Emergency Vets

I'd never take the risk of not having pet insurance. My friend's cat got hit by a car recently, and as it was late on a Friday night, she had to take it to the emergency vet. Thankfully he is now well on the way to recovery, although it was touch and go for a while, but the bill came to more than £6,000, which was covered by her insurance. Our Lab is having to go to our local vet hospital for some checks and we could also be facing a substantial bill - and ongoing costs - so I'm very glad we have a good lifetime insurance policy for him.

My son's cat recently appeared very unwell and he called the emergency vet, also linked to his usual practice.
On describing the situation, the vet advised that he brought the cat in straight away.

The situation was quite serious and immediate treatment was needed. At the time, an estimate was given of around £900 to £1000. My son has insurance for his cats however, the surgery insisted on a payment from him of £350 before they would do anything.

I don't know if that's just specific to his practice but even with insurance, he found himself having to pay quite a large sum upfront.
Thankfully the insurance company paid the claim and the cat is home, safe and well.

Sadly many people find themselves either having their pet pts or some lucky ones with often the veterinary surgeons help will find a rescue prepared to take on medical costs IF owner signs pet over. Our pets are definitely luxuries nowadays and vet fees cost loads especially out of hours! Insurance is advisable and a lifetime policy - cheapest may not be the best.

Unless you’re wealthy then pet insurance is a must. If people can’t afford it then they certainly shouldn’t get a pet. I have done home checks for animal rescues for 34 years and I always urge people to take out a whole of life policy. Sadly all too often people haven’t done it and get slapped with a huge vet’s bill. Then they expect rescues and charities to pick up the pieces either by the old ‘we’ll get him/her put to sleep then’ , asking for money or dumping them.
As far as I knew vets generally don’t ask for a lump sum up front if the client is an established customer with pet insurance. If they do I’d be pretty annoyed with them!

Where I live there are no vets that keep animals overnight, there are three large practices, the animals have to be transported by yourself fifteen miles away and collected at 7 am. This stay is a separate charge, apart from the expense of the stay those without transport would have to somehow arrange and pay for that too.

Gillycats

Unless you’re wealthy then pet insurance is a must. If people can’t afford it then they certainly shouldn’t get a pet. I have done home checks for animal rescues for 34 years and I always urge people to take out a whole of life policy. Sadly all too often people haven’t done it and get slapped with a huge vet’s bill. Then they expect rescues and charities to pick up the pieces either by the old ‘we’ll get him/her put to sleep then’ , asking for money or dumping them.
As far as I knew vets generally don’t ask for a lump sum up front if the client is an established customer with pet insurance. If they do I’d be pretty annoyed with them!

I was astonished they asked for an upfront payment.
They have known us as established customers for approximately 15 years although the practice did change hands a number of years ago.
Alongside pet insurance we also have small care plans in place with them for the routine care vets provide.
Perhaps a sign of the times?!

Gillycats

Unless you’re wealthy then pet insurance is a must. If people can’t afford it then they certainly shouldn’t get a pet. I have done home checks for animal rescues for 34 years and I always urge people to take out a whole of life policy. Sadly all too often people haven’t done it and get slapped with a huge vet’s bill. Then they expect rescues and charities to pick up the pieces either by the old ‘we’ll get him/her put to sleep then’ , asking for money or dumping them.
As far as I knew vets generally don’t ask for a lump sum up front if the client is an established customer with pet insurance. If they do I’d be pretty annoyed with them!

The emergency vets were a separate company covering a large area so being a long standing customer makes no difference to them. I understand that there were 2 options, either to pay a deposit and reclaim or pay in full and the emergency vet process the claim, for a fee if course. Without insurance I guess that you have to pay the full amount or agree a payment plan. I overheard one person repeat that their OH didn't like animals so I guess that the outlook for their pet is not great being faced with a huge bill.

Yes, emergency vets often operate on that basis. It can place owners in a very difficult situation. It definitely pays to have the best insurance you can afford. And especially where dogs are concerned, it's worth noting that your insurance will also cover third party claims - for instance, if your dog knocked someone over and they decided to claim damages.

Then they expect rescues and charities to pick up the pieces either by the old ‘we’ll get him/her put to sleep then’ , asking for money or dumping them.

I'm sorry but I find that comment harsh and judgmental. Not all people who find themselves in the awful situation of not being able to afford their pet's care would choose to put the pet to asleep unless there really was no other option.

You say that if people can't afford it, then they shouldn't get a pet. A few years ago, who could have foreseen the current financial situation - the massive increase in pet food for a start, never mind the ridiculous hike in vet's bills.

There is a poem or essay about hitting hard times and being poor. If you excuse the language - this is one tiny part of it:

“Being poor is considering getting rid of your pets because they are luxury items.”
“Being poor means putting a beloved pet to sleep because you can’t afford the vet bill.”
“Being poor means having your canine best friend get sick, and not being able to pay even to find out what’s wrong with him, and opting to have him “put down” BECAUSE IT WAS ALL YOU COULD AFFORD — and then having to believe for the rest of your life that your dog is dead because he had the misfortune to belong to a worthless piece of s**t like you.” (John Scalzi).

I know somebody who actually contemplated giving herself and her ill cat an overdose because she could not pay the vet's bills, nor could she live with herself if she had to put her pet down for that reason. (She didn't do it, thank goodness, and her cat is well, but this is what worry over money can do).

You've done everything the right way, got all the insurance nicely in place, obviously able to afford it all, but don't judge those who can't.

We've had cats for more than 50 years. At times we've had four at once. Only two now. We've never had pet insurance. If we'd ever paid the premiums demanded by insurers we'd have paid 20 times the amount we've ever had to pay for vet care! It's a racket. Interestingly, if we've needed veterinary services they've always asked if we have insurance. We say no and that we'll be paying ourselves from savings. Often they seem to want to carry out procedures that we question. When discussed they then say they're not necessary. I could give examples but too much typing.
Bottom line, if our cats need vet care they get it and we pay. No middle man insurers creaming off excess profits. Never regretted not having insurance.

Absolutely agree CatsCatsCats circumstances can change so quickly for any of us a little empathy would be nice.

I’ve had cats and dogs for 50 years. At one point we had a dog and several cats and always seemed to be at the vets with one or the other but it didn’t seem to cost too much. We were pretty strapped for cash back then but it didn’t put us off having pets. Then all of a sudden it all seemed to change. More and more people were insuring their pets and treatment rates seemed to go through the roof. I know we had one cat that the vet wanted to continue treating but weren’t insured and the bill was getting too much for us to pay so we had him pts. The vet said if we’d had insurance he could have carried on treating him but we felt that he couldn’t have been saved ( he was a Burmese and they don’t deal well with being hospitalise). I also think that every illness involves lots if lab tests whereas back in the days vets would use their instinct ( some still do). When we did start to insure our pets one dog went in for an operation and because we were insured the vet did far more things to her than seemed necessary. We were horrified when we picked her up, we felt that she had been brutalised.

We do have insurance as we have three pets. Our practice does have an in-house “hospital” for very poorly pets. It’s been a godsend for us. Insurance is expensive but worth it.

Well said Cats , I was thinking the same. My dog is insured, however in the past I had to stop insurance on one of my older dogs as it went up three fold over night and I simple couldn't afford it, luckily he was a tough old boy and never had any thing seriously wrong .
Nothing is ever black and white .

In this area we used to have a good selection of independent vets. We have had several cats and a dog over the past 50 years, never had insurance then and were never unable to afford treatment as needed, and always got excellent care. Recently though all the independents have been bought out by one of two large groups, intent on wringing as much money from their often desperate clients as possible. My last cat developed a thyroid issue. I paid for the tablets and the necessary quarterly tests without a problem. A couple of years later the practice was taken over by a nationwide group and everything tripled in price. They insisted on more specialised tests every month, traumatising the poor cat, different drugs were prescribed and they tried their best to get me to buy premium food direct from them. The monthly bill went from £150 to £650. I was lucky I could just about afford it. My sweet girl lived to be 21 so it was all worthwhile, but it took almost all my spare money. Well, I learned that lesson. My current 3yr old boy is fully insured.

I fear that insurance means that vets now think they can charge as much as they can for treatment? But I’m scared to use our local one man practice because I won’t get the 24/7 emergency cover that the big practices can provide. I remember one of our cats being hit by a car, rushing him to the vets and the vet turning up in his slippers. Again I don’t remember having a huge bill for it. I can only afford one pet now because I bet I’ll be paying over £100 a month when my dog gets older

MayBee70, your local vet will have an arrangement with another practice to provide 24/7 care in an emergency.

When we used to take our various cats to our vet it really was our vet ie the same person. He got to know us and our cats and we trusted his judgement. If he said something needed done we went with that. Unfortunately, now the practice is part of a huge business consortium and there's an ever changing set of nice young women but no continuity. Never see the same one twice. They recommend all sorts of extra tests or treatment but immediately drop the suggestion as soon as we question them on it. Eg before what turned out to be unnecessary dental work they wanted Finn to go to another of their practices a long way away for a heart scan, 'As he's an older cat.' We reminded her that he was only 6 and is very traumatised by long car journeys. She immediately said that was fine. Then she said he had acne and needed special cream. I asked her to point out this acne and she couldn't find it. I should say that I'm familiar with every inch of my lovely cat so knew there wasn't any.
I suppose we'll have to change vets but they're all part of this big business consortium.

I’m with Aveline. We had up to 10 dogs at a time and never had insurance - can you imagine the monthly cost! Just bit the bullet, as and when any needed treatment. At first, we used a local Vet, but once a National company took over, fees rocketed and a lot of silly tests were suggested (old cat had heart failure, so why a £700 scan every 6 months - it wasn’t going to get better?). We changed to a ‘farm’ vet, who understood working dogs. She was happy for us to buy our flea and worm treatments online and she said dogs 8+ didn’t need annual boosters, as they’d built up sufficient resistance through the years.
I pay the insurance for DD2’s little dog, but she’ll top it up, as it increases. She was paying £80 a month for her older dog who was PTS last year, but other than that, hadn’t used a fraction of what had been paid in insurance charges.
However, I can understand people wanting to be covered, but to be alert to agreeing to unnecessary tests/treatment.
It’s a business after all and has to be profitable.

Blondiescot

*MayBee70*, your local vet will have an arrangement with another practice to provide 24/7 care in an emergency.

I know. It does say they provide emergency cover but I feel safer using a larger practice. I think vets are like dentists, though. Unlike GP’s you can actually go to any vets with a problem eg our dog always seems to get I’ll when we’re on holiday in Northumberland and we just go to a vets up there. Now they’re part of a large group but seem to provide a good service: I think it’s because a lot of their clients are holidaymakers. They also do a lot of free work for the nearby animal rescue. When my dog had a suspected pyometra they scanned her and didn’t charge me for it. They said they just scan as routine. They seem to have a different mindset to other big concerns (then again a lot of things in the Borders seem to hark back to a different era). The vet I use back home has joined a large string of vets and we rarely see the same vet twice. We used to see the same vet for years; he was like an old friend.

We're lucky to have a very good local independent vet near us, and we've been taking our dogs there for years. It's run by a husband and wife team and they have been very good with our dogs. I used to work at a vet practice for a short time (not the same one we're with) and it was run on a far more 'corporate' basis. Sadly, more and more vets are now being taken over by big firms, and while there are some advantages to that, you certainly do lose that personal touch - and they tend to have a much faster turnover of staff.

One of the big benefits of insurance is the third party cover. If a dog, let's face it, it's likely to be a dog, causes an accident, the owner is likely to end up in court. For me it's not just the medical costs that are important. I totally agree that costs have rocketed since the widespread take up of insurance but equally there's a lot more treatment options available. One thing to keep in mind is just because they can do something doesn't mean to say that they should. Difficult decisions I know.

I think all dog owners should have to take out third party insurance even if they don’t have medical insurance. A spaniel I once had took off from being walked across fields with another dog and they both ran towards a busy main road full of not just commuter traffic but people taking their children to school. My whole life flashed before me for a few minutes.

Just think this is how our own healthcare will be soon. I hope your cat or dog is ok Daisymae