FairyNormal Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 A friend of mine recently had to take her cat to the PDSA in the middle of the night as she was having kittens that got stuck and she was getting increasingly distressed. She isn't working, recieves incapacity benefit and was told unless she paid them £850 for them to do an emergency c-section, they would put the cat down and charge her £250 to do that! This sounds absolutely awful and she was so upset as the cat was suffering, but otherwise healthy that she agreed. They wanted all the money there and then but she begged them and they eventually agreed to let her pay so much in installments every month. She was told that if you can't pay, they just put the animal down! Obviously, she is really upset by this and can't believe how offhand and unsympathetic they were. Is this how the PDSA operate these days? I thought if you were in reciept of benefits you got treatment at a reduced rate or no cost at all. But the fact that they were so callous towards her was the real shock. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonbird Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 It sounds like it was vets now that your friend saw, they are not the PDSA they just use their building out of hours. The PDSA does have an emergency cover but you have to be registered with them, and be in receipt of either housing or council tax benefit to use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisalee Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Thats disgusting, how callous. She must be heartbroken. I wonder how much it wouldve cost to take her cat to a private vets, and if the outcome wouldve been the same? Send her my best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonbird Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Thats disgusting, how callous. She must be heartbroken. I wonder how much it wouldve cost to take her cat to a private vets, and if the outcome wouldve been the same? Send her my best But this is what I'm saying it is a private vet that uses the PDSA's building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Yes- this will have been the private out of hours vet, not the PDSA themselves. They're in the same building, but the PDSA do NOT do this sort of thing. I've been to see both the private vet and the PDSA out of hours and they're a world apart, even though they're in the same building. Your friend must have been absolutely mortified FairyNormal. I think that she probably wasn't at all prepared to think that genuinely her cat would have died without the surgery, but it's quite true. That is a true emergency procedure and the vet was speaking quite honestly when they said that the alternative to having emergency surgery was death for the cat- but I agree that effectively holding the animal to ransom for the payment is despicable. One little point BTW- the £250 for putting the cat to sleep was probably incorrectly described. That is actually their consultation charge and so your friend had incurred that charge just by taking her cat there in the first place. Euthenasia (even there) isn't that expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisalee Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 But this is what I'm saying it is a private vet that uses the PDSA's building. Why would the PDSA allow such a thing, if they know about it that is? Does the private vet donate a percentage of its disgusting charges to the charity? Why doesnt the private vet get its own premises? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Why would the PDSA allow such a thing, if they know about it that is? Does the private vet donate a pecentage of its disgusting charges to the charity? Presumably renting out their facilities is a way of making the vet centre viable for the PDSA. In a similar way, the emergency vets must pay to contract out the emergency service from local vet practices, or the local vets wouldn't be so happy to lose the income from emergency work themselves. BTW- I don't think that they are called vets4pets. I wouldn't like to open them up to any sort of libel when there is a vet practice called vets4pets which doesn't operate in this way. EDIT- I think they're VetsNow. vets4pets are a normal vet practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonbird Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Why would the PDSA allow such a thing, if they know about it that is? Does the private vet donate a percentage of its disgusting charges to the charity? Why doesnt the private vet get its own premises? I don't know the answer to either question I'm afraid, but the vet in question is part a big chain, and they have managed to corner the market for out of hours vets all over south yorkshire at least, they are actually running the out of hours surgery at most of the other vets in Sheffield too. There was a big thread about it around xmas time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedDemon Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Can i just add, this is NOT vets4pets. It's called "Vets Now" and they are the emergency vets that many surgeries now use to provide their out of hours service. Unfortunately, as everyone says, its nothing to do with the PDSA and their prices are absolutely extortionate! I believe it's around £80 - £90 just for a consultation. I hope to God i never need to use them. I can't believe that attitude, it's disgusting! However, Vets4Pets is a normal (fabulous) vet surgery at millhouses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedDemon Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 he he he just seen your edit moonbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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