Update

[lexin]

I took my darling Smokey for her annual kitty wellness check up with the local vets. Her general health is excellent, though she is a bit podgy (5.02 kilos) and yet again I need to cut down her kibble. I’m sure it’s those treats; probably if we stuck to food she’d lose that weight.

The down side is that she has dental disease on two bottom teeth either side and will have to have them removed pretty sharpish. I have made an appointment for 28 September for this. Probable cost (sharp intake of breath) anything between £800 and £1,000 once you’ve taken into account blood tests, x-rays, anaesthetic and so on. This is more than my monthly income, and will have to come out of savings. She is insured, but I don’t think it covers dental problems; in fact I’m sure it doesn’t because I just checked. Interestingly, it covers things like acupuncture and homeopathy, neither of which work.

Comments

[stranger]

Same as above. The vet you have may be your best choice or only choice, but if you have other possibilities, check for lower prices. Plain tooth removal for my cats has been about a quarter of what you're estimating. That's without x-rays, but with anaesthesia and the various surgical charges. The handsome kitty in the icon has had a couple of teeth out, at different times. Some blood tests can be startlingly expensive, but that also varies hugely between labs, and therefore between doctors. This assumes all the teeth come out in the same surgery instead of two sessions or more (requiring two lots of anaesthesia and whatnot), that is.

On the other hand, a thousand pounds converted to dollars would nearly cover four tooth extractions for *me*, complete with reassuring oral surgeon, clever reassuring assistant, incidental x-rays and fancy painkillers throughout. I only had one tooth out, but they apparently thought I might be nervous about it for some reason. Maybe I was, just a little. There was a lot of reassurance. That part is probably harder to do for cats than people.

[lexin]

That much would cover four extractions for me, too, with reassuring dentist etc.