how much to allow for emergency vet costs?

January 22, 2006 5:55 PM

How much money should we allow for cat veterinary emergencies? This is for our cat sitter or vet to spend to fix up our cat, without contacting us, if we're incommunicado. We're putting together a letter of consent for the cat sitter and vet.

We love our cat very much, and really wouldn't want to have any situation come up where the vet can't treat him. We'd also like to put our cat sitter's mind at ease -- this was her idea, and I can completely see why she would want this kind of letter to protect from any misunderstandings.

After doing some internet research, our letter currently says we'll authorize any treatment "the bearer deems necessary" and that would not "cause suffering and discomfort if there is little hope of his continuing to have a good quality of life", but not more than (and this is where we need a good number) $5000.

Is $5000 enough? My partner thinks that surely we'd be reachable before anyone needed to spend more than that; I'm not so sure -- we could be anywhere, and it would give me peace of mind to know that, whatever happens, he'll be taken care of. On the other hand(s), we don't want there to be any potential for abuse of this document, and I want to be reasonable.

In your experience, what do the most expensive cat emergencies cost?

posted by amtho to Science & Nature (15 answers total)

My pet sitter service has a default of $1000/per animal.

We figured that the chance of us being COMPLETELY unreachable and our 2 backup people (a neighbor and one of our parents) would be so rare...
posted by k8t at 6:25 PM on January 22, 2006

I also tell people watching my animals to feel guilt free to authorize stuff up to about $1000, but I also always have a cell phone or backup person always available, so I'm never really more than a couple hours away from voicemail. It's mostly to put their minds at ease -- I have a hard time imagining a vet not doing their best to contact me whatever the issue, and I also can't imagine something more than $1000 springing up in a couple hours. I think the fact that the vet will need to be paid (and won't be paid in advance by the sitter) will naturally restrain potential abuse. I would probably pay more for my animals' care, but I would definitely like to know what's going on step by step and be making those decisions.
posted by dness2 at 6:34 PM on January 22, 2006

I definitely think that's enough money - we gave our cat sitter $1000 for emergency surgery when we went away. The only emergency surgery our cat ever had to have in his 20 years with us cost about $600 (to have something removed from his throat). Great idea to have written consent as well, btw.
posted by meerkatty at 6:42 PM on January 22, 2006

Little crises can be expensive, though. My cat got constipated last weekend and the vet kept him overnight and gave him laxatives and enemas. No surgery involved, although he was catheterized for IV fluids. Cat who can poo again = $1350. (Cat who purrs again, priceless.)
posted by nicwolff at 7:04 PM on January 22, 2006

$5000 is plenty. Surgery and chemotherapy over 6 months for my dog didn't cost that much. Doing animal rescue I've had plenty of emergency clinic vet bills, and none have ever gone over a thousand in a weekend.
posted by Meredith at 7:18 PM on January 22, 2006

Cat who can poo again = $1350.

That is waaaay overcharging and totally unethical. I've had arthroscopic surgery on a horse at a full service hospital and aftercare for less than that. I know small animal vets charge more but I also had my dogs ACL repaired for $1500 with a 2-day stay and all follow up treatment. I would get a new vet.

My recommendation would be to get pet insurance and allow them to charge to the full amount of the policy! Make sure you work out the details of notification beforehand, most pet policies require notification prior to treatment and probably only from a few designated people.
posted by fshgrl at 7:33 PM on January 22, 2006

I dropped $1600 on exploratory surgery for a bowel obstruction. My parents probably just dropped $2k or so for emergency treatment of hyperthermia, transfusions, and lots of drugs (the cat had gone through about 20 minutes of a cycle in the dryer; she's fine now).

$5k sounds like a good number. I can't imagine that not covering just about anything that might occur.
posted by Netzapper at 7:58 PM on January 22, 2006

I'd say that $5000 is easily enough to treat pretty well anything that might come up, even if there's an emergency clinic surgery involved (unless you live somewhere where vet fees are extraordinarily high). What I do is put my credit card on file with my vet clinic (which offers emergency services). You could also call your local vet emergency clinic and ask what their average fees are for a cat, just to get a rough idea (and ask what their highest fees have been, and what they've been for), just make sure you aren't asking this when their clinic is chock full of sick animals.

Good for you for looking out for your kitty AND your cat sitter (having been a pet sitter, there is nothing scarier than having an emergency and no way to contact the owners and no idea how much or IF they'd pay to fix it).
posted by biscotti at 8:11 PM on January 22, 2006

$5K should be plenty in most situations. You may want to ask your vet about a sort of pet living will -- what you want them to do if the cat is seriously hurt and neither yourself nor your "second" can be reached. When we were abroad for awhile, the person cat-sitting was essentially the cats' god-mother (for lack of a more appropriate term), but she knew to call my parents (they live cloest, and know the cats best) if anything went seriously awry. In addition to the letter (and psychotically detailed instructions, which I have previously provided an example of) I'd be sure to leave a "back up person" in case you are really, really unreachable who is authorized to make decisions that the cat sitter shouldn't be obligated to make (unless, of course, the cat sitter is the "second," but you knew that). Credit card on file as biscotti says is also a great idea.
posted by Medieval Maven at 8:14 PM on January 22, 2006

I'll second pet insurance and say it's reasonably priced, although I won't provide links 'cuz it's late and I'm so damned tired. Maybe tomorrow. Sorry.
posted by Shane at 8:15 PM on January 22, 2006

Funny, I was just talking to my wife about this (and she's a Vet Tech at an emergency hospital). She said that your "basic" emergency surgery would run you $1000 to $1500, without an extended stay or major follow-up work. I would guess that half of your estimated amount would be plenty, unless you are planning on being incommunicado for days on end.

I'd also add that if you have a regular relationship with your vet, you may want to clue them in about the authorities to be granted to the sitter - just so there is no confusion about the letter of consent at a critical moment. They may even be willing to put a copy of it in the animal's record so your sitter doesn't have to search for it in an emergency.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:54 PM on January 22, 2006

My sister's dog had to have knee surgery... she had a fouled up tendon of some kind. I believe it cost them about $2200 total, start to finish.

You might just look at it this way: at what amount would you balk at saving your cat's life? Set the limit at that amount. You're done.
posted by Malor at 10:45 PM on January 22, 2006

For what it's worth, $5k is the number I've always used. I assume that if something worse than that happens, somebody will be frantically tracking me down.
posted by I Love Tacos at 6:26 AM on January 23, 2006

What soaks up the money is the after-hours emergency clinics. They can take an animal in the evening, do practically nothing with it, and the bill will still be four figures the next day. While spending the same amount of money at the regular vet will go a very long way.

So assuming you might not be obtainable for 4 days, I'd think you just need enough to cover the worst case scenario - which would be the pet getting ill Friday night, and so it is Monday before it can be transferred to a clinic with reasonable rates. If the pet sitter was taking the time to transfer between clinics, I imagine you'd be hard pressed to burn through $3000 in four days, so $5k seems plenty.

More to the point - what kind of clinic would deny treatment (to a known, repeat customer) by requiring upfront payment, let alone if the sitter has already laid a grand (or more) on the table upfront?

Unless you plan to be uncontactable for months at a time, even a $5000 emergency shouldn't need $5000 at the time of the emergency.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:27 PM on January 23, 2006

Sorry, ignore that last half, I was thinking of the authorising of cashflow, not the authorising of the proceedure.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:31 PM on January 23, 2006