2

Sorry to hear about your cat, thanks for the photo though. Wow, it sounds expensive! I'll have to look at my insurance to check what we have covered.

beanielou

The wee soul

Karmacat

Good grief, Ed!  Poor cat, and poor bank balance!  Lovely pic tho - she looks like she's okay again now, and not in pain.  I bet you're glad to get back to work  

edinburgher

Karmacat said:

Good grief, Ed!  Poor cat, and poor bank balance!  Lovely pic tho - she looks like she's okay again now, and not in pain.  I bet you're glad to get back to work  

I am, incredibly glad the weekend is over!