Vets bill

David49

£2000+ is about average a vet will charge for investigation and advising a pet needs to be euthanized, it happened to my neighbour when his 15 yr old terrier was ill, there should be a law against it.

There will be.
www.google.com/goto?url=CAESsAEB6zswFeHeqHWrwiTBNPG2uXpwzsdO_f_hkH7SFbt35rb4zebq29WE3eBHHtzqIcXUf4JjEonnbC5kIcxSydof6tS7d9GVktTq3M_LMwjVwM4akQ31iVCd2rnoFfkefl-ByxtMtwPlmGpPv5z_8pCFvGhSNWXI5O05eXtSE7rcP5EZ3M2PdE7Xdc5vvGFiAsC0gHMa1fwhSIwKPPCcObgP6iopFEnCOJqS8xig03cRgg

Mattsmum2 If they are "live for the moment" then maybe you need to teach them how to be responsible pet owners. Instead of giving your son £1000 a year, which is very generous, you could pay for pet insurance. As for the vet bill, you either have to set up a repayment plan with your son or write it off as a gift.

Iam64

MayBee, the dog had conjunctivitis as confirmed by the expensive dye used to ensure her eye problems weren’t caused by more serious eye conditions. I bought human eye drops for conjunctivitis/ dog well, £60 saved thanks vet

How did you get a pharmacist to sell you some? I tried to get some when I thought I needed it for myself but they wouldn’t sell me any.

watermeadow

Vets tend to ask if you have insurance then increase the charges.
Insurance for older pets is astronomic, which is maybe why this couple’s cats weren’t covered. The Tories ran down the NHS because they intended us all to pay health insurance, which makes money for doctors, pharmaceuticals and the insurance companies. Hey, you make MONEY out of sickness!
Most vets will let you pay a big bill in instalments.

I've never been asked by any vet, if we're insured.

Every vet I've ever used has always told me the cost of any proposed treatments in advance. Because I ask.

First-opinion practices (private and corporate) are now required to do that by law

<https://vetpricecomparisonsite.co.uk/blog/vet-pricing-transparency-laws>

Cabowich

Not a pet lover then, Calendargirl?

If you have pets, I assume you class yourself as a ‘pet lover’?

Should be prepared to pay whatever is needed to keep them healthy and happy then, not expecting others to do so.

MayBee70

Iam64

MayBee, the dog had conjunctivitis as confirmed by the expensive dye used to ensure her eye problems weren’t caused by more serious eye conditions. I bought human eye drops for conjunctivitis/ dog well, £60 saved thanks vet

How did you get a pharmacist to sell you some? I tried to get some when I thought I needed it for myself but they wouldn’t sell me any.

I was the same maybe pharmacies wouldn’t sell to me !!!

If you're considering pet insurance, you could choose one like ours which has a 24 hour help line. You get to speak to a proper vet who asks lots of questions and looks at the dog on video, (breathing, eyes, colour of gums etc). Sometimes they phone back to re-assess after an hour. They advise whether to see your own vet face to face.
By agreeing to do this every time, you can get a reduced monthly premium.

Sorry dog or cat

Exorbitant vet bills is the one thing that has meant I will never have a pet again.

In answer to the suggestion I’m making up the story of the dog with conjunctivitis. The vet gave me a prescription. The pharmacist said I don’t need that. She sold me the standard Optrex for infected eye drops. I have bought it for myself in the past.

Casdon

David49

£2000+ is about average a vet will charge for investigation and advising a pet needs to be euthanized, it happened to my neighbour when his 15 yr old terrier was ill, there should be a law against it.

There will be.
www.google.com/goto?url=CAESsAEB6zswFeHeqHWrwiTBNPG2uXpwzsdO_f_hkH7SFbt35rb4zebq29WE3eBHHtzqIcXUf4JjEonnbC5kIcxSydof6tS7d9GVktTq3M_LMwjVwM4akQ31iVCd2rnoFfkefl-ByxtMtwPlmGpPv5z_8pCFvGhSNWXI5O05eXtSE7rcP5EZ3M2PdE7Xdc5vvGFiAsC0gHMa1fwhSIwKPPCcObgP6iopFEnCOJqS8xig03cRgg

Thank you Casdon. I knew I’d read about it somewhere. About time too.

In view of others' comments about expecting governments to pay for pets, it was an off-the-cuff remark. I don't expect this to happen, but it would be nice if the pet in question belonged to say, an elderly person devoted to the animal who struggled to pay for the pet's care.

Some owners choose to have an animal euthanised as they can't afford the vet's bills of thousands of pounds to treat the animal.

Insurance can help but it does depend on the insurance company. So many of them try to get out of paying up, there are many exclusions, and it is also becoming prohibitively expensive.

It's just sad that we've become a country where owning a pet is becoming just too expensive. Vet bills aren't so extortionate in other countries. I've even heard of people taking their pets abroad to be treated at much less cost. It's a ridiculous situation.

I would first of all wait for the vet's bill as £2500 sounds way too much for a cat to be euthanised unless maybe it had weeks of treatment beforehand?
I also think if your son can afford to have 3 cats and go on holiday he should be expected to pay his own vet's bill one way or another.

Maybe gift him the money as part of his inheritance and then buy him cat insurance for his other two cats as his Birthday present. Unless you have savings, not having sufficient funds to pay for vet treatment seems to be a bit irresponsible to me.

I would certainly insist on repayment. You and your son need to work out how much he can afford to pay you monthly until the debt is cleared.

Personally, I would feel very mean if I stopped giving presents to clear the debt that way, but I might well ask, when his birthday approaches ,if he would like you to take out a pet insurance for him - if you feel you can afford to do so. I have no idea what these insurance schemes cost, as I have always just paid vet's bills our of my current account.

In my younger days, I considered taking out insurance for a newc at, but as the charges were twice what I had paid during all sixteen years of my previous cat's life, I decided against it.

Sometimes paying bills as they come in is possible, other times it meant doing without something I wanted, but the cat came first.

Absolutely! What vet in gods good name has invoiced you 2.5k for euthanising a cat?

Once you have challenged the Vetenarian finance department, ash for a payment plan and your son and in law must pay these instalments. Also remind him that they are not to get a ‘replacement’ puss cat

Absolutely! What vet in gods good name has invoiced you 2.5k for euthanising a cat?

That charge was not just for euthenasia.

The OP has already stated the cat required emergency treatment.

It no doubt required some professional investigation to decide what emergency treatment to try.

Bloods? Perhaps scans or xray, which entail anaesthesia in order to perform them. Pain relief, antibiotics?

An out-of-hours call-out is always more expensive than a daytime consult ; a period of in-house care and observation (to see if the emergency treatment was going to work) is also charged for .

Seems the emergency care could not save the cat so it was PTS.

All charges are no doubt itemised on the final bill, which OP hadn't yet received.

Thank you everyone for your words kind or otherwise. The final bill was around £1500, he’s already paid me £500, taken out pet insurance and asked for me to not give his birthday money, his choice. He said to me that he felt very stupid and embarrassed, that he thought pet insurance was ridiculously expensive, but it isn’t. Not compared to costs at vets. A huge lesson learned.

eddiecat78

Am I the only person who is very cross that this couple decided to have THREE cats without being able to afford to take care of them properly? Although, apparently they can afford to go on holiday.
I would have told the vet to bill them directly and leave them to sort out a payment plan with the vet

I absolutely agree with you. If you own pets you have to accept they can be a financial burden. If they can't afford vet treatment or to pay insurance they should not have so many animals. I hope the remaining cats are neutered and properly cared for.

Set up a monthly payment plan for them to repay you. I'm sure you will end up giving it back to them,

SporeRB01

If it were me, I foot the bill but stop the £1000 birthday gift for 2 years and encourage your son and his husband to take out a pet insurance for the remaining two cats.

Right now, even the rescue centres are struggling to pay their vet bills. More pet owners are surrendering their pets because they can no longer afford to keep them. To make matters worse, cat owners do not have their cats neutered, so the rescue centres are overwhelm with unwanted litters of kittens.

I would love to adopt a cat or two but have second thoughts due to our age.

If you are unable to adopt but would love to give a cat a safe loving environment, please consider fostering. I volunteer for a cat rescue and we are all desperate for loving foster carers.

Calandergirl Totally agree many people forget that governments have no money they just spend ours. Applies to many things people just seem to think the government should just fork out

Mattsmum2

Thank you everyone for your words kind or otherwise. The final bill was around £1500, he’s already paid me £500, taken out pet insurance and asked for me to not give his birthday money, his choice. He said to me that he felt very stupid and embarrassed, that he thought pet insurance was ridiculously expensive, but it isn’t. Not compared to costs at vets. A huge lesson learned.

Excellent result.

I would get him to find another vet - that is a rip off.

Get an itemised bill and ask for pensioner rates, not insurance rates.

My dear doggie got a seed in her ear (common with Spaniels) £60; a neighbour's cost £400. Someone local on fb paid £1,200. Seems they can charge what they like.

It might be that the price included cremation and return of the ashes too? When you're in that situation you might yes to anything. The pet insurance doesn't cover this cost.

I would regard the £2,500 you paid to the Vet as a gift.
Your son has no pet insurance; and no savings. He’ll be very upset about the loss of his cat. I would not suspend the £1,000 on his birthday each year. Perhaps he needs to put some money aside for emergencies.