cat - blocked cat--- how much does your vet charge for this?

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blocked cat--- how much does your vet charge for this?

My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650 to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you live?

On Wed, 11 May 2005 23:49:01 -0400, "animzmirot"
wrote:

My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650 to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you live?

You mean urinary tract blockage? I paid $800 in today's money, in
Toronto at the time it happened.

On Thu, 12 May 2005 03:51:48 GMT, John Ross Mc Master
wrote:

On Wed, 11 May 2005 23:49:01 -0400, "animzmirot"
wrote:

My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650 to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you live?

You mean urinary tract blockage? I paid $800 in today's money, in
Toronto at the time it happened.

I don't care how many years the vet went to school and how much his
new offices cost him it is totally unfair to ask a person to pay
nearly $2000 to operate on a cat. The surgeons time and someone to
assist and two nites in the hospital.

It seems unfair to ask a person to make that decision we all like to
say that we will not put a price tag on our pets life......maybe the
vet could do an unusually high dollar treatment for cost or
something.......

I'm sorry I know its not fair to blame the vet but these kind of
things hit home very hard for me.....my Golden Retriever who was my
saviour when I had a terrible accident at work that has disabled me he
always did stay pretty close to me but once I was hurt that dog never
left my side......I would let him outside to do his thing and he would
eat and maybe take a walk around the house making sure everything was
in order but then it was right back to my feet.......

Blaze was 12 years old.......I won't get into the lengthy explanation
of his problem but what I faced was surgery between $4000 and $6000
and a fifty percent chance of living through surgery......then another
fifty percent chance that he would live a near normal life without
pain......I was on limited income and sure to be badly in need of my
retirement investments......I was only 50 at the time .....how can a
vet ask someone to make that kind of decision.....??....I asked the
vet if he would take half down and $100 dollars a month in payments
and he informed me that he wasn't a bank.....

I put Blaze to sleep......I had two boys in college I still planned on
having 15 years of work and 401k deposits to give me a comfortable
retirement......I still sometimes think that I am very wrong on making
that decision......if it was me alone I would have done it in a
heartbeat and eat oatmeal the rest of my life if I had to.

Sorry for the rant but when I see these stories about large medical
expenses for pets it all comes rushing back to me....I later called
some of the animal insurance companies to see if they would have
covered the expense and the answer was no....three of the four said
that the animal had to have a reasonable prognosis of complete
recovery without defining reasonable .......pretty giant loophole I
would say.......

I hope no one has to ever has to make a similar decision and I can
tell you one thing its a lot easier to say what you would do right now
than when its staring you in the face.....

Brad

LIFE'S JOURNEY IS NOT TO ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE SAFELY IN A
WELL-PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS, TOTALLY WORN OUT,
SHOUTING... " HOLY @#$%... WHAT A RIDE!"

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...
My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650 to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you
live?

A few months ago, my cat had blockage and ended up with a ruptured bladder.
For anesthesia, cath, antibiotics, surgery, and 3 days at the vet, it cost
me around $500.

"Brad" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 May 2005 03:51:48 GMT, John Ross Mc Master
wrote:

On Wed, 11 May 2005 23:49:01 -0400, "animzmirot"
wrote:

My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650 to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what
kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you
live?

You mean urinary tract blockage? I paid $800 in today's money, in
Toronto at the time it happened.

I don't care how many years the vet went to school and how much his
new offices cost him it is totally unfair to ask a person to pay
nearly $2000 to operate on a cat. The surgeons time and someone to
assist and two nites in the hospital.

It seems unfair to ask a person to make that decision we all like to
say that we will not put a price tag on our pets life......maybe the
vet could do an unusually high dollar treatment for cost or
something.......

I'm sorry I know its not fair to blame the vet but these kind of
things hit home very hard for me

snip
Brad

Yes, it is absolutely fair to "blame the vet" for this type of price. It is
outrageous under any circumstances. Pure greed.

MaryL

"Diane L. Schirf" wrote in message
nk.net...
In article ,
Karen wrote:

My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A
trip to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and
$1650 to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine
what
kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's
our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do
you
live?

You mean urinary tract blockage? I paid $800 in today's money, in
Toronto at the time it happened.

I missed the original post, so I'm piggybacking.

Hodge's overnight stay at the emergency hospital for a fever, which
included antibiotics delivered through a catheter, a series of X-rays,
and I'm sure probably blood tests (I don't remember what all but I'm
reasonably sure they did blood tests), etc., was between $500 and $600.
There's also a premium in there somewhere for it being an emergency,
i.e., it's the only emergency hospital I know of in Chicago, so they
have to charge to stay open 24/7 since obviously volume is limited.
Given how much neutering under anesthesia costs, I can't imagine that it
would cost another $650 - $1,000 for unblocking and an extra night! So,
yes, it seems high to me.

--
http://www.slywy.com/

One of my fosters had trouble with labor and delivery. We ended up taking
her to the emergency vet on a Sunday afternoon. They did x-rays, IV, tried
inducing her, c-section and a spay, antibiotics and an overnight stay (we
picked her up Monday night) and it cost us $1500. That was with a 25%
discount because we are a rescue group. The kittens all died or the bill
probably would have been even higher.

W

"Shannon" wrote in message
...

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...
My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip
to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650
to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what
kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you
live?

A few months ago, my cat had blockage and ended up with a ruptured
bladder.
For anesthesia, cath, antibiotics, surgery, and 3 days at the vet, it cost
me around $500.

That was your regular vet who did the work? Take them to the emergency vet
and you might as well turn over your children's inheritance.

W

"Wendy" wrote in message
...

"Shannon" wrote in message
...

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...
My 8 year old male cat was blocked when I woke up this morning. A trip
to
the emergency vet later, we got an estimate of between $1250 and $1650
to
unblock him (with anesthesia), catheterize him, 2 overnights in the
hospital, antibiotics, and an analysis of his urine to determine what
kind
of blockage it was. That seems to be VERY high but then again, it's
our
kitty, so I forked over a $600 deposit to get things started.

What would your vet charge for similar circumstances and where do you
live?

A few months ago, my cat had blockage and ended up with a ruptured
bladder.
For anesthesia, cath, antibiotics, surgery, and 3 days at the vet, it
cost
me around $500.

That was your regular vet who did the work? Take them to the emergency vet
and you might as well turn over your children's inheritance.

W

Yep, regular vet. It's the only vet we have that's on call 24 hours and I
had to take Tuffy in at 4 a.m.

Shan