Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Sun_Addict

That was very a very good price for Ash’s dental. My cat’s cost £500 just for a clean, although £200 of this was for blood tests etc - and this was around 5/6 years ago, so I wasn’t shocked at the £800 they quoted you. 

foxgloves

@themadvix - Oh my goodness, so £800 for a cat dental is definitely possible then. One of the reasons we were so shocked at the quote is that our vet practice usually has pretty fair pricing on the whole. In fact, the cat rescue people from the charity we support actually travel here from the other side of the county to use it for their animals to help keep the cost down. Before the quote, I was expecting the bill would probably come in at around £500, so yes, we were happy to see a figure of £365. We did ask for an itemised bill, but tbf, they provide this anyway & we already knew that £40 of it would be for the quick pre-anaesthetic blood test. I do wonder though, if someone struggling for money would have decided not to go ahead with their animal's procedure, having been told the top end of the quote. Having said that, telling somebody that the bill will be around £360 then finding lots of additional work/extractions inflate it by several hundred quid would be a worse option, I think.
I hope your pet insurance provider coughs up for your ginger boy's procedure & hope it all goes well for him. They are such a worry, aren't they?
F

foxgloves

@Sun_Addict - I wasn't at all unhappy with the end price of £365 as I did expect to pay about £500. Ash did need 4 extractions, so having read both your & @thermadvix's experiences, I am thinking we got off lightly & it was a fair price. It was that initial £800 quote which floored me. Tbf, our previous cat never needed a dental - he'd been a long term unneutered stray before he was picked up by the Rescue & a lot of his teeth were already broken from fighting & shenanigans, so it's been a very long time since we have paid for one & have probably got out of touch with costs. I am going to consider increasing our target max holding in the Meow Savings Pot from £600 to £1000. I think this would be more realistic for vet visits which are not covered by our pet insurance.
F

PennysIntoPounds

Cripes, thank goodness it wasn't at the higher end of the estimate but I can quite understand your shock. Hope Ash is recovering well, and you too

KajiKita

I’m glad Ash got through the process okay. Is he he back on form now after the anaesthetic?

You’ve made me consider upping my meow fund as I hadn’t realised that teeth aren’t covered by insurance and my target for that pot is currently only £300 … 🤔

KK

ladyholly

Just an aside some insurance companies do pay out for dental work so if you have insurance its worth checking your policy. We have had dog insurance pay for dental work I can only assume its the same for cats.

Blackcats

Ash's teeth must have been becoming problematic for him so it's good that his op is over and he is now recovering.  I assume he can enjoy the lickety type treats instead of the dream type crunchy snack.  Phew to the cost being more reasonable.  Our meow fund is in with our health and wellbeing pot which also needs to cover dentist, optician and physio so I might need to increase that to £1000 from £750.  Obviously the cat doesn't need the optician or physio but the human 2/3rds of the family do.

thriftmonster

I pay for the Healthy Pet club each year at £185 which covers vaccinations, worming and flea treatment. But it also caps dental work at about £300 so given His Cattiness needs some dental work each year (previous life issues) it's a no brainer for me. The first year it saved me about £400 on the original quote plus not having to pay for vaccinations 

thriftmonster

Glad Ash has come through ok

Cheery_Daff

Very glad Ash is safe and sound, and that your bill was cheaper than expected. Vets bills are a shocker. They were bad enough for our little chicken flock, and there's a limited amount that can be done for a chicken, so that does cap it somewhat. And at least they don't have teeth!! 😂 (we did once pay £900 for one of them to have an ultrasound though 😬 Unusual circumstances, and a very special chicken, but even so).

Pets do bring out, well, I don't know whether it's the worst side or the best side of us! 😂😂