Vet Bill query
Discussion
Hi,
My cat managed to get himself knocked over by a car this week. Thankfully we found him 2 days after he was last seen thanks to a very friendly local community.
We took him straight to the vets as he was clearly in pain. X-rays show he has broken one of his hind legs in 2 or 3 places.
We were initially given 3 choices: Surgery to fix it, Amputation or manage the pain and see if it gets better on it's own.
He's only young so I don't want him to lose a leg nor do I want him to suffer and potentially end up with a gammy leg.
We're happy to have him fixed up but i wanted to just query the bill as it's a little on the high side. Surgery is £4250. A couple of over night stays will be an additional £500ish plus a couple of X-rays so all in about £5000
He's not insured so we'll have to pay out of own pockets. Don't get me wrong. We're happy to pay it to get our cat back on his paws again. I just wanted to check that the bill is in the ball park of what others have paid for similar treatments. I know each surgery is different and the quality of the practice can vary.
Fingers crossed all goes well. I can post up the X-rays if needed.
Cheers,
Matt (and Elmo the idiot cat)
My cat managed to get himself knocked over by a car this week. Thankfully we found him 2 days after he was last seen thanks to a very friendly local community.
We took him straight to the vets as he was clearly in pain. X-rays show he has broken one of his hind legs in 2 or 3 places.
We were initially given 3 choices: Surgery to fix it, Amputation or manage the pain and see if it gets better on it's own.
He's only young so I don't want him to lose a leg nor do I want him to suffer and potentially end up with a gammy leg.
We're happy to have him fixed up but i wanted to just query the bill as it's a little on the high side. Surgery is £4250. A couple of over night stays will be an additional £500ish plus a couple of X-rays so all in about £5000
He's not insured so we'll have to pay out of own pockets. Don't get me wrong. We're happy to pay it to get our cat back on his paws again. I just wanted to check that the bill is in the ball park of what others have paid for similar treatments. I know each surgery is different and the quality of the practice can vary.
Fingers crossed all goes well. I can post up the X-rays if needed.
Cheers,
Matt (and Elmo the idiot cat)
|https://thumbsnap.com/gesoG6V8[/url]That's fair enough. if it's a fair amount to pay, even if it's a little on the high side. I don't mind. So long as I'm not being exploited in a time of stress where decisions are being made very much by the heart.
I'm not not wanting to pay for good service. I just want to be sure I'm paying the going rate.
He's all booked in for surgery on Monday. Currently very sore and grumpy asleep (of his head on opiates) in the living room.
I guess I'll not be getting the S5 re-mapped this year!!
If anyone is reading this while thinking about weather or not to get pet insurance. I think you should now know the answer!
I'm not not wanting to pay for good service. I just want to be sure I'm paying the going rate.
He's all booked in for surgery on Monday. Currently very sore and grumpy asleep (of his head on opiates) in the living room.
I guess I'll not be getting the S5 re-mapped this year!!
If anyone is reading this while thinking about weather or not to get pet insurance. I think you should now know the answer!
That sounds typical for that type of action. My kitten ended up with a top-jaw break after an altercation with another animal.
Total cost was about £7600, which was £100 over what the maximum over what the insurance would pay for a single incident. The other £100 would've been the excess anyway.
Total cost was about £7600, which was £100 over what the maximum over what the insurance would pay for a single incident. The other £100 would've been the excess anyway.
Dixie said:
That's fair enough. if it's a fair amount to pay, even if it's a little on the high side. I don't mind. So long as I'm not being exploited in a time of stress where decisions are being made very much by the heart.
I'm not not wanting to pay for good service. I just want to be sure I'm paying the going rate.
He's all booked in for surgery on Monday. Currently very sore and grumpy asleep (of his head on opiates) in the living room.
I guess I'll not be getting the S5 re-mapped this year!!
If anyone is reading this while thinking about weather or not to get pet insurance. I think you should now know the answer!
That's a lot of damage.I'm not not wanting to pay for good service. I just want to be sure I'm paying the going rate.
He's all booked in for surgery on Monday. Currently very sore and grumpy asleep (of his head on opiates) in the living room.
I guess I'll not be getting the S5 re-mapped this year!!
If anyone is reading this while thinking about weather or not to get pet insurance. I think you should now know the answer!
Pricewise with what you're saying you're in Fitzpatrick territory - who are very good indeed.
Edited by paintman on Saturday 16th October 21:32
Hi,
£5k depending on specialist would be perhaps ballpark however I am based near Preston and the referral centres near me tend to sort most fractures £3kish (Kentdale orthopaedics are highly recommended).
There’s a few factors that would make that tricky fixing but If the length of the tibia wasn’t shortened I would personally attempt to fix that for £1.5k with an external fixator and im pin.
Note I am not a specialist but have some experience in orthopaedics.
How old is the cat?
Tom
£5k depending on specialist would be perhaps ballpark however I am based near Preston and the referral centres near me tend to sort most fractures £3kish (Kentdale orthopaedics are highly recommended).
There’s a few factors that would make that tricky fixing but If the length of the tibia wasn’t shortened I would personally attempt to fix that for £1.5k with an external fixator and im pin.
Note I am not a specialist but have some experience in orthopaedics.
How old is the cat?
Tom
Thanks for your replies.
He's in surgery now. Although the surgeon has called to tell me that he's also broken his femoral head on the other side.
it doesn't show on the x-ray. The 4 other vets who's looked at him didn't notice it. But it'll cost another £2200 on a separate operation.
We cant afford it so he's having just one side done. There's an option to re-visit it later if it doesn't heal on it's own without discomfort. Our local vets would be able to carry out the procedure. It means he might have a limp. If they were to operate right away he'd be fine.
He's in surgery now. Although the surgeon has called to tell me that he's also broken his femoral head on the other side.
it doesn't show on the x-ray. The 4 other vets who's looked at him didn't notice it. But it'll cost another £2200 on a separate operation.
We cant afford it so he's having just one side done. There's an option to re-visit it later if it doesn't heal on it's own without discomfort. Our local vets would be able to carry out the procedure. It means he might have a limp. If they were to operate right away he'd be fine.
Edited by Dixie on Monday 18th October 18:09
Just to close this thread off. After deciding not to have Elmos hip operation just yet the Vets and the Surgery place offered to do it pro-bono for us. So in the end he had both legs operated on.
He broken leg seems to be as good as before he broke it now it has 2 pins in it. His hip will take longer to recover but he's walking about albeit with a limp. He's very bored having had to be confined to a crate for the majority of the time but he's at least back in one piece (mostly) and still with us.
Thanks again for all the replies.
He broken leg seems to be as good as before he broke it now it has 2 pins in it. His hip will take longer to recover but he's walking about albeit with a limp. He's very bored having had to be confined to a crate for the majority of the time but he's at least back in one piece (mostly) and still with us.
Thanks again for all the replies.
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