Pet insurance versus vet costs

[DaveM]

Oh Dave that is terrible - you and your family must be distraught :-(

Don't really know how I feel. Sort of numb really don't think it's sunk in. Having the 3 little terrors jumping allover me helps.

 

[freddielong]

My 3 year old ginger Maine *** got run over on Sunday. We were out, but luckily he made it home, and we found him at 4 when we got back. He didn't look great, obvious broken leg, and wasn't looking too happy. I took him to the emergency vet, as ours doesn't do weekends, and they took care of him over night. He went off a bit at 6 ish, and they had to bung him into an oxygen tent, but he was stable enough on Monday for me to transfer him to our vets.

They have put him under, done some analysis, taken some X-rays, etc.

He has now been transferred to a specialist centre in Hitchen.

Cost so far, £900.

He is insured for up to 4k per incident, which we thought was ok.

Current estimate to rebuild his leg, similar to Barry Sheen for those who remember, is about 4.5k.

Ok, so we would be out a bit, but he's our cat, and he is worth it.

But, he also has a potential leak in his trachea. Causing emphysema (I'm no doctor, so this could be wrong description). They are going to assess this on Monday, after his blood count has gone up, his leg swelling has gone down, and his abrasions have shown signs of healing. On Monday, he will get a general, and they will poke a camera down his throat. If it needs surgery to fix it, we are talking another 5k as they will need to open his chest up.

It will cost £75 a day to keep him there til Monday.

So, run over cat, total bill £9925, not including any on going treatment or care.

We need more insurance!

I see what you are saying but insurance is always about getting the correct cover not just taking the cheapest policy and at least you will only have to pay £5900 instead of £9900.

Sorry I didn't want the above to sound to cold as I also have cats and mine is barely 18 months and we have already paid out over £1500 in vets bills for a broken pelvis.

 

[USER1999]

I see what you are saying but insurance is always about getting the correct cover not just taking the cheapest policy and at least you will only have to pay £5900 instead of £9900.

Sorry I didn't want the above to sound to cold as I also have cats and mine is barely 18 months and we have already paid out over £1500 in vets bills for a broken pelvis.

It just never occurred to us that you could do £10000 damage to a cat without actually killing it. If it was on life support, then yes, rather than spend the money we would turn it off. But he looks fine. The nurses love him, he's making friends with every one. He's a great cat.

Hopefully his neck heals up a bit, and by Monday we can be better informed as to where we go from here.

 

[woody69]

So sorry to hear about your cat

I was unfortunate enough to hit one couple weeks back - felt so bad for the owners, little girl was distraught

But 10 grand on vets bills ?! That's way too much for me and how can they charge that much

You hit a cat with your car? Assume you were not paying attention and texting?

 

[TopOfTheFlop]

Just had our young dog out from the vets. She didn't eat for 4 days, bad case of gastritis but not before they did all kinds of tests and the bill came in at £1300.
John Lewis is our insurers - the vets doing a direct claim with them now, very good insurers and reasonable price to cover for good level.
Hope your little pet pulls through strong

 

[USER1999]

Good news, ish. His trachea has healed up sufficiently to not need operating on. I didn't fancy this, from a financial view, and also from a 'I don't want him opened up' view!

His leg is mangled though. Shattered bones, so he has had to have a bone graft from his shoulder. The operation went well apparently, and we should get him back later this week. We will have to turn the dining room into a mog recuperation room, as it's the only one not alarmed, and with no window sills to jump on.

It'll be nice to have him back though.

 

[Leereed]

Wow that is one hell of a bill.our Hungarian vizsla has just cost us £5,000 for both her cruciate ligaments doing.not insured.its a risk we took and lost.hope your dog ok.never see a poor vet.

 

[USER1999]

Brief update.

There wasn't enough blood supply to his leg to keep it alive, so he is now a three legged cat. And bald. Not sure why they had to shave off quite so much fur, but there you go. He's doing ok though, but it will be some months before we let him out again.

Total bill, around the 8 grand mark, so less the 4 from the insurance only leaves us 4 grand down. The vet did two of the ops at cost too, which saved us another 2. Nice of them!

 

[AmandaJR]

Good news Murph. Amazing how animals manage so well on 3 legs.

 

[JustOne]

Brief update.

There wasn't enough blood supply to his leg to keep it alive, so he is now a three legged cat. And bald. Not sure why they had to shave off quite so much fur, but there you go.

Nothing beats a shaved erm,.... cat!

 

[Pin-seeker]

Nothing beats a shaved erm,.... cat!

:rofl:
I'm not going to comment.

 

[williamalex1]

:rofl:
I'm not going to comment.

Never thought of you as being a pussy.:rofl: