‘I had to pay £14,000 in vets fees after my cat was run over’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd6ldg805yzo
Posted by reachingechoes
‘I had to pay £14,000 in vets fees after my cat was run over’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd6ldg805yzo
Posted by reachingechoes
28 Comments
> Without pet insurance
Yep, when you gamble on not taking out insurance, sometimes you lose badly.
No you didn’t you choose to i think some people in this country have forgotten how to prioritise and im now waiting for the down votes but come on cat’s are cheaper than that not to mention the suffering the poor thing has gone through and for all we know still is
The extremely high vet costs are now an animal welfare issue.
Veterinary care is now unavailable for many.
Prices are only this high because of the existence of pet insurance.
I’m sorry but this is cruelty and the vets shouldn’t have allowed it.
Maneesha had been found “freezing cold” and “dying of hypothermia” by a dog walker and was taken to an emergency clinic.
“He was in a dreadful state,” Walker said. “His jaw was broken in two places and his skull was crushed.”
“veterinary care costs in the UK increased by 63% between 2016 and 2023, external, driven by higher overheads, advances in care and growing corporate ownership of practices”
“60% of UK veterinary practices are owned by six corporate groups”
> About 60% of UK veterinary practices are owned by six corporate groups – up from 10% a decade ago, according to the Competition and Markets Authority
During that same period vet bills have gone up and up, rising at twice the rate of inflation.
I wonder if the two things are related?
£14K is a lot but people seem to not realise that medical procedures are fucking expensive, I had to pay for a private dermatologist, was in and out in 20 minutes and it was £1500. If you choose to have really expensive procedures done on your cat without pet insurance, then yeah you’ll get a huge bill
Can’t really complain they? They chose to spend 20 grand on a dog, they must be able to afford it. Same ppl complain about a dentist or mechanic or plumber’s bill for £500
>Walker, who owns eight cats, many inherited after her sister died in 2019, said she chose not to insure them because of the cost.
8 cats is… A lot. I have 3 and that seems like too many at times.
I’ve been working at a vets as a receptionist for less than a month and I’ve so far seen around five or six cats brought in dead or dying from being run over. Unless you live in a remote, rural area with very little traffic, I can’t fathom just letting your beloved pet out into the world and then being surprised when it dies
Maybe don’t let it outdoors to both wreck the environment and get run over then
Insure your fucking pets. Especially if you let them roam around roads alone. Private healthcare is expensive.
As always, redditors fail to take on the broader point
I saved nearly 4k this year on vet fees due to insurance because my rabbit broke his leg 💔 I worship myself every day for buying it.
I love my cats, but 14k is a lot and how is their quality of life after needing so much work totalling 14k.
Don’t let ur cat out then? Everyone says it’s unnatural to keep cats in but in the 80s and 90s everyone let their dogs out but they stopped bc it’s bloody sensible animal ownership. Cats can be harnessed trained you just have to put in the effort.
Letting your cat out is fine but you have to accept the consequences the cat is an animal that YOU are responsible for.
A catio would have saved you thousands, spared local wildlife, and prevented the cat crapping in neighbors gardens.
Has eight cats but can’t afford pet insurance. That means you can’t have eight cats.
You didn’t have to pay that. It’s a cat. Say goodbye & get another one.
“had to pay” is optional. Could have gone for put to sleep. Chose to spend £14000
I wouldn’t pay huge bills. I’d just tell the grandkids the dog went to live on a farm.
Cat insured for life who passed last year. I ended up paying £2.5k where total costs hit £25k.
Insurance is worth it.
Vet costs in the UK are so insane that you have to have insurance or accept that your pet can die early.
Alot of you think that’s how it is but no, many countries don’t really need pet insurance because vet care isn’t made artificially more expensive.
Vet/hospital fees are crazy. We lost one of our cats last month, she’d been ill twice in the last 4 years, vets fees came to £36,000. Unfo insurance was limited to £7K per year and in the 2nd claim we had to stump up an extra 20%.
Asked my dad a few weeks ago, what people did about pets that needed a vet, back in the 60’s. He told me, if a pet had an issue, it would be put down. People didn’t really have vet bills.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/vet-private-equity-industry/678180/
“Big-money investors have noticed. According to data provided to me by PitchBook, private equity poured $51.6 billion into the veterinary sector from 2017 to 2023, and another $9.3 billion in the first four months of this year, seemingly convinced that it had discovered a foolproof investment. Industry cheerleaders pointed to surveys showing that people would go into debt to keep their four-legged friends healthy.”
“Mars Inc., of Skittles and Snickers fame, is, oddly, the largest owner of stand-alone veterinary clinics in the United States, operating more than 2,000 practices under the names Banfield, VCA, and BluePearl. JAB Holding Company, the owner of National Veterinary Associates’ 1,000-plus hospitals (not to mention Panera and Espresso House), also holds multiple pet-insurance lines in its portfolio.”
The article only mentioned America but I think this has extended to the UK as well.
I feel like this article misses the point that the 63% price rise over 7 years doesn’t make the costs suddenly affordable. 14,000 would be about 8,500 without that increase, but you have to consider “normal” inflation, ten years at 2% and thats 10,300.