This is Doody. She and her brother Andy have recently moved in with us at Cil Farm, because their boss is not well. That's why we are visiting the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital so much at the moment. The reason Doody is showing a bit of bare leg is that she's recently undergone an operation.
The vet's bill came as a huge shock to me. As a farmer, I'm used to taking the value of an animal into account before sanctioning treatment by a vet. If the estimate is over 75% of the animal's worth, better to put it down. I know its seems callous, but that's how I was brought up to think. But how do you put a value on a cat. Anyway, at least one veterinary surgery has just received the sort of fiscal stimulus that Gordon Brown keeps banging on about..
I was bemoaning the fearsomeness of this financial blow to a friend of mine this week, who happens to be a retired vet. He recalled once treating a cat for a local farmer with a substantial acreage (which had been sneaked into the surgery by his wife) and being ferociously abused about the size of the bill. The conversation went something like this;
Farmer - How the b***** h*** do you expect me to pay bills like this, and its only for a b***** cat which provides no income at all.
Vet - The operation was complicated and time-consuming, and that is our standard charge for it. No-one else has complained, and there are people living in Council houses whose cats have been treated at the same price. And they don't object.
Farmer - With bills like this, I'll be living in a b***** Council house.
I promised not to disclose the name of the farmer concerned. And I'm pleased to report that Doody is making a good recovery from her operation - and I'm making a more gradual recovery from the shock caused by the size of the bill.
7 comments:
You cannot put a price on such a cute cat, Glyn!
Glyn, I have a cat, looks a bit like Doody, named Simon. I promise not named after anybody in particular ... he came from the Cat Rescue Centre with that name.
He recently had to see a vet and turned out there was nothing wrong with him, just me panicking and the bill was just short of £150. I did think to myself £150 for what.. but they did bloods, x rays etc so I could see what had taken the time.
I'm not sure what price you put on a cat, but I know one thing for sure, if anything happened to Simon my 8 yr old son would never forgive me and therefore I'll pay whatever I have to!
Is Doody a long term house guest with you now?
Enjoy! Ffion will love them I'm sure!
Peter - and that's becuase you can't put a price on love.
Sarah - I like to think that Doody's boss will be back home in a few weeks time. Actually, both Doody and Andy and wary of Ffion, whose idea of stroking involved pulling fur out.
Glyn. You have to realise how important animals are. Last year my father passed away and I promised him that we would look after his faithful Jack Russell 'Tiny'. The only problem is that we also have a cat and another King Charles spaniel 'Louis' who is my wife's pride and joy. Louis is no problem. Even as Tiny head buts him out of the way he still treats her with aristocratic contempt. The cat on the other hand is a different matter. Every time Tiny sees the cat it is like something out of Tom and Jerry. Last November Tiny as usual chased the cat but this time cameback with a leg that was useless. The result was a £1300 operation for a 11 year old dog. What my father who was very careful with his money coming from a long line of farmers would have said I dread to think but the dog is fine and a walking tribute to the vet concerned.
I have two cats and a dog, all of which came from Maes Gwyn Animal Sanctuary in Trelogan. I always take them for boosters each year to my local vet, but it does cost me an arm and a leg. I wonder is there an Ombudsman or such figure who checks on charges? Because prices vary from surgery to surgery in my experience.
BG - If Gordon stays in power much longer, there will a 100% governemnt owned National Pets Service - where you will not be allowed to feed Bonus petfood.
Unlike B Griffiths Glyn - I have two dogs and a cat from Maes Gwyn in Trelogan. A great place that does fantastic work in this community.
Came home from Cardiff tonight - on Ieuan Wyn's new Assembly Train to Rhyl only to find that our cat Sali Mali now 17 plus is not at all well and been to the vet - not long to go I fear but we will keep fighting. If I knew how to put a photo on the blog - I would
Amazed to read JJs comment - I did not know we were fellow animal lovers - there is hope for him yet!
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