Bloody Cats

[T.C.]

We have 4 cats, twins of 18 months old, our middle one who is about 4 and our fat cat who is 7.

Since October, the local Vet has made about £10,000 out of us as a result of the two youngest having been involved in car accidents on 3 seperate occasions (one had 2 accidents) but both of whom have made full recoveries and now never wonder beyond the garden fence.

4 days ago, our middle one went missing, and because he spends so little time indoors and because he has done it before, we were not overly concerned unlike had it been one of the others.

Anyway, came down this morning and there is Matt on the back doorstep obviously in pain. It was quickly obvious he had a broken front leg and a severe injury to his rear, so off down to the vet as an emergency.

Get the call this afternoon to say that his front broken leg and tail will have to be amputated, he has flybite in his injured rear leg which later on may also require amputation and this is before he has been assessed for any other possible internal injuries.

So, we have decided it would be kinder to have him put to sleep as there is no guarantee that he would make a full recovery, but in any case a cat cannot survive with only two legs, and Matt is not the sort of cat who would survive if he had to be cooped up in doors all day.

Thankfully he is insured, and if we had asked for them to treat him, the bill would have been somewhere up around £8,000, as it is, there will still be a bill of around £1500!

What amazes me is despite their injuries how the hell they get themselves home?

Is it any surprise you never hear of a Vet going bankrupt?

So now I have an upset wife and daughter even though they know that it was the right thing to do.

[HisNibbs]

A tough call.


They are part of the familly yet I'd find it hard to justify spending thousands to get them sorted. My kids though would have us re morgage....... When our dog had it's leg smashed up by a hit and run car I was realy glad it was insured. We had cover up to 2.5K but it still cost us around another 1.5K for a rescue mut. Right as rain now.

On the one had I'm a softy and luv 'em on the other, sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind.

[Samray]

Our cat occasionally brings me breakfast in bed.


Last time it was a chaffinch.

[BikerGran]

It's hard but I think it's often better to put them to sleep when they're in a bad way - and it would be awful to put him through a lot of treatment and STILL have to put him to sleep - without even thinking about the financial side.

We made this decision for a best beloved cat in 2005 and we still miss her even though we have three very different and very entertaining feline companions.

[T.C.]

It's hard but I think it's often better to put them to sleep when they're in a bad way - and it would be awful to put him through a lot of treatment and STILL have to put him to sleep - without even thinking about the financial side.

This why we made the decision to put him to sleep.

We went and saw him before the deed was done and he was in a right mess. He had multiple fractures of his front paw, and were he has been unconcious for possibly up to 3 days lying somewhere, the flys have laid their eggs and he was infested with maggots under the skin which they reckoned could take months to clear and even then there was no guarantee that his rear leg would not have to be removed. And this was before they checked for any other internal injuries or head injuries, so we considered it would be wrong to prolong his pain and suffering.

Thank god for pet insurance!

[jayboy]

Christ, that's terrible, we had this in March, our 3 yr old cat came home late at night, even using the cat flap and flaked out under the dining room table, had been hit. We weren't insured on her, resulting in an £800 bill we are chipping away at, she had a broken pelvis, dislocated hip and a ruptured spleen!
Was horrible thinking we'd lose her - the Mrs. was distraught.
She's been largely locked in the house since, the cat, not the mrs.! only being let out in the back garden if we are about, MUST get some insurance for her, but I'm not sure if previous injuries / Vet bills need to be declared - can anyone clarify?

[Aladinsaneuk]

i think you have too declare it

our vet recommended that you ring the insurance companies and get quotes for life, not just for a year.....

[T.C.]

MUST get some insurance for her, but I'm not sure if previous injuries / Vet bills need to be declared - can anyone clarify?

You need top declare any previous injuries or illness as some insurers will have a specific exclusion for previous or pre existing conditions.

One of our youngest had major surgery after his first accident and the area where they operated is now stronger than it was before, but the insurers will not cover him for any further injuries suffered to that area.

One suggestion, do not go with E & L Insurance We had to wait 4 months just to get the claim forms, a further 4 months to get payment and eventually I had to contact the FSA who very quickly managed to get a response and resolve the problem.

When we had to make a claim on his sister, the vet said they would submitn a claim directly, and they were kept waiting for over 5 months and then it was about £1K short so they had to do further chase ups.

I have found out subsequently that E & L have one of the worst reputations and is one of only about 2 or 3 insurers where the vets will not bill directly, but Tesco's (who our other cat and the one who has just died are with) and they have proven to be excellent, if that is any sort of help.

[BikerGran]

I don't have any insurance as we have 3 cats and it all gets a bit much - 2 of ours are fairly young now but we used to have 3 elderly onesa - and they bump up the price of the insurance when they are over a certain age.

I guess we've been lucky, I had an £80 bill many years ago when I was a single parent but the vet let me pay it off monthly, other than that the worst we've had was £248 for the last cat we lost - she'd had exactly the same traetment the year befgore and it had cost £134 and when we noticed that vet was planning to build an equine treatment centre we thought maybe we'd just change vets!

Overall, in all the years I've had cats I reckon I would have paid out more if I'd insured them - I've usually had 2 or 3 cats at any one time. Quite apart from the fact that like vehicle insurance, the cost tends to be higher if it's an insurance job!

I've opften thought it would be an idea to put away an amount each month for cat contingencies but of course I never do it.

[HisNibbs]

Our pet insurance was also with Tesco and they were great. I realy appreciated having the insurance as it removed the financial implications from the decision so we were able to focus on what was best for the animal.