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vet bills

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zarapiggie

zarapiggie

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just wondering how others cope with bills. i tried to get insurance, they wanted 400 a year! instead i opened a savings account which i pay into eachweek. mostly its for my own peace of mind. still trying to find a vet I'm happy with though.
 
I don't have a special account, but am lucky enough that I know we can "find" money if needs be, even if it means using a credit card or similar short term, there are so, so many "just in cases" that we'd have nothing left if we saved for everything that might go wrong (car, animals, house, boiler, appliances etc), but we do have access to funds in emergencies.
 
I'm putting money aside each month, insurance at that level is so not worth it. I've had two trips to the vets so far with my two girls having two injections (one for each on each visit). The first cost us £17.50 and the second £10 something so I doubt insurance would be worthwhile
 
I only save for my pets as they are my Number 1 priority everything else I can do without. Generally speaking we get the Nhs for most things so there's no other emergencies I could really have.

My list goes bills, animals and if there's funds left Me :)).
 
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flintstones said:
I only save for my pets as they are my Number 1 priority everything else I can do without. Generally speaking we get the Nhs for most things so there's no other emergencies I could really have.

Granted I don't have children but most emergencies ie health are covered by the Nhs, as for material belongs I can do without until I have the money. .
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well there is things not covered by the NHS really- for instance we're had some damage to our roof with recent winds which is going to cost over £1000 to fix in the next couple of weeks, it's all very well saying you can do without anything else, but it's really not practical for anyone to live in a house with a leaky roof as this will obviously cause damage to the house and make it inhabitable, same with things like a boiler going, that's a few thousand but no-one, adults, piggies, kids etc can live without heating an hot water, and am pretty sure the NHS wouldn't cover things like that.

I think whether you have a need to save depends very much on your circumstances, we live a very modest lifestyle, only have one car, haven't had holidays abroad since our youngest was born etc, as I'm a stay at home mum at the moment, but actually if we need to quickly find £500 or so for a vets bill one day it's not a massive issue as we do have access to money in various places, but not saved specifically for vets bills- for us any "spare" money goes onto our mortgage as obviously this is a huge debt and it's best to save the interest- yet it's also something we would have to borrow against in an emergency.
 
hellsbells82 said:
well there is things not covered by the NHS really- for instance we're had some damage to our roof with recent winds which is going to cost over £1000 to fix in the next couple of weeks, it's all very well saying you can do without anything else, but it's really not practical for anyone to live in a house with a leaky roof as this will obviously cause damage to the house and make it inhabitable, same with things like a boiler going, that's a few thousand but no-one, adults, piggies, kids etc can live without heating an hot water, and am pretty sure the NHS wouldn't cover things like that.

I think whether you have a need to save depends very much on your circumstances, we live a very modest lifestyle, only have one car, haven't had holidays abroad since our youngest was born etc, as I'm a stay at home mum at the moment, but actually if we need to quickly find £500 or so for a vets bill one day it's not a massive issue as we do have access to money in various places, but not saved specifically for vets bills- for us any "spare" money goes onto our mortgage as obviously this is a huge debt and it's best to save the interest- yet it's also something we would have to borrow against in an emergency.
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I wasn't aiming my comment at you, as I said there's no real emergencies that I could have. I understand people have other expenses.
 
That's a good idea, putting money away. I wouldn't bother with insurance because I have so many pets, and they rarely get sick. It's great if you have to pay out for something major, but that isn't that likely to happen with guinea pigs, more with dogs really (like if they need major orthopaedic surgery or something that will be thousands.) I don't have any money to put away! but I am lucky because I know in an emergency that my parents would lend me the money.

I know vet prices are a lot higher in the UK than in Ireland, but I've never spent more than €90 on a vet bill (for removing a benign tumour, my vet is exceptionally cheap though) and you usually have to pay the first €70 or so anyway if you have insurance. And that's in 16 years of having about a dozen pets, so I don't think insurance would have been worth it.

Then again, a girl I know has a Basset Hound, and he's only a year old and has needed so much surgery that it would have cost her thousands if she didn't have insurance. If she couldn't afford it then she would have had to have him put down or something, so it was well worth it for her.

I think of guinea pigs as quite healthy animals anyway, I know they can get sick, but not usually £400 worth a year . . . None of my animals ever have been very sick, just the odd sneeze or something!

Also I think some people go to the vet for minor things and spend too much, which is sometimes the vets fault, as some overcharge for tests they don't really need and stuff, and some overcharge for consultations in my opinion. I guess I am lucky because I've had animals so long and am studying vet nursing so I often know what to do when an animal is sick and often don't have to bring them to the vet, or can just buy the medicine from the vet or ask for advice. But I've known some people bring their animals to the vets for really silly things when there was nothing wrong. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but they end up spending a fortune that they don't need to.

Oh I think I went on a bit of a rant, sorry :))
 
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Oh I agree about dogs costing a fortune we had our dog insure for 16 yrs never an issue, she never got sick after she passed. We got another dog and thought we won't get insurance biggest mistake ever she cost 2,500 in vet bills that was 15 yrs ago so you can imagine how much she would cost now. Our next dog also cost a fortune. Now our dogs are insured :)) adleast we learnt after all they vet bills. Sods law it really is your luck!
 
flintstones said:
I only save for my pets as they are my Number 1 priority everything else I can do without. Generally speaking we get the Nhs for most things so there's no other emergencies I could really have.

My list goes bills, animals and if there's funds left Me :)).
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same :D
 
I recently learned you need to put money aside for piggies vets bills.within a few weeks of each other my 2 older girls both needed lumps removed ( which turned out to be both pure coincidence)costing us a pricely £300.00 .luckily my lovely mother in law contributed towards bills,and we lived out of freezer for a week .you dont hesitate when it comes to your animals do you ?
lynne xx
 
have you checked out the vet recomedations at top of health page .there lots on there you may get lucky.our local vets are crap we take our girls to a vet recomended to us and what a difference they are great
lynne xx
 
We have the dogs insured, and to be honest our insurance company have been a god send with Iffy and her eye problems, and yearly blood tests. Tinto had to have a small tumor (not nasty!) removed from the edge of hs right ear. It came up so quickly that i just didn't have the funds!

For my small animals i have money put by. But the vets i use is pritty good, and will bill you at the end of the month if you don't have funds on the day.
 
looks good,is it one which is recomended ? where in liverpool do you live just my mum lives in bootle( that sounded so random ),he he x
lynne
 
I have my cats insured but the piggies treatment is just paid out of mine or the OH wages or sometimes on the credit card although the nursery I work at is being taken over with a reduction in wages so I think a piggy fund might need to be started.
 
I generally have enough in savings that I can pull it for vet bills if needed... I limit the number of pets that we have because I know I can't afford vet care for more than two. Last summer we had a rotten couple of months when Frenzy had to have two surgeries (and passed away anyhow :() and then Linney needed antibiotics and surgery to remove an abscess on her back. I had to put it on my credit card and it was about five hundred dollars in vet bills in eight weeks! I have paid it off, but it was a rotten unforseen expense considering the fact that I'm a SAHM with three children to pay for on top of the piggies! And my hubby now refers to Linney as 'the two hundred dollar pig' because he was so stunned by the cost of her abscess removal!
 
I have a generally emergency fund that i started when i was working at 15 for avon :)) its been hard hit over the years with paying for college, books, rent sometimes if I'm very low on pennies, and dog vet bills.. but atm...i have £500 saved up from weekend jobs and putting spare pennies aside, which is the most ive ever had in it! Its great to know that if my babies become ill, i have some savings set aside for the vets :)
 
Oh the joy of vets bills ! 8...
I have found the more piggie experience and knowledge i take on board the more i self treat at home.
I have a well stocked guinea pig first aid box,and people to hand,cambridge cavy trust,forum etc who i can call on.
My guinea piglopedia is priceless and the diseases of domestic guinea pigs is also a must.
I have 20 of my own and run the rescue so insurance would be pretty pricey ! I did get quotes once for my own and it would have been around £2000 a year through exotic insurance as they only ones who do cavie insurance,other companys broker it but it will be through them.
My vets are...thank goodness.... very cavie savy xx>>> and i have a good relationship with them.I have 2 accounts one for my piggies and one for the rescue.I save directly with them by just crediting both accounts every month with rescue donations and my own money to the respective accounts,that way i am building funds up.If i have a big bill as i did once for darcys bladder operations they just let me split the bill,as i am regular client.
A poorly piggie is awful just like a family member being ill,when prospective adoptees visit the rescue i always ask can you afford vet treatment if required inbreeding
 
zarapiggie said:
still trying to find a vet I'm happy with though.
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Is there anybody who lives near you on this forum who can recommend a vet? It makes the world of difference - I don't mind paying someone who knows about gps and rabbits - I do mind when the vet clearly hasn't a clue!
 
I wish I had a guinea pig savvy vet, but there are none around here at all or anywhere even remotely close! My vet is lovely and brilliant with my cats and dogs (I wouldn't go to a vet who wasn't friendly) but like most vets, they don't really learn about guinea pigs.
 
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