[stomachmonkey]

I have 4 cats.

Over the last year have spent a sizable chunk of change on two in particular.

Couple of grand on Iodide 32 treatment for hyper thyroid on the 12 year old male and couple of weeks ago he cracked a tooth to the tune of $500.

Hematoma on the 3 year old males ear.

The 16 year old female Casie, is the issue.

Her history, couple of years ago she became incontinent. Our old vet in NY diagnosed it as a thickened bladder from multiple UTI's.

We tried everything the vet recommended and my wife even took Casie to a holistic vet for a acupuncture for a few weeks.

We contemplated putting her down before we moved to TX but were not read to give up on her yet.

We had her crated in the rental while the new house was being built.

The new vet down here said the cat was stressed and put her on Prozac which worked.

Then Casie got breast cancer last year and we tossed a big chunk of change at a mastectomy that the vet figured would buy her a couple more years at most.

About 8 months ago Casie went deaf.

5-6 months ago the vet diagnosed her with dementia/Alzheimers.

2 months ago we took her in for a $25 grooming and my wife mentioned the cat had been drinking a lot of water and the incontinence issue was returning.

So $600 later Casie is diagnosed as diabetic and we now need to give her twice daily insulin injections.

Here's were the issue starts.

Vet wants the cat back in for a series of 6 insulin level tests. Wife is flipping out over all the unexpected costs and tells vet to do 3 level tests. I pick up cat and they tell me that morning level was X, noon level went up, evening level went up but they don't have an accurate picture and want her back the next day for the 6 level tests. Then they tell me I need to buy a glucose meter and test strips from them for a few hundred more.

I respond that the wife and I have decided that we will do what we can to keep Casie comfortable but we are not shelling out all that cash for a cat that may not make it another year. I also expressed how irritated I was that they agreed to only 3 tests knowing it was useless and if we had not wanted to pay for the 6 tests then what makes them think we'll pay for 9?

Last Sunday wife and I leave for a cruise. My in laws came into town to watch the our kids, house and cats.

Not wanting to burden them more we decide to board Casie for the week.

Wife prepays the boarding fee, fee for a tech to administer twice daily insulin and brings more than enough cat food for the week. She leaves instruction on how much to feed.

My F-inlaw picks the cat up this past Saturday and in addition to the pre paid agreed to fee's there is a charge for the 6 level tests, 3 additional cans of prescription cat food that are 3x's more than costly than what we feed and $40 for a case of the food which they hand my f-inlaw to bring home.

So the bill is $120ish more than we prepaid and they billed our credit card for the extra.

They did not call anyone to get authorization for the tests and they knew from last month that we had an objection to it.

The only reason they would have needed to give her the prescription food is they ran out of her regular food which means they ignored my wifes instructions and over fed her.

Now the test and over feeding I can almost justify. She is in their care and they should be trusted make care decisions as is prudently required for the animals well being.

But they did not call for a consult or get permission to bill our card any additional amount other than what we had prepaid for the agreed upon services.

The $40 case of cat food sent me over the edge.

So I am going to call today and get the test charges removed and return the food.

I'm pissed.

Did the vet have the right to do any of this?