Oucha - Endoscopy cost?

[meriad]

For about a year now Harry has been producing quite a bit of (sorry if TMI) snot when he sneezes - he'd do a human proud. Anyway I mentioned this to the vet when we went for the boosters last weekend and as a result the vet recommended Harry be referred for an endoscopy because it's not quite normal for a cat to do that (he's been tested for catflu and that's all come back negative) He's also been tested for a specific bacteria that causes upper respiratory infections - again negative.

I got the estimate for the procedure from the referral centre today - depending on the diagnoses and any possible subsequent treatment needed - it could be anywhere in the region of £2000 - £2500. I just hope the insurance pays out for this and don't find something in his medical history that may be interpreted as pre-existing). Harry was previously insured with Axa and when they stopped the pet insurance business I moved him over to PetPlan as all my others were with them and because they're good. I just hope this move doesn't come back to bite me in the you know what. He's always been a sneezy cat and this is in his records, but the snot bit of it is new.

But with costs like this it's no wonder that people are unable to pay for vet bills - that's quite extortionate I think. I'm luck I have a credit card that has a bit of space on it (just) but what do others do if they don't have that kind of money?

[MarkB]

I appreciate that vet treatment costs, but it seems a hell of a lot. If it was £500 or so, although a lot, I could appreciate that they are using expensive equipment etc, but £2000

A friend of Dennis recently adopted a rescue cat and has been quoted £450 for a dental - just a clean - no extractions! - she can well afford it, but many can't and very few insurers cover teeth.

[emmab]

Ouch indeed. Can you get a second quote?

[meriad]

not sure Emma, the only other place Harry could be referred to for this procedure apparently is the Royal Vet College in London. But it definitely is a route I'll look at if the insurance comes back to say they won't cover and I have to pay it all myself.

I am hoping this is worst case scenario because I just can't see how it can cost that much?

Mark, I was expecting about the £500 mark as well; this number has thrown me just a tad

[emmab]

I have just had a rough look and the animals trust have a charge on their website of under £200 and another organisation give the cost at around £1300. May be worth shopping around a little...if that is the right choice of words.

[Marla]

I was just reading about using colloidal silver to treat many different types of infections in pets and upper respiratory infection is one thing mentioned. Might be worth a try?

[Lilith]

Snot fair!

Sorry!

Everything crossed here that your insurance covers this and good luck to the lad, hope that the endoscopy sheds some light on his condition.

Yes, we all try to keep one step ahead finance-wise in case of vet bills but sometimes that's not possible. My heart goes out to people who are faced with this dilemma and can't hope to raise the money

[meriad]

thanks all

Marla, colloidal silver is definitely something I'm open to once I know what I'm dealing with. I much prefer natural / non-invasive remedies where possible and if proven they work (and colloidal silver definitely has been proven time and time again). But I do think there is no avoiding this endoscopy to find out exactly why he's producing these amounts of gunk. Who knows they may well discover some undiscovered grass seed where it shouldn't be...

Lilith - totally agree about the snot fair

Emma, I'll definitely shop around if I find out the insurance won't cover. I am assuming that a vet will refer to somewhere else if I ask

PS: on a different note - my vet also charged me £36 for the referral letter; is that normal? I do like my vet but at times I really think they are a bit of a rip off

[MarySkater]

Meriad, that does seem an awful lot of money to look up a cat's nose and remove anything that shouldn't be there. In your place I'd certainly see if it was possible to get another quote from somewhere else, and I'd also check with the insurance company to make sure it would be covered. (Although they would probably want to check with the vet to make sure the treatment was necessary, and that would likely incur another charge for a letter.)

The two cats I have now are both insured. When I first adopted cats of my own, years ago, I insured both of them for quite a while. But as the cats got older, and the premiums kept going up, eventually I stopped the insurance. I could afford a vet bill of a few hundred pounds, but if anything went wrong that was going to cost thousands, it would be time to say goodbye to the cat. Maybe that sounds hard-hearted, but I know that I'll probably outlive my cats anyway, so at some stage I'll have to let them go. (In the event, both of those cats were pts for health reasons due to advancing age, so I never had to make the decision based on cost.)

Good luck with Harry.

Mary

[vic23]

Hi There,
My cat Daisy underwent a few tests a couple of months ago - One was to be an endoscopy at the local vets and although she didn't end up having the procedure, it would have cost maybe £250 (plus anaesthetic costs). There was also talk of referring her and this was going to be into the thousands (above my £4500) insurance limit, so it wasn't an option for financial and other reasons.

Daisy has had fairly limited treatment over the last few months and the total bill is currently at £1300, so I am so relieved I had her insured. I insured her with Petplan (as they were the only one who would insure her due to her age) and due to the fact that there are a number of listed exclusions on her policy, I was fearful that they would not pay out for some reason. However, they did - promptly - and have handled all claims with the vet directly. I honestly couldn't fault them to this point.

As an aside, there is a veterinary referral hospital in Cambridge, which you could perhaps obtain a quote from.

[mr_frisky]

One of my sister's cats is with Petplan and they paid out (up to 8k for an endoscopy and even a CAT scan - make your own jokes) recently, so you should be ok.

I took one of mine to the vets recently because she was making sporadic noisy breathing sounds, although no discharge, and he thought she was ok.

Hope he's feeling better soon.

[Crewella]

One of the reasons I'm so very fond of my vet is that, more than once, when faced with the possibility of doing expensive tests (especially on elderly cats and knowing we're always skint and also that we foster several cats for the rescue) he's talked through the likely outcomes and possible treatments with me. A couple of times, especially with gut issues, we have decided to just go with his gut (ha ha) feeling, bypass the tests and 'suck it and see' with a benign treatment like a change in diet, which did actually solve the problem. I'm pretty sure my last vet would have pushed for tests.

Of course there are times when tests are necessary, vital even, but I do think it's worth thinking through just how necessary they actually are sometimes.

Fusses to Harry, he needs a hanky! xx

[Mayday21]

Hi Meriad sound advice posted & there are vets who test for the sake of testing - as do some Drs! Fusses & (((hugs))) to Harry. On the plus, at least no bleeding nose a which can be a sign of blood pressure I have nose bleeds even though I take tabs ... dam annoying! Keep us posted on decision & outcome. Vivian

[meriad]

One of the reasons I'm so very fond of my vet is that, more than once, when faced with the possibility of doing expensive tests (especially on elderly cats and knowing we're always skint and also that we foster several cats for the rescue) he's talked through the likely outcomes and possible treatments with me. A couple of times, especially with gut issues, we have decided to just go with his gut (ha ha) feeling, bypass the tests and 'suck it and see' with a benign treatment like a change in diet, which did actually solve the problem. I'm pretty sure my last vet would have pushed for tests.

Of course there are times when tests are necessary, vital even, but I do think it's worth thinking through just how necessary they actually are sometimes.

Fusses to Harry, he needs a hanky! xx

Thanks for that. Both the referral practice and the receptionist at my vet seem to think it's quite dubious that the insurance will cover this. I now have a telephone consultation with another vet at my practice - one I really like and trust - and will discuss exactly that with him: what a likely outcome could be and what treatment would be needed.

I've had a week to think on this and given we've never really done any other testing into the sneezing I'm more and more thinking that going full whack into an endoscopy (or rhinoscopy) without even looking at other options is a bit of a rush into things. I don't know why but I really got a bit narked with this vet who suggested the referral because he kept saying - if that was my cat I'd definitely go with the endoscopy because you need to know etc etc.. and he made me feel like I was a bad pet owner if I didn't agree to it. He was also equally determined that Harry should go onto a hyperallergenic prescription diet which I said no to.

I'll discuss options with Thomas on Monday (he's on leave until then) and we'll see what gives. By then I should also hopefully have a definitive answer from PetPlan.

sigh..... why can't these things just be simple

[Crewella]

Sounds like a good plan, all paws here crossed. xx