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Good owners are bound to do anything and everything to protect their beloved pets. This means that when there’s a health emergency, they will rush to the vet clinic, without a care for how expensive it might be. And yet, not all emergencies are actual emergencies. But the visit might cost you a pretty penny.
Pet parents amused the internet with their best “I can’t believe I had to pay for this” vet stories, where they paid huge sums of money for something completely silly. Their stories are funny, relatable, and a bit painful, and you’ll find them below.
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#1
My parrot choking after the whole house was sick. $75 to find out he was mimicking. Lol.
RELATED:
#2
Not my story but I read it on Facebook but I found it hysterical;
A little girls hamster was only standing in the corner of its cage. It would not eat. Would not drink. It just stood there. The mom loaded up the hamster and the little girl. Off to the Vet they go. Once there the Vet observed the hamster in its cage. It just stood in the corner. Upon taking the hamster out of the cage the hamster ran around. Ate food and drank water. Everyone was perplexed. The Vet asked if anything had happened to the hamster recently. The little girl told him the hamster had gotten out and ran under the refrigerator. After examining the hamster the Vet said “Found the problem”. The hamster had a magnet in its mouth pouch. So every time it stood in the corner of its cage it became “stuck” to the cage bars and couldn’t move.
#3
My dog inhaled a foxtail. Like she was sniffing around and I saw the foxtail go into her nostril. I was thiiiiiiiiiis close to grabbing it and preventing it from going further in but she stepped back and the foxtail went all the way in. Cue in sneezing, a nosebleed and whatnot.
This was 10pm.
I call the ER, they say to bring her in because a foxtail in the nose, throat or trachea is really dangerous. So we go to the hospital, they sedate her a bit and dig in her nose for the darn thing but it’s not there. After a couple hours they tell me to take her home and come in the morning for surgery because it must’ve gone into the respiratory system.
So I do that. By the time I get home it’s like 2am. A few hours later we go back to the hospital and she goes into surgery. I’m a mess all morning wondering how much damage a single foxtail could do. At like 2pm I get a call from the surgeon: The foxtail isn’t there. It just isn’t.
I ask: What now?
He says: Nothing.
I say: So what do we do?
He says: Nothing.
I say: But where is it?
He says: She probably swallowed it. She’ll poo it.
And that’s the story of one of the most expensive nights of my life.
It’s hard to gauge what your visit to the vet might cost because there are lots of variables to consider. From your country, city, and the specific clinic you visit, to the nature of the problem, the time of day, and the need for any medications or treatment.
According to Forbes’ analysis of cost data from Banfield Pet Hospital, the overall average cost of a vet visit is around $61. However, this number can rise significantly if your pet needs additional healthcare services.
#4
Took my dog to emerg on New Year’s Eve, because he was showing signs of abdominal pain, and he is a breed prone to GDV. It turns out he had to burp. The shock of having his temperature taken the more accurate way knocked the first one loose. He belched all the way home and was fine.
#5
My doggo got attacked so I took him to the emerge vet and spent a bunch of money to get him fixed up, part of his fixing up was getting antibiotics. When we finally get home I throw the meds on the counter and jump into the shower. Well when I get out and go back into the kitchen the MEDS ARE GONE. My darn cat literally ate all my 100lb dogs antibiotics, so I then had to take my cat to emerge to get his stomach pumped and monitored. My wallet hurt that day for sure, and now I don't trust that cat around anything.. won't eat a steak, but 20 antibiotic pills absolutely.
#6
Mom rushed the Bernese Mountain Dog to the vet because he wasn't eating and was acting weird, whimpering and cowering. His belly was very sensitive. Mom was sure it was bloat. The vet has him walk around a little and then palpates his belly. He lets out the longest fart known to man, takes a gigantic dump on the floor and farts some more. Afterwards he's all wiggles and wagging tail. $300 emergency vet visit for a fart.
As per Forbes’ analysis, the average cost of a basic vaccination will set you back between $25 and $50 at the vet. However, treating a serious illness, such as cancer or an ingested foreign object, can cost thousands of dollars.
A basic exam at the vet clinic can cost between $50 and $250, including a physical exam, health assessment, and consultation. Meanwhile, diagnostic tests like X-rays, bloodwork, or urinalysis typically range between $100 and $300.
An emergency room exam might cost around $125, hospitalization might set you back roughly $700+, while advanced surgery or specialty care can cost upward of $4,000.
“As a concerned pet parent, your pet’s health is a top priority, but at the same time, these expenses can burn your savings. Having pet insurance is an effective way to ease that burden,” Forbes suggests.
#7
I thought my kitten had glaucoma because her eyes were always really huge and dilated. $200 for her to be diagnosed with 'excitement'.
Spencers slave no more 3 hours ago
I took my big cat, 9 months old, to the vet last September, off his food, drooling, not a happy cat at all. Weight was good at 5.8kg, eyes, glands, etc all good. Vet looks in his mouth and laughs. "He's teething, just growing his adult teeth." $85NZ was pretty good compared to some on this thread. Newt is a drama queen.
#8
$150 for a vet to tell me that my bird pooped red because he ate a cranberry in his seed treat.
sturmwesen 4 hours ago (edited)
I was once halfway to the vet after feeding red beets. first question to a friend with a dog pooping red was "did you feed beets?" last week she wasn't. dog is fine now though
#9
My dog had sudden unrelenting seizures, barely responsive. Rushed to the vet. They said brain cancer or poisoning. We couldn’t afford the MRI etc particularly when the vet said all options were untreatable. We took him home basically to die since he didn’t seem to be in pain (per the vet).
He threw up a ton of plastic wrap and lived another decade.
Geoffrey Scott 32 minutes ago
Lived with my daughter during the week when I was between careers. She got a Xmas gift at work. We went to the grocery store for weekly shopping. Came home, bunch of shrink wrap in the living room. The dog ate an entire loaf of Jalapeno bread. So if at some point you heard a scream in 2014, it was Millie.
Once you’ve read through these pet parent stories, we’d like to turn the discussion over to you, dear Pandas.
What has been the silliest, most expensive reason that you went to the vet? What’s the biggest fake emergency your beloved animals had that made you panic?
Tell us all about it in the comments down below. Meanwhile, tell your pets we said ‘hi!’
#10
Our cat has a little bump on her chin.
I thought maybe it was acne or something (she was a growing kitten)
My husband took her to the vet. $400 to be told she got bit by a spider and was fine.
It cleared up a few days later but a few weeks later? It happened again, vet and all.
He told us to keep her away from spiders? But I don't even know where rewas finding them 😭.
#11
My foster cat didn't like that the organization that spayed her put a paper collar on her to identify her after surgery. She tried to scratch it off and scratched off a small spot of skin on her neck and all of the hair (I took it off of her as soon as she was home, she works fast apparently). It scabbed over, she didn't like the feeling of the scab so kept scratching it off and making it bigger, until eventually we had to go BACK to the vet and get the wound cared for a week later as well as a shot of antibiotics. I put soft paws on her back feet so she couldn't scratch anymore and she was SO mad. Worked though.
#12
Last week I called the vet on my cow… she ate a bee
$200 to be told my cow ate a bee, there was nothing to be done, and the wheeze and boogers would be gone in a couple days.
Giulia Fortunati 3 hours ago
My dog ate a bee once, luckily the bee stung her on her tongue and not the throat, so she didn't risk suffocating, but she had this huge tongue dangling from her mouth for a few hours. It was the less expensive vet emergency, just 50€!
#13
My partner has two ball pythons, and after I moved in - as an animal lover myelf - I started implementing all sorts of little upgrades to their enclosures. Until one day, I noticed a lump on our ball python's head. I thought something I did must have hurt him somehow or that this was in some way my fault. I was SO worried about him, and rushed him to the specialty vet. She told me his scales are in beautiful shape and his body condition is perfect. And then she diagnosed him with bumping his head on the top of his hide 🫥
ETA: $150.
#14
My dog was bloated, drinking a ton of water and did not eat dinner. I rushed her to the vet fearing she had bloat. The vet took one look and took her in back for an X-ray. Just before the X-ray she threw up a sock and the ton of water drank. Spent $80 for my dog to throw up somewhere else. I'm just thankful she did before the expensive x-ray.
#15
Cat I was taking care of a cat for a friend and after a week the poor kitties fur started to dull and get matted. Poor little thing wasn’t the brightest (orange in color, single brain cell) but was very sweet. I got worried and took her to my vet, he informed me she was perfectly healthy but needed a bath as she didn’t seem to understand grooming…. I gave my vet 65$ to tell me my friends cat was too dumb to clean herself.
#16
My dog was was a pup at the time. Hadn’t had him but maybe a few months. One day he just started coughing. I worried he had kennel cough. We get there and they immediately have a room and it’s completely sterile and everyone is dressed for him like he has a deadly pathogen. I get it, kennel cough can spread quick. Spent probably $400 to tell me he ate a stick and it irritated his throat.
#17
I didn’t go to the vet, but my tortoise gave me a heart attack.
I was running late to class (it’s always when you’re running late) and told my tortoise I love him and to be good when I saw red stuff on his claw. I ran over and cleaned his foot. I was freaking out trying to figure out how I’d get to an exotic vet (I didn’t have a car, lived on campus). I started crying because I didn’t know what to do. After a bit, I saw a strawberry seed in the mess. The dude stepped in a strawberry. Thank goodness my professor is forgiving.
#18
I thought my standard poodle had a skin disorder that does affect some in the breed but turned out it was chapped lips. $100 to find that out, $2.50 for organic lip balm.
#19
I adopted a dog from a rescue and made an appointment with my vet to get an exam and to go over whatever issues she had when I got her (staph infection on her skin, yeast in the ears and lick granulomas on her feet. She had problems!). I'd had her for about 48 hours at that point and I told the vet that she hadn't pooped in that time. Vet can feel a stiff mass in her abdomen so we decide to do this or that scan and whatever else to find out that, yeah, she just really needed to poo.
Vet tells me to just keep taking her on long walks, it'll happen. We leave the vet and that dog stops on the sidewalk right in front and drops the most massive dump I've ever seen from an animal smaller than a cow. I swear I can see her belly shrinking as she just poops and poops. It's more than my bag can handle so I run back inside to see if they have like a scooper or something I can borrow. Lady behind the desk pops up with a roll of paper towels and tells me that it's not a problem, she'll come clean it up. I try to argue with her but she just heads out there.
She sees the pile and just stops and looks at me. I know!
Still, though, she insists she'll just go get the scooper and I can go.
Total bill was ~~$900~~ $400 that day, and more than half of it fell out of my dog's bum as we left.
#20
Not me- dog had a crusty spot on his head that he wouldn't stop messing with. Took him to the vet, turned out to be pine sap.
#21
Cat wasn’t his usual self, was very sneezy and had a runny nose so took him to the emergency vet fearing a really bad URI. Turns out it was just very bad allergies and he’s just dramatic.
$500.
#22
I used to have a cat who loved eating plants. My MIL gifted me a massive spider plant, and I made the mistake of leaving him unattended for 15 minutes. Bro ate the entire plant. I figured, welp, he's gonna barf. Within half an hour, he starts doing this deep, guttural yowl. He's staggering around the house, yelling. Then, he began panting. Then, the barfing started.
He started throwing up every 5-10 minutes like clockwork, screaming the entire time. My husband was at work so I got my sister in law, who is a vet tech and was equally convinced spider plants aren't poisonous, to drive us to the emergency vet.
We got him in, they gave him fluids and an anti-nauseant injection. They take all his vitals and bring him into the back so everyone can admire how huge he was (he was only part Maine coon but hit 27lbs and had a big old noggin). Vet brings me into her office and pulls out this MASSIVE book. Finds what she looking for and looks at me and goes, "The spider plant. You said it was big?"
I confirm - it was free and it was huge. The vet nodded, closed her book and explained that while spider plants are non-toxic, at certain sizes they tend to accumulate hallucinogenic compounds.
So, that's how I paid $700 to find out my cat was tripping balls and needed some gravol.
Disclaimer: It was an emergency vet in Vancouver, BC at just past midnight. Hence the $$$.
#23
€600 in fees for scans to find out my cat was ‘a bit fat’ and ‘a funny shape’. Also €2000 for a hairball (it got lodged in the intestine) The vet gave it to me to keep.
#24
My friend had similar- her cat got so stressed out after a move that she became constipated
1200$.
#25
Roughly 4k and 36 hours at the er vets on Memorial Day for cat constipation. Ended up just needing fluids and a laxative.
#26
My dog had a fainting episode and I took him to the emergency vet. They said it seemed to be a heart issue and prescribed hardcore heart meds. $800. A few days later he kept clearing his throat so I called and they said to bring him in asap as it could be heart failure. $700. They recommended he go to the cardiologist at Purdue. We get down there and spend another $600 on an appointment and testing only to find out…. He faints when he’s too excited (syncope) and his heart is actually healthy despite being 12 years old.
#27
$2000 emergency vet bill for my Pomeranian because he licked a toad while we were fishing. I took my eyes off him for 15 seconds and the little devil started terrorizing a toad. Within 30 minutes he was lethargic, panting, pale/ tacky gums and scared shitless.
2 years later and he still runs the opposite direction when he sees a toad. He has the heart of a lion and would stand off against a bear if I let him, but he learned a lesson about toads.
#28
Just a few weeks ago my black lab tore his toe pad enough that it was vet worthy because it was just a loose flap. I wrapped his paw with a sock and a wrap and the next day before the vet appointment he had the sock off for 20 minutes and he ATE HIS TOE PAD. $186 for a cute little cast.
#29
When my now adult kids were little, they brought home 2 guinea pigs from a friend. They have short life spans anyway and we're already at least a year old.
Six months on, one gets a large cyst on his face ( common ailment for them). We took it to the vet and he said he could surgically remove it, but even he didn't think it was worth it because more cysts are likely and the pet was already older
Cue 3 kids crying and freaking out when we suggest just letting him live out his life "as is".
$400 later we have a mended pet who goes on to live another 2 months. Lol.
#30
We call ours “The $500 Fart” 🤣
Our maltipoo mutt was trailing along behind my FIL as he cleaned the pool, and he scooped out a passed, bloated frog and tossed it on the lawn, realizing a second too late that she was behind him. She gobbled it up before he even had time to react. We took her in bc we had no idea what kind of frog it was and just wanted to play it safe. She was very bloated and uncomfortable. They observed her for a bit, did some bloodwork (IIRC, this was over 10 yrs ago), and ended up having a tech walk her until she could either poo or pass gas. She finally did, and it was the most expensive fart we’ve ever paid for.
#31
My Australian shepherd was limping. It was right before Milton was supposed to hit so I took her in worried they wouldn’t be able to see her after because of damage. They had to take x-rays which always about 550. Plus medication another 100. Told to keep her resting which if you know Australian shepherd is not something they are capable of. Woke up the next morning and she must have forgotten she was hurt. Because she wasn’t limping anymore. Had I waited one day I could have saved 700.00.
#32
My dog was lethargic and whimpering when I touched her belly. Thought it was bloat. We rushed to the vet, and once we got there, she threw up a whole chicken head and 2 claws. She felt immensely better. RIP Harriet.
Bartlet for world domination 2 hours ago
Now I'm stuck with the idea that Harriet was the chicken.
#33
Several thousand dollars and a CT scan (with sedation) on my 9 month old Lab to find out his limping was from "growing pains". Officially panosteitis. He went from small and chunky to really tall and 75lbs in a short period of time. Basically multiple urgent care visits and imaging to find out he had the exact same thing I had as a kid but was being super dramatic about limping.
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Lady Eowyn 7 hours ago
Don't care what it costs. If my girl needs it, I'll get it if I have to sell everything I own. Unfortunately, there were no false alarms. But she's really good now, 16 1/2 years old, vet says she's good for some time yet. She's a pomeranian.
Ace 1 hour ago
About half of these sound to me like paranoid parents, hypochondriac humans. A sticky lump on your dog's back? A tiny bump on your cat's face? Give it a day or two, if the animals not showing any other symptoms. Just observe. Oh, and brushing your dog or cat regularly will help identify if something really needs treatment or if it's just a scab from a clean wound.
Luttjetrut 2 hours ago
My cat got diagnosed with a "small head". Costs: €60. I was worried he was getting too chubby, but according to the vet, his weight was just fine: "He just has a small head."
Lady Eowyn 7 hours ago
Don't care what it costs. If my girl needs it, I'll get it if I have to sell everything I own. Unfortunately, there were no false alarms. But she's really good now, 16 1/2 years old, vet says she's good for some time yet. She's a pomeranian.
Ace 1 hour ago
About half of these sound to me like paranoid parents, hypochondriac humans. A sticky lump on your dog's back? A tiny bump on your cat's face? Give it a day or two, if the animals not showing any other symptoms. Just observe. Oh, and brushing your dog or cat regularly will help identify if something really needs treatment or if it's just a scab from a clean wound.
Luttjetrut 2 hours ago
My cat got diagnosed with a "small head". Costs: €60. I was worried he was getting too chubby, but according to the vet, his weight was just fine: "He just has a small head."
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