Reply #5: See if your vet accepts Care Credit. [View All]

That's a line of credit you can get to pay for veterinary expenses. It's only good at veterinary hospitals, so no chance of running up huge credit debt. Depending on the size of your bill, you can get extended payment plans for 3, 6, 12, or even 24 months. And it's interest-free as long as you pay on time. Your vet can help you apply over the phone (takes about 10 minutes) and they tend to be fairly generous with credit limits. (Remember, though, that if you are late with the payments, they will slap you retroactively with 23% interest - so make sure you keep up!)

As others have noted, any insurance you get now will consider this a pre-existing condition so you will not get coverage for it. But it's not a bad idea to have insurance anyway, just in case something else comes up. You can get all kinds of plans, from one that covers only catastrophic care (cheaper) or one that covers routine exams and care (e.g. dental cleaning) (obviously more expensive). VPI has been around the longest and has a good track record of paying claims. Note that they rarely cover the entire cost of a procedure, but often will reimburse you for 2/3 of the bill or so. And they are fast - our clients usually get their reimbursement check within a couple of weeks.

Having said that, I think you should try to get the bladder stone (if that's what it is) taken care of as soon as you reasonably can. Especially in a male cat - if the stones are small enough, one of them may lodge in the urethra and cause an obstruction, which is not only painful but life-threatening. You might want to ask your vet if he or she has an idea of what type of stone is present. Certain types of bladder stones can be dissolved by a special diet, which is obviously less invasive (and less pricey) than any surgical procedure.