Vet Bills

[SPARKLER1]

Just had to take cat to vets as she has trouble every summer with an allergies to grass mites. Was only in there for five minutes and was charged £77.
She had an anti-inflammatory injection, tablets, spray for food and frontline drops and frontline spray.

[SPARKLER1]

Shocking prices.

[trace2]

its cheaper to get insured

[SPARKLER1]

We have cover with pet protect but the excess is £75.
Frontline treatments aren't covered.

[WigWamBam]

We were insured, and found it wasn't cheaper for stuff like this because you have an excess to pay, and they won't pay for things like Frontline. They will also find any excuse not to pay out; our cat suffers with problems caused by the feline calicivirus, and because each manifests differently, the insurers took each bill as a new problem rather than an ongoing one, and wouldn't pay out because each was for less than the excess.

The insurance cost us well over £100 a year, and we weren't able to claim on it once, despite the fact that the problem is a long-term one. Even when it meant she had to have her teeth out, the insurers claimed that dentistry couldn't be paid out for - despite the fact that it was a medical condition the vets were treating, not a dental one.

We don't have insurance anymore.

[bubbaloo]

£75 excess seems alot.

we've got our cats insured with direct line and the excess is only £25.they also don't cover frontline/flea treatments but they do cover for pre-existing illnesses,which alot of the other insurers don't cover.

[Hermione1]

i have got a dog recently and was wondering whats the best insurer to go with. I can't believe vets are so expensive,

[Chandra]

The frontline drops and sprayu are not covred by pet insurance and they are about 10 pounds each. The antinflamatory inyection may be around 5 (it's covered). Special diet is not covered and in our case, a simple 3 kg bag of allergen free food costs 22. Our insurance premium is 50, so most times it works cheaper to pay the bill ourselves however, it felt so well when thay said they would need to do an allergy test that costed 250, it felt great to say "OK"

[Chandra]

and, the vet have two different rates,I have never found the difference between them but one costs 15 and the other 30. Sometimes I believe that I get the cheaper rate provided they don't have to write a prescription even if the prescription is charged separately

[Socci]

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[Chandra]

I think is based in your location and whether the pet is a pedigree one. In the case of dogs, the pottential for damage the dog has (how bad/likely a bit would be) it's also taken in consideration. Having said that, cats insurance are cheaper.

[oops]

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[sarjon]

I agree that you generally get what you pay for in a vets - they are looking after a member of your family after all!!

Just a question sparkler - have you ever thought about homeopathic remedies for your cat? I work in a pet shop and find that quite often the homeopathic stuff can work wonders with animals - cheaper too! It might be worth looking into.

Also, not to do your vets out of any business but you can buy flea stuff that is equally as good from a pet shop - you can't get flea drops for cats (because you have to have a special license to sell them for some reason) but you can get sprays etc.. Just a thought.

[SelfIndulgentVerySmugStrugstu]

my cherished dog who is well over 16 has just been diagnosed with vesticular disease, three vets visits-steroid and antibiotic injection each time cost £70. last year he was kept in for two days and had IV fluids and xray cost £250. to be fair he has never been insured, as a mongrel i think they tend to have less problems than pedigrees so didnt bother with pet insurance. in all the time we have had him (at least 15 yrs) i wouls say vets fees have cost in total about £500. i know i've been lucky with him.

[oops]

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[fostermum]

my vet charged me £60 for a phone call to say my dog had cancer even though we had talked about this before i left the surgery and made my wishes known,in all it cost me £300 to have my dog put to sleep.

[bubbaloo]

i would definately reccommend direct line.
we've got 2 cats and pay about £18 a month and they have the top level of cover.
we have used the insurance before and they pay the vet direct-all we've had to pay is £25,and like i said before they do cover for pre-existing illnesses which is great especially as most of the other pet insurers don't.

btw,our cats are 8yrs and 1yr old and aren't pedigree-just moggies.

[nooka]

It's worth checking around rates at different vets, our vet is fantastic, and I think very reasonable. I don't think insurance for cats is worth it on the whole, mostly all they need is their injections and a check up once a year. Frontline is definitely the best stuff for fleas (we had a cat with a violent allergy, but for most cats you only really have to treat them in the summer when there are more fleas around).
Our cat was run over a few years ago and the vet had him staying with them for a fortnight, with two operations, and I think it cost about £200. This year one of our cats probably had a brain tumour. The vet said we could have lots of tests including an MRI (at £1500!!!) but that it would make very little difference to the treatment, so she just went on steriods until she got too weak and wobbly and we had her put down We thought about a post mortem, but the vet said it would be quite expensive (she would have had to be sent away) and not really worth it.

My mother on the other hand is always complaining about how much her vet costs her for her dog (also has severe allergies).

So I would say shop around until you find someone with reasonable costs that you feel you can trust.