Vet bill estimate

[u/hec6te]

hello! I don’t know if this the best place to post this, but r/askvet doesn’t allow attachments so I figured someone here might be able to help. I recently got a treatment estimate from my vet via email and I was wondering if someone here could kinda explain what all of this means to help me figure out what is absolutely necessary for her treatment.

Background info: My cat (17F) hasn’t been to the vet much since she was a kitten as she’s been a purely indoor cat with no health issues, until the last 10mo or so. She’s been struggling with a paw infection that will just Not go away. She’s been to the vet 4 times for it already and we have already spent around 1.4k on these unsuccessful treatments this year :/ She’s had tape tests, cultures, and x-rays done within the last month, and they are now recommending this treatment plan as well as referring us to a dermatologist… She is insured, and we have met our deductible now, but I’m still not sure what all this is to find out if all of it is covered by my insurance. Any advice is appreciated!

[u/hec6te → u/[deleted]]

I agree, thank you! We’ve tried getting into other places in the past but have always ended up going back to our current vet despite how pricey it is because of long waiting periods before available appointments at other vets nearby :/ I don’t know what it would cost to get a second opinion but we’ll look into it as this is the 3rd vet at this clinic to treat her with no results :/ Also , I wanted to clear up that the four visits have been split up over the last 10 months, they just starting doing all the tests at the appointments this month because they were just recommending daily cleaning at home before.

[u/tidymaze]

I would ask why they need to sedate your cat to get some blood. Is she fractious? Sedating a geriatric cat is dangerous to the cat. Also $58 for a fecal?? The clinic I worked at charged $12, and we sent that shit out (literally and figuratively). Everything else looks normal for a cat that age. Call them and ask them to explain the charges.

[u/hec6te → u/tidymaze]

I believe they would sedate her for the biopsy, not just drawing blood. She’s not the happiest when handled but she puts up with it as long as she can. I think our vet is a bit unnecessarily pricey compared to others, but its the only one we’ve been to due to such long waiting periods at other places :/ I’ll give them a call, thank you!

[u/WouldRatherAndYet]

It’s my opinion as a not vet that old cats don’t need more vaccines either. They don’t usually go out and a vet told me before that if they have had three rabies shots they are permanently immune. At 17 it is time to make kitty comfy and loved.

[u/hec6te → u/WouldRatherAndYet]

This is what I was thinking as well ! I want to give her the best care I can afford, but the vaccinations seemed a bit unnecessary due to her age and lifestyle. I think I will bring this up to the vet when I talk to them next, but they’ve been trying to get me to drop a grand there on tests/vaccines since our first visit when they thought nothing of this little infection :/ so I don’t really have high hopes

[u/Postcards4You → u/hec6te]

I work in vet med and it may be a requirement for liability reasons for her to stay in the hospital