Dog needs URGENT OPERATION: Can't afford it

lilmissmup

I really hope your friend dogs gets help, poor lil thing

I do agree with everyone else on how important insurance is. When my baby boy Spencer (cat that is 2 next week) was only 4 months old he broke his leg right on what would be our ankle, we're not sure how he did it, just heard him screaming and came flying in, there was another cat in the garden but pretty sure it wasn't that one (although when he sees it now he goes for it, think its the memory!).

Took him to the vets who thought it wasn't broken and for him to rest it and take him back if not better in 2 days, no better so took him back and they did an xray and i got a phone call which was one of the worst calls i have ever had saying he needed to go to a specialist because of where the break was and due to the fact he was only a kitten and still growing and it would be about £2000 for the operation :eek:.

I didn't have the money at the time although he was insured it was a pay up front and you get it back so after begging my father to lend me the money he had the op and after all the bills that came to over £2250 we only had to pay a £100 excess and the claim was sorted really quickly.

Now my baby is fine, no problems and i'm so thankful for that insurance otherwise i might have be faced with the option of putting him to sleep .

I pay £12 a month for both my cats insurance and would never be without it now.

Kimberley

shrewdal wrote: »

I have to disagree with the posters who say you should take insurance on your pets. I had 3 cats 2 of my girls lived for 17 and a half years and my tom cat lived for 14 years. They only required treatment for the final stages of their lives. in fact the tom cat passed away very quickly with only £16 cost for putting him to sleep. My 2 girls struggled over their final 6 monthswith kidney/ liver problems which happens a lot with geriatric cats.

My mums the same, all her animals seemed to live to old age without ever needing Veterinary treatment.

greenmoneysaver_2

Just a quick reply - hope dog gets good treatment.

A leg amp should NOT be 2.5K more like £500 and dogs live happy lives with 3 legs, it is quicker recovery time than a repair and much less chance of complications:D !

Maxfactor - that is benefit fraud and is the reason why so many charities don't have the money to help people like this lady. I am afraid I have to say that SCUM do this and it makes my blood boil. I am aware that certain charities may have to close their hospitals as they cost so much to run, due to the high number of benefit fraud that pushes up the number of people who abuse them.

Apologies - longer post!

For the Persian owner (the best cats) - I have a 10yr old Persian who is insured for £19 per month through Pet Protect. Her premium is high as we have claimed about £4000:eek: in the 3 years we have had her. Blanched a little at the rise from about £13 a month in November, but in the last 3 weeks have spent about £800 on her vet bills, with eye tests and possible MRI to follow!!! (she is sleeping beside me at the moment - unaware of all this!). We may not go for all treatment offered, but it is nice to know we have paid a £40 excess and the rest is on the company! They have covered dentals, behavioural consults, 50% od prescription food, and will cover alternative therapies as well. They have always paid out and have covered my other cat for 7 years with no problems. I think they must hate us as they make a HUGE loss on us, but they are always really nice to speak to.

greyhoundcrazy

Are my pets insured? Yes they are. Why? If this kind of thing happened to my dogs I wouldn't be able to pay for them to be treated. The chances of my dogs being hit by a car or whatever... well hopefully never going to happen. If it did happen though at least I would be insured and my pet would get the treatment that they needed so desperately.

You could post for advice on either of these sites:

www.dogpages.org.uk
www.rykat.org/forums

Both of these are run and frequented by animal rescuers who will know what all the options are and may even be able to help.

cheepskate_2

hopefully by now the little dog is getting the vetenary care it should.
Can your friend not go for the amputation 1st, as of course the op may not work, and also do a bit of calling to other local vets and ask for a price on this. They should be able to give out a price , barring any complications.

Once i had to get 2 stiches in my weimmy's back heel and one vet quoted £156.00 i choose the one that gave a price of £96.00 .

There can be a lot of difference in vet prices and for this high amount i am sure the saving would be more .

ANGLICANPAT

The amount quoted for an amputation sounds over the top to me. Vet bills vary enormously depending on area . Expensive areas can have expensive vets , and quite often the reverse. . Suggest your friend does a bit of ringing around in different areas asking for an idea of typical cost for ' an amputation from the whatever joint down. Even if she does find a rescue org to help her, its only fair to find the most reasonable cost even if she has to travel a bit. I know vets are skilled but Ive seen close up what goes on, and in my opinion , being a vet in private practice , is akin to having a licence to print money.
If she does go the route of pretending her pet is owned by a qualifying person , to get RSPCA treatment , maybe she would feel more morally comfortable raising a direct debit to pay as much as she can afford back to the charity each month so their funds are kept up for the next needy rta.
Hope the situation gets sorted anyway.

MrsTinks

For cat insurance I went with Direct Line I don't know if they still do cashback on quidco but they used to. Depending on your situation then check if the insurance will pay the vet direct or if you have to claim it back. I'm able to claim mine back after paying on CC as I have that amount of spare limit and it's not a problem, but if you can't then find a company who are willing to pay the vet bill direct

As for vets in private practice... it's not a license to print money - one of my best friends is a vet and the costs involved are pretty high! firstly the cost of training for several years, then you have the unsocial long hours, oncall often 1 week in 4 (that's 24 hours a day on call), you have the vet nurses, the reception staff, the initial setup cost for all the equipment (if starting from scratch), running costs of business premises, insurance (and you can bet this one is pretty high!) and so on. Yes of course Vets make money, I'd be lying if I said they didn't, but like any other business then shop around and get the best deal, some might be cheaper in vaccinations, others might have lower OOH charges etc. I'm lucky I have a friend who's avet so I get lots of routine stuff at cost, but acute incidents have to be done by my local vets and that isn't cheap - then again they are not charging over the top...

As for getting a friend along whos on benefits... this is fraud. Don't do it.

If she thinks she can pay the money back gradually then yes see if they will do a gradual payment plan. But I suspect the amounts will be so large it's going to be too big a financial burden for her.

I guess by now something will have been decided for the dog though - otherwise it will have been sat at the vets running up a bill of over £100 per 24 hours more than likely...

maxfactor_3

Cant find my post I guess its been removed.The Rspca dont do it for free its something like half price.
I pay half price for my dogs vacs.And Iam on benefits !.But I also have it backed up with pet insurance too.
The way I see it is if a dog is in a cage in agony with no funds Id do anything to help it.Why should the dog be put down ?.Due to a lack of funding.
Im sure the lord would forgive her.To save a dogs pain.Its a charity right to help animals.Work it out for yourself.If it was an emergency Id give her a pat on the back.Not call her a scumbag.How naive of a do gooder.It reminds me of this fellow who used to go round checking peoples tax discs and reporting them.
As for removing my post I agree what I was suggesting didnt sound good on paper,but niether does a lot of other stuff I,ve witnessed on many many threads.

MrsE_2

maxfactor wrote: »

Cant find my post I guess its been removed.The Rspca dont do it for free its something like half price.
I pay half price for my dogs vacs.And Iam on benefits !.But I also have it backed up with pet insurance too.
The way I see it is if a dog is in a cage in agony with no funds Id do anything to help it.Why should the dog be put down ?.Due to a lack of funding.
Im sure the lord would forgive her.To save a dogs pain.Its a charity right to help animals.Work it out for yourself.If it was an emergency Id give her a pat on the back.Not call her a scumbag.How naive of a do gooder.It reminds me of this fellow who used to go round checking peoples tax discs and reporting them.
As for removing my post I agree what I was suggesting didnt sound good on paper,but niether does a lot of other stuff I,ve witnessed on many many threads.

I agree, I would never suggest fraud.
But shes stuck between a rock & a hard place with an injured animal.
If a charity won't help her, what can she do?
Get a loan shark loan

Chesnut1

In this case I agree the priority must be the dog.