my cat has 3 stones in her bladder

[MrsBrady]

the vet said we could wait about a month if we wanted, but that she wouldn't want to wait much longer than that.

They have her today, not for surgery, but they were going to get a urine sample and recheck her for the bladder infection she had two weeks ago.

With running blood work, anesthetics, analyzing the stones, the actual surgery, keeping her overnight...blah blah - the works, I guess.
The estimate they gave me is $950 to $1,200 depending on time in surgery, blah blah.

This is a good vet - we just dumped our old vet after some serious problems with them (that's for another post).
She has her own practice and it's very clean and modern.

Do you guys know what this should cost? Any of you been through this? What did you pay?

[tencats]

1. I wonder what the detail on the charges are there.

I'm in Chicago and the clinic I patronize is a better one I think. They are a "full service" Veterinary Clinic, have well equipped lab and some equipment that other veterinary clinics don't have, so I think they are somewhat above average on costs. That said, I have had them perform a feline Cystotomy on five of my pet cats within the last 4-5 years. The charge for a Cystotomy is currently about $420, anesthesia $95 - $185, radio-graph $80, pre-op chem $55, urinalysis $40, stone analysis $65, pain management $28, intravenous fluids $58, office call/exam $56, and so on. Total cost for the males have been as high as about $2100 and was well beyond the estimate given prior to surgery but there were some little problems with his recovery. That one I had to work with the one Dr that I do not like or trust but she does the neatest little stitching on close up. For the female cats the cost has always been much lower, $680-$860, they always come home the same day and have recovered well. It helps a lot to have a good relationship with the Cat Dr for these kind of problems. The one Doc that I always aim for I know has saved me a good amount of $$. The clinic gives me two estimates for their work, a low and a high estimate. The Dr I like always comes thru on the low side and sometimes lower while the other four Vets always go with the higher estimated and then some additional costs. You always hope the surgery goes well and they don't develop any after surgery complications but its known to be a painful procedure for both the pet cat and human. The Cat Dr says its a fairly common procedure for them. Its much easier for the female cats, that I know. I would recommend that if your kitty isn't pissing blood currently, get her surgery done before her bladder becomes more irritated from the stones. You don't want to have to rush in later with a cat that is "blocked" because then the cost can really go up up up.

[MrsBrady]

3. i meant to reply to you, but i posted it to the original message

i put up a picture of the estimate

[MrsBrady]

2. here's a copy of the estimate

so waddya think?




I feel so bad for her. I hate that she as to have this.
:cry: We need a miracle to pay for it too. Things always work out, but still. This really sucks.

[haele]

4. Some vet clinics have a no/low-interest loan program that you can extend the cost over a year -

Or will allow you to postdate checks for up to six months on a monthly payment "plan" if you're a regular and you pay half up front.
Our vet allowed us to to do that with Moggy - his exam, dental procedure, surgery, medicines and biopsy cost around $1100, we paid $550 and they have 4 checks for $125 to go out one a month for the next 4 months.

Good luck on your baby.

Haele

[stpalmer]

5. Uh...I think vets are getting crazy with rates

My cat Beavis had a long history of bladder infections, uti's, stones, etc. He had surgery to remove stones from his bladder that cost about $230.00. That was 10 years ago. This year, he had to have his penis amputated because stones became embedded in his urethra, and that cost about $5000.00 (so "cheap" because the surgeon who did it wasn't board certified). Over the life of the cat, we spent over 12,000 buck, most of it in the last four years due to vet costs rising. Avoid the big box store vets like the plague: Banfield, for instance. Everytime we took an animal to them, the cost came out to about the same amount, no matter the diagnosis: $950.00.