I don't know what to do anymore :(

gothicangel69 · Jun 29, 2007

The vet just called me back with the estimate on the surgery to amputate Zorro's nail/toe. They said it would cost between $600-700. I just cannot afford that. I asked why it was so expensive, and they said that it included the amputation (which was 250 alone), the medication, the anesthetic, and the want to send the sample away to check for cancer.
There is no way I can afford to get this done. The girl that called said that if I wanted, to check around and see if anyone else could do it for cheaper, but even if its going to be $300 or something, its still way more than I can afford right now. I just don't know what to do. I don't want to put him down just because his thumb/nail is dying. My mother suggested that I just wait and hope that it will die and fall off(the nail already looks about to fall off), but there's still the infection that I have to worry about. I don't think the vet is going to keep giving me antibiotics. He's already been on them for over half a month.
Can anyone give me any advice? What should I do? This is breaking my heart that I might have to put down my little man just because his thumb is infected. I could understand if it was his back again, but its not.

sharky · Jun 29, 2007

www.carecredit.com

gothicangel69 · Jun 29, 2007

I've tried applying for care credit, but I wasn't approved since I'm not working at the moment (I'm on maturnity leave). The hubby had to take money out of the loan for his last vet visits, and I still owe my mother $125 from his ex-rays and medication.

laureen227 · Jun 29, 2007

Originally Posted by gothicangel69

The vet just called me back with the estimate on the surgery to amputate Zorro's nail/toe. They said it would cost between $600-700. I just cannot afford that. I asked why it was so expensive, and they said that it included the amputation (which was 250 alone), the medication, the anesthetic, and they want to send the sample away to check for cancer.

Can anyone give me any advice? What should I do? This is breaking my heart that I might have to put down my little man just because his thumb is infected. I could understand if it was his back again, but its not.

i feel your pain... i would have the same problem. i would check around for less expensive places, have only the amputation done [forget about checking for cancer - if that's what it is, you'll see signs]. & the medication - are they talking more antibiotic? pain meds? what?
look into the care credit that Sharky posted about, too - they'll have a list of vets in your area that take it.

gothicangel69 · Jun 29, 2007

They said he would need pain meds and more antibiotics. I'm going to call around and see what the other clinics will do, but I already know that alot of them will say that they can't help unless I take the cat in for a vet check (which is $60). There is one clinic that is usually a little lower in cost than the other ones. She has a hard time turning down people that don't have enough money(especially if they cry) so I might give her a call. Her clinic is a little sketchy, but if its all I can afford, then I'll go there.

graciecat · Jun 29, 2007

I hope something can be worked out.
Maybe if you asked about making payments they would set something up for you.
I'll keep you and Zorro in my thoughts and Prayers.

fosterkitty · Jun 29, 2007

what kind of surgery is it? Are they basically declawing just one toe? If that's what it is, then there's no way it should be that much. Way back when I was a bad mommy and got my first 2 cats declwed, it was only about $300 to get them both done, and thats 4 whole paws! I would ask around and compare prices. Also ask if the vet itself will take payments. When I got Henry's PU surgery done, it was a little under $800, and I wrote them several checks for $50 each and they cash them every 2 weeks on the monday after my payday. And this vet didn't know me from Adam, it was a new vet. Just explain to them your situation. But don't forgo the medication. He'll need antibiotics after his surgery, and probably at least a few days of pain meds. I agree to not do the test for cancer, if its cancer it will show up eventually. They can't make you do a test that you don't want. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

cloud_shade · Jun 29, 2007

There are several other resources:
http://www.imom.org
http://www.modestneeds.org
http://www.aahahelpingpets.org
http://www.help-a-pet.org/home.html
http://www.Angels4Animals.org
http://www.fveap.org
http://thepetfund.com

Hopefully one or more of these organizations may be able to help!

gothicangel69 · Jun 29, 2007

Good news. I got a call from another vet a few hours ago. This is the cheapest vet in the area (she can never turn people down if they don't have the money). I explained to her my situation and told her that there was no way I could afford something that expensive and that I didn't want to put him down just because I couldn't afford to remove a toenail.
She said that what I should do is ask my vet for a different type of antibiotics and try those first, and that I should wait a bit if he's not in too much pain because they nail might just die and fall off, and then the infection will be able to drain and might clean up. She then said that if none of that works, they could just give him a local anesthetic, freeze the paw, and just 'lop the whole thing off'. She said that she couldn't see it costing more than $100-150.
So anyways, I finally got some good news and feel much better about the situation now. I have to call my vet on tuesday and get some new meds. If he says no, then I'm going to call this other vet. She was very very helpful.

laureen227 · Jun 29, 2007

that is good news! a load off of your mind, i know!

bella713 · Jun 29, 2007

Oh poor Zorro...I'm glad you found a solution to this!

gothicangel69 · Jun 29, 2007

I'm starting to get a little ticked off with my regular vet. I don't want to switch vets since Zorro has some weird problems, and this vet has been working with him since he was a kitten and knows how his body works, but he's the kind of guy that tries to scam people out of their money. I mean, he's given me alot of free vet visits, and he's great at finding out what is wrong with Zorro quickly, but he's just so expensive and has these stupid charges for everything.

bella713 · Jun 29, 2007

Originally Posted by gothicangel69

I'm starting to get a little ticked off with my regular vet. I don't want to switch vets since Zorro has some weird problems, and this vet has been working with him since he was a kitten and knows how his body works, but he's the kind of guy that tries to scam people out of their money. I mean, he's given me alot of free vet visits, and he's great at finding out what is wrong with Zorro quickly, but he's just so expensive and has these stupid charges for everything.

Maybe you should change to the Woman vet that called you...is that possible?

mschauer · Jun 30, 2007

Originally Posted by gothicangel69

She then said that if none of that works, they could just give him a local anesthetic, freeze the paw, and just 'lop the whole thing off'.

As in remove the entire paw??? Isn't that a bit extreme? Whatever this vet is suggesting you might want to run it by your regular vet. There might be a very good reason why he hasn't suggested it.

kathryn41 · Jun 30, 2007

I think it referred to freezing the entire paw and then lopping off the damaged claw - not lopping off the entire paw. Just a misunderstanding by the way the phrase was written, I expect.

This female vet sounds a lot more reasonable and realistic. Good luck with the surgery.

I know when I had major vet costs my vet let me sign an interest free repayment agreement. It took nearly a year to repay what I owed but I did get it all paid off and appreciated the arrangements.

gothicangel69 · Jun 30, 2007

I'm not sure whether I want to switch vets or not. I havn't heard anything bad about this one, but I have heard that they are not the cleanest smelling place since they take in dozens of strays and try to re-home them (hence the smell).
I'm reluctant to switch just because Zorro is not your regular cat and has a lot of weird problems. Zorro has grown up with this vet and the vet knows how his body works.
Its something I need to sit down and think about anyways. I'd like to take him in there just to see what they're like, then make a decision.

I cleaned out his paw today, and it doesn't seem as infected(the peroxide didn't bubble as much as usual) Its also starting to bleed a lot more. I'm hoping that that's a good thing though since it's draining blood instead of pus. Hopefully that means the infection is starting to go away. I'll probably keep letting it bleed for another few days, then let it scab over and see what happens.
Hopefully I'll be able to get some different antibiotics on tuesday.

tink80 · Jul 1, 2007

i've noticed that some of the practices will work out a payment plan with you if you express this to the doctor in person rather than the front desk. some of the smaller practices do this but i used to work at a fairly large hospital that did when the patient told the doctor about their finances. it just depends on the doctors. i am hoping that someone in your area would consider this and sending you positive thoughts.

littleraven7726 · Jul 2, 2007

Originally Posted by gothicangel69

I'm not sure whether I want to switch vets or not. I havn't heard anything bad about this one, but I have heard that they are not the cleanest smelling place since they take in dozens of strays and try to re-home them (hence the smell).
I'm reluctant to switch just because Zorro is not your regular cat and has a lot of weird problems. Zorro has grown up with this vet and the vet knows how his body works.
Its something I need to sit down and think about anyways. I'd like to take him in there just to see what they're like, then make a decision.

I cleaned out his paw today, and it doesn't seem as infected(the peroxide didn't bubble as much as usual) Its also starting to bleed a lot more. I'm hoping that that's a good thing though since it's draining blood instead of pus. Hopefully that means the infection is starting to go away. I'll probably keep letting it bleed for another few days, then let it scab over and see what happens.
Hopefully I'll be able to get some different antibiotics on tuesday.

Well, I don't think you have to completely switch vets. The way I understood it you would just be taking him to her for this one procedure? That's not a big deal. Another option would be to talk directly to your vet about a payment plan.

I hope you can get it figured out soon.

dragonfly183 · Jul 2, 2007

Ok, this is probably going to sound kind of bad to some people on here. I seem to be a favorite drop off spot for animals so i see a lot of weird and terrible injuries.

i had a cat with a broken tail. i mean more than just the bone too, circulation was cut off to it at the point on the break. I couldn't take her to the vet and there is not a vet in my area that will help. There all to worried about lining there pockets.

i fed her brewers yeast and echinacea to help fight off any infection and waiting to see what happened. The part of the tail without blood flow just shriveled up and fell off, that was it. No infection, nothing.

You mentioned her toe was dying? If what ever is making the toe die is not going to spread you may want to wait and see if it will just shrivel up and fall off. Nature has away of taking care of some things herself.

hana · Jul 3, 2007

Hi,
I would not wait to see if it shrivels off. From personal experience from my own body, that is. I also had a lower leg, near my foot tear. It seemed to have even healed quite well, until it got puffier. It got an infection, and I ended up in a big name hospital for several days of treatment, as it had gotten infected. If I had not been treated, the infection would have traveled to further parts of my body and eventually broken my body down.

I agree very much with others about how requesting to do the payment in portions. First off, if your vet gave you some "free" appointments over the years, that was very kind of him/her. Because time and knowledge is worth much money.

My cats are in my family. And I would do whatever I can to keep them in shape.

Best Wishes for you and your kitty!

I don't know what to do anymore :(

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