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£800 for Vets Fees

S

Smudgaggie

New Born Pup
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Hi

So I took my little girl Maggie (5 1/2yrs) to the vets with suspected UTI, the usual squealing while using the toilet. Antibiotics haven't cleared anything up so took her back to the vets today, and she had a scan. Turns out it's a bladder stone. They have quoted me £800-£900 for the op and anesthesia. The vets I went to can't do the surgery so therefore will have to take her to a specialists.

This seems a bit extortionate, however I understand its a specialist surgeon. I have tried to find a one a bit cheaper but I'm also doubting whether I should incase they aren't as good as what they do.

I unfortunately (and regrettably) don't have insurance, so I can pay in monthly installments.

Anyone else know of similar costs? I live in the North East of England, UK

Thanks in advance!
 
Do you have a vet fund? If not it would be a good idea to put some money aside each week/month as vet bills can ramp up when a pig gets poorly. This is better than insurance when it comes to guinea pigs.
Sorry I can't help more with your actual question but I thought I'd pop this in as a suggestion :)
 
I don’t know whether that is reasonable but it may vary between surgeries. I take it the specialist experienced in treating guinea pigs, hence the referral?

We have done recommended vets you could check out but be aware of the delay this may cause. Please can you also add your location to your profile. County or just UK will do 😊

Vet Locator
 
Eddie & Elvis said:
Do you have a vet fund? If not it would be a good idea to put some money aside each week/month as vet bills can ramp up when a pig gets poorly. This is better than insurance when it comes to guinea pigs.
Sorry I can't help more with your actual question but I thought I'd pop this in as a suggestion :)
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Yea, should have done! I definitely will be from now on as I've read kidney stones can come back 🤦🏻‍♀️
 
Siikibam said:
I don’t know whether that is reasonable but it may vary between surgeries. I take it the specialist experienced in treating guinea pigs, hence the referral?

We have done recommended vets you could check out but be aware of the delay this may cause. Please can you also add your location to your profile. County or just UK will do 😊

Vet Locator
Click to expand...
I thought maybe as it's classed as an emergency, or out of hours kind of treatment with working around Covid-19.
Thanks I'll have a check of them out!
 
Smudgaggie said:
Yea, should have done! I definitely will be from now on as I've read kidney stones can come back 🤦🏻‍♀️
Click to expand...

Bladder stones can be linked to diet or be down to genetics.
There is obviously nothing you can do about genetics and sadly some piggies are just more prone to them, but you can have a look at the diet - are they eating too many high calcium veggies (kale, spinach, parsley) and most importantly is their drinking water being filtered and are pellets kept limited (one tablespoon per day) (or removed entirely for bladder piggies can sometimes be advisable). These measures can go towards helping prevention
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Lady Kelly said:
Yea my total bill when Donald had a stone was around £1000. That included several overnights at the hospital and his cremation
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Oh no I'm sorry that he didn't make it. This is one thing I'm worried about whether she'll make it though. She is perfectly happy day to day, eating, drinking, begging for veggies in the morning, playing. The only thing is the squealing, poor thing. It needs to be done though I guess.
 
Judith at first vets in forest hall operated on my boy, it was less than half that. She is an excellent cavy savvy vet.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Bladder stones can be linked to diet or be down to genetics.
There is obviously nothing you can do about genetics and sadly some piggies are just more prone to them, but you can have a look at the diet - are they eating too many high calcium veggies (kale, spinach, parsley) and most importantly is their drinking water being filtered and are pellets kept limited (one tablespoon per day) (or removed entirely for bladder piggies can sometimes be advisable). These measures can go towards helping prevention
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Click to expand...
She eats romaine lettuce, cucumber, either red or yellow peppers (depending which ones I have in) few leaves of parsley occasionally, carrots and brocoli occasionally. I give her selective guinea pellets and Timothy hay. I have funnily enough just bought a water filter so have been using that for the past few weeks to fill her water bottle. I'll definitely be reviewing her diet
 
Hi. It is a lot of money.
I like others have a piggie fund. . . If The vet is saying you can pay monthly . . That helps.
I've paid a small fortune on these poop machines. . When ever I get a piggie . .I tell them 2 things.
1 I will love you.
2 you will not suffer.
That's a deal that cost me but I will do whatever I can. I like you talked to vet and we got it sorted.
 
Smudgaggie said:
Oh no I'm sorry that he didn't make it. This is one thing I'm worried about whether she'll make it though. She is perfectly happy day to day, eating, drinking, begging for veggies in the morning, playing. The only thing is the squealing, poor thing. It needs to be done though I guess.
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It wasn't the surgery that did it though stone removal from the ureter is very complex and more so in males. He recovered well from the surgery and initially bounced back. Then he went down hill and the vet said it was the kidney on the opposite side that was swollen on examination. He wouldn't have been anywhere near strong enough to survive another surgery like that and the vet felt that the most likely cause was the stone blockage putting too much pressure on the kidneys so we decided it was kindest to let him go
 
Perhaps you could try contacting the rescues nearest you and see who they use - they may not be expensive specialists, but they will have more experience than the average vet. (Depending on exactly where you are, the nearest may be Gerties, North East GPR, or Tees Valley.)
£800 seems a lot to me. I paid about £250 when one of mine had a bladder stone removed - though that was about 5 years ago.
 
We paid a similar amount when Ruby had a bladder flush and various follow up treatments and medications.
That was also with a specialist vet - my local vet quoted me quite a bit less, but also admitted she hadn't done many similar surgeries, so in the end we paid more and went with the specialist.
We were also warned this could be a recurring problem, but thankfully with some very careful dietary control, 3 years later and the problem has never come back.
 
Smudgaggie said:
Hi

So I took my little girl Maggie (5 1/2yrs) to the vets with suspected UTI, the usual squealing while using the toilet. Antibiotics haven't cleared anything up so took her back to the vets today, and she had a scan. Turns out it's a bladder stone. They have quoted me £800-£900 for the op and anesthesia. The vets I went to can't do the surgery so therefore will have to take her to a specialists.

This seems a bit extortionate, however I understand its a specialist surgeon. I have tried to find a one a bit cheaper but I'm also doubting whether I should incase they aren't as good as what they do.

I unfortunately (and regrettably) don't have insurance, so I can pay in monthly installments.

Anyone else know of similar costs? I live in the North East of England, UK

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Would you be willing to travel?
 
Sounds about right. I would be booking appointment first to ensure I feel confident with that vet and ask how many successful ops like that they did etc.
Also ask about other costs like meds, follow up appointments and emergency /overnight stay. Many small vets don't have their own overnight care, so this will split the bill in two places. Piggie surgeries are difficult and aftercare isn't easy either so you're paying for a whole team of experienced personnel.
If possible, I book pet ops at the begging of the week so if I do have to go in as emergency I have more of a chance of it being during working hours compared to if they were done on Friday....
Hope your piggie recovers.
 
Gosh...... I know costs can vary ... last year I was quoted £500 for a procedure for Brownie .. I wasn't confident in the vet as they didn't have much experience operating on guinea pigs so I took her to a specialist and she quoted £200 ....

Turns out though that the operation wasn't actually needed and she has been on medication since, for pain, antibiotics and bladder trouble and is doing ok..

All the best!
 
Rusty's was £2,000 last year at an exotics hospital. I think there is a huge difference between north and south of the country in vets bills though. The exotics here charge £35 a minute for surgery so you can get a much cheaper before surgery estimate and then something unexpected happens and the cost sky rockets. I was originally quoted £900 for Rusty, make sure if you are given a price it's the actual cost not an estimate.
 
Swissgreys said:
We paid a similar amount when Ruby had a bladder flush and various follow up treatments and medications.
That was also with a specialist vet - my local vet quoted me quite a bit less, but also admitted she hadn't done many similar surgeries, so in the end we paid more and went with the specialist.
We were also warned this could be a recurring problem, but thankfully with some very careful dietary control, 3 years later and the problem has never come back.
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This is what I'm kind of thinking, if the specialist is charging that much then there's a reason for it, and thats because their specialised in what they do
 
Smudgaggie said:
This is what I'm kind of thinking, if the specialist is charging that much then there's a reason for it, and thats because their specialised in what they do
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Absolutely. There are some things which are more easily treated by non specialists that are more common but a complex surgery like this you want the best for for the best outcomes
 
Hi all

So thought I would give an update.

I took Maggie to Gilmoor Vets as recommended on here, and they have been great. She had her op on Monday straight away after having her second opinion appointment. Overall it cost just under £400 and I couldn't be more happy with the treatment and after care.

She's recovering well, and has perked up these last couple of days, even back to squealing with excitement at the sound of the fridge door as she knows her veg is on the way.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice!
 
I'm glad to hear all went well. May her speedy recovery continue. It's always a relief when they start their usual wheeking/begging ways :)
 
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