Help with Vet Payment

drhazard

This is kind of a weird request, but my cat's lower lip is swollen. I'm gathering it's most likely an allergy, so when I take him to the vet, he'll just get a shot of steroids or antibiotics. Really, though, I kind of want to know how much that sort of thing will cost before walking in, as I don't have much experience with vets pricing things. I don't have pet insurance or anything, so has anyone had this sort of thing and know how much it costs?

Ein

My parents are both vets, and I happened to have my father handy with thanksgiving and all, so I pitched your question over his way. This is what he wrote:

What is the cause of your cat's lower lip swelling? I would need to know more to give you a proper evaluation: how big is swelling, how long it has been there, has it had it before and it recurred, does it bleed, how old is your cat, does it go outside, get into fights?

An allergy is a possible, but highly unlikely cause of this sort of thing for most cats.

It could be a tumor,an abscess (pocket of infection), or juvenile acne (in young cats).

Hard to tell without seeing it.

As far as cost... depends on where you live; an office visit/exam in Northeast USA will run about $75.00, with medicine, about $120. In the south, it could cost 1/2 to 1/3 less. Surgery would add to this (as in on an abscess), tumor would be more , say about 100% more at least.

So, ballpark, not less than $100, not more than $350 approx (that last number is in the event of surgery).

Hopefully that might help you a little bit.

drhazard

It's an indoor cat, by himself, only a little over a year old. This is the first time it's occurred, and it actually isn't that big--I only noticed it because he seemed to be a little ornery last night at Thanksgiving. At first I chalked it up to having a lot more people in the house than normal. And I thought it might just be an allergy because a) I did just replace his feed bowl and b) I'm sure my parents gave him a few scraps though I told them not to. It's just a little red and larger than normal. No bleeding, no obvious pockets of pus or anything, just a little swelling.

That's a little more expensive than I imagined--I may try to guilt my parents into helping with it, especially if I can convince them it may be an allergy to Thanksgiving dinner. :P

mts

if you think its allergic see about giving some benedryl or other antihistamine. we give it to our dog when she gets something she shouldn't. You can find doses online and or find out if its toxic

Deathwing

You can find doses online and or find out if its toxic

While this may indeed be possible in some cases, giving your cat medicine just because you read it online or it worked fine in a dog can be a very, very, very bad idea to mess around with - for example, acetaminophen (Tylenol) can be given safely to dogs in small controlled doses, while the same amount (or less) would mean a virtually certain death sentence for a cat. Many pills that contain benadryl also contain acetaminophen, if you're careless you could end up with a very serious situation.

I hate to sound paranoid, but please don't start giving your cat any medicine for this based on anything but advice you get directly from a vet.