The cost of euthanizing a 19 year old cat

Sorry for the loss of your buddy. It seems that you honored your agreement to do what's best for him though and that's not always easy.

That does seem quite high. Did you bring him in or was it a home visit? Did they provide any other treatment at all ..or was it only for the one injection?

The price you mentioned ($900 ) seems to be extremely high.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals offers a no-frills service at some Ontario locations. For example, in Hamilton the cost is $95.

https://hbspca.com/services/end-of-life-care/

I'm with the others. That seems ridiculously high. We had to put down our 16 year old small dog, and the cost, with a number of extras (private cremation, paw prints, etc) was < $500. Girlfriend paid for it (her dog), so I don't know the exact amount.

C

900$ is insane. My local vet charges 150$. I bury the body myself, so incineration might increase the total price.

Veterinary cartel.

@serbianbelle - The euthanasia cost does seem high even for Toronto. A few questions if I may (we live in Central Toronto and recently went through this):

Did you have your kitty euthanized at his regular vet clinic or at the VEC? The VEC will be a lot more expensive than a "regular" vet clinic.

Or did you have your cat euthanized at home and did the mobile vet have a relationship with a pet "funeral" home (there is such a thing - same name but one does takes care of pets and one side takes care of humans. Basically, did you sign up for the Deluxe Package? (Mobile vets were not allowed to come to pets' homes in Toronto during the worst (at the time) of Covid.) Some I believe are allowed to work today but at a high cost.

Did your cat go straight to his vet for euthanasia or did he stay a few days at the clinic while the vets tried to treat his kidney disease. The cost of care per day is very high. For several years now it costs between $140 and $200 per day.

We paid about $400 to have our dog euthanized - we did receive the paw print as mentioned by CNeufeld, but we did not opt for private cremation etc. because we don't even want it for ourselves. We were just happy that our regular vet was open even with restricted hours.

Failing any of the above, I would ask the vet clinic in question why the charge was $900. I for one would be very interested in knowing this.

I am truly sorry about your kitty. It is very hard.

Thank you so much for responding. This is the first time we had to do this kind of thing. This was a clinic we took our kitty every year for check up and vaccination. The cost was reasonable but this was beyond any expectations. Most people I talked to were surprised at the cost. I'm beginning to think perhaps I should ask the clinic how did they arrive at that figure? I am hesitant to name the clinic but people should definitively be aware of the cost. Few years ago before we took our little guy to this clinic I used to go to a clinic on Danforth Rd. They turned out to be rather expensive. Several years later I received a message from that very clinic informing clients that people had complained about high prices they were charging. I guess they noticed people were not coming back. I am curious how veterinary clinics decide what to charge for their services.

serbianbelle wrote: ↑ Thank you so much for responding. This is the first time we had to do this kind of thing. This was a clinic we took our kitty every year for check up and vaccination. The cost was reasonable but this was beyond any expectations. Most people I talked to were surprised at the cost. I'm beginning to think perhaps I should ask the clinic how did they arrive at that figure? I am hesitant to name the clinic but people should definitively be aware of the cost. Few years ago before we took our little guy to this clinic I used to go to a clinic on Danforth Rd. They turned out to be rather expensive. Several years later I received a message from that very clinic informing clients that people had complained about high prices they were charging. I guess they noticed people were not coming back. I am curious how veterinary clinics decide what to charge for their services.

I think it would be fair to request an itemized bill, after checking the paperwork you received at the time.

C

Blanche123 We took the cat to the clinic. My son and I went together, I was sitting in the passenger seat, cat in the carrier, in my lap, and hands on my kitty's back. Little guy was quite and I tried to hold back tears. It will be some time before I get another cat!

CNeufeld We never received an itemized bill! I can certainly ask for one. We were too upset at the time to ask.

serbianbelle wrote: ↑ Blanche123 We took the cat to the clinic. My son and I went together, I was sitting in the passenger seat, cat in the carrier, in my lap, and hands on my kitty's back. Little guy was quite and I tried to hold back tears. It will be some time before I get another cat!

I did want to rule out the various possibilities. You definitely should have received an itemized bill - by e-mail if necessary. We had to call in our VISA number to the clinic because no one was allowed in, but an itemized bill was then sent to my e-mail address. Which of course I promptly shredded because of the reminder of our much loved dog. We have enough reminders as it is.

I suggest you just call the clinic and ask them why the charge was so high. Or you could e-mail them and ask - so much depends on the vet clinic and staffing as to whether or not they will even answer the phone. We went to our vet clinic for 38 years so they knew/know us very well and our dogs and cats throughout the years. If they cannot retrieve your cat's file for some reason then I suggest you ask what they charge for euthanasia and basic cremation (by basic I do not mean private). But $900 is too high even for Toronto without extenuating circumstances.

Best of luck. And don't be put off getting another cat. One may find you when you least expect it. We have a "vacancy" sign apparently in the front window because every cat and dog wants to move in. I wish that our pets would live as long as we do, but they don't so we have to deal with it I guess. But it is very hard. And where does the time go?

serbianbelle wrote: ↑ CNeufeld We never received an itemized bill! I can certainly ask for one. We were too upset at the time to ask.

I’d certainly recommend asking for a bill with all the charges itemized. Did you opt for a private cremation with the ashes returned to you? That’ll cost a few hundred dollars right there.

I'm sorry for your loss. It a heartbreaking decision to make. The invoice should have a break down of the cost. I had to make that difficult decision at TVEH where I took my senior dog to the ER, the euthanasia portion on the invoice was about $300 which included my dog's ashes (single cremation), a cedar box and a paw print.

I'm truly sorry for your loss but $900 is definitely a lot.... too much. Did you add any memorial products? Definitely contact your vet and ask them to email you your invoice. You are entitled to it.
Here is a detailed list of an estimate we recently made for a cat that had a poor prognosis for their liver cancer. Sometimes a consultation fee may be required if your pet hasn't seen the doctor for a while. This is in Richmond Hill. A lot of clinics use Gateway for cremation and memorial products. They provide clinics with a recommended price guideline and the mark up is pretty similar across the clinics. They provide a brochure that shows the clients how much the memorial products are.

Sedation before Euthanasia 15.00
Euthanasia Feline 90.00
Private Cremation < 9 Kg 245.00 (ashes get returned in a complimentary urn - or you can upgrade)
Tax... 45.50
----------
Total estimate charges... $395.50

Every year, the CVO, CVMA or OVMA, I can't remember which one sends out a Practise Owners Economic Survey and owners indicate how much they charge for certain treatments. They then publish a suggested fee guide based on the survey, but to be honest, I don't think many clinics fill these out because its a long survey and very time consuming.

I put my 16 yrs old cat to sleep today. My 2.5 year old toddler was in the room with us when we did it. He waved hand saying byebye while I was broken into tears. The cost is about the same as above mentioned and they let me choose a bunch of products from Gateway Memorial. I couldnt make my decision about the products there, because the decision to euthanize her came suddenly around noon when I found her probably won’t last till tomorrow. The products I see from the list perhaps will cost another $100-200.

She died from cancer in the throat. The tumor blocked her airway.

serbianbelle wrote: ↑ ⬇Recently we had to put down our 19 year old cat. Kitty developed kidney problems and was declining fast. He was a rescue cat and he lived with us for 14 years. It was a difficult decision but we didn't want our little guy to suffer. What came as a shock was the cost of euthanizing our cat. It cost $900.00. When I mentioned that to some of my friends they were all surprised and told me that other vet clinics charged a lot less. I know there is a cost to everything we need or do, but this seems a bit high! it will be a few months before I start looking for another cat. Any time I sit on the couch I'm reminded of my little guy sitting next to me. The house seems empty without my little buddy.

Sorry about your loss. It's difficult when fur babies pass but if he had kidney disease you made the right decision to put him out of his pain.

I assume the fee would be similar for dogs vs cats but $900 is high. Two and a half years ago I also had to make the difficult decision of putting my 10 year old dog down as she developed chronic kidney disease and we had a vet come to our house to perform it and it was $800 something. Not sure if there was an up charge for last minute/weekend booking but we called sat afternoon and the vet came Sunday afternoon. We paid extra for private cremation and upgraded to a different color urn, which was included in the $800.

We had to make the difficult decision again earlier this year for my 13 year old dog at the end of Mar during the covid lockdown. Unfortunately we had to go to the emergency vet at warden and ellesmere and they charged around $850 something as well. We also paid for private cremation and upgraded the urn. I don't believe there was an up charge to them being an emergency clinic as the $850 also included the basic emergency clinic assessment fee which is usually around $120.

Hope this helps.

pandorazw wrote: ↑ I put my 16 yrs old cat to sleep today. My 2.5 year old toddler was in the room with us when we did it. He waved hand saying byebye while I was broken into tears. The cost is about the same as above mentioned and they let me choose a bunch of products from Gateway Memorial. I couldnt make my decision about the products there, because the decision to euthanize her came suddenly around noon when I found her probably won’t last till tomorrow. The products I see from the list perhaps will cost another $100-200.

She died from cancer in the throat. The tumor blocked her airway.

I had to put my 17 year old cat down today as well. Toughest part of my life so far. She was a peaceful cat who i loved dearly and she was connected to me at the soul. Last night i could see it in her eyes that she couldn't fight anymore as she had renal failure that progressed over the past two years.
the total cost came to about $500 with private cremation and an urn, so paying the $900 is way too much.

djfunk wrote: ↑ I had to put my 17 year old cat down today as well. Toughest part of my life so far. She was a peaceful cat who i loved dearly and she was connected to me at the soul. Last night i could see it in her eyes that she couldn't fight anymore as she had renal failure that progressed over the past two years.
the total cost came to about $500 with private cremation and an urn, so paying the $900 is way too much.

My deep condolescence for your loss. I found the hardest part is that when my cat has just past away I really didn't have anybody who can share my feeling. Although I have a family now but my cat was just my own cat. I had the same feeling as you. It is like a hole in my heart and time will only heal it to a scar.

pandorazw wrote: ↑ My deep condolescence for your loss. I found the hardest part is that when my cat has just past away I really didn't have anybody who can share my feeling. Although I have a family now but my cat was just my own cat. I had the same feeling as you. It is like a hole in my heart and time will only heal it to a scar.

Thank you and i definitly feel your pain. As a single guy, the lying in bed at night waiting for that warmth was the hardest thing to go through last night. I've slept with the bedroom door open since 2004 and it never felt darker with the door closed. Every creek of the home magnifies knowing that it's not the paw steps coming into my room.
the scars will come in time i'm sure.