Not Enough Information to Decide - Pet Health Related

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I guess I'm posting this here for both venting purposes and for advice, I don't know. I asked about this on two cat forums and didn't receive any helpful advice. I feel so overwhelmed. Too much info, but yet not enough.


My cat's veterinarian told me my cat needs an ultrasound because something is going on with his kidneys based off his blood work. She doesn't know what it is and even consulted the internist at the lab who also didn't have a clue. I have enough knowledge to know that this is an uncommon to rare issue.

I was given three options for where to get the ultrasound. Each place has the option of getting an ultrasound with or without a consultation. I cannot get a clear answer to what the benefits are of a consultation. It does not matter who I ask or how I phrase the question, nothing I'm told makes any sense. And naturally, no one can give me a simple straightforward answer.

In either case the internist (internal medicine specialist) or radiologist will write up a report of the findings and recommendations. Without a consultation, the report is sent to the primary veterinarian where the two will briefly discuss the case. The primary veterinarian then contacts me with the results and treatment plan. With a consultation, the internist gives me and the primary veterinarian the report and discusses the findings and treatment options with me.

Without a consultation it would be around $700 for both abdominal and chest ultrasound. With a consultation, it would be around $900, possibly less. So it sounds like a consultation costs $200 extra. My vet recommended the consultation. but I cannot understand the purpose. It sounds like a way of price gouging the client and an easy $200 profit. I don't understand the benefits of a consultation. With my brain that zones out, I think I would prefer the specialist/internist to discuss the case with my vet.

Has anyone ever dealt with this kind of thing? I don't know what to do. $200 is a lot of money just for a conversation. I don't know why no one can give me a straight answer as to why I should get the consultation. If my vet doesn't want to be involved because of her already heavy case load, then she should just say that. If she simply doesn't want to be bothered, then say that. I just want someone to tell me if a consultation is a money maker for the specialist or if I'm getting something special out of it that I simply cannot understand. Maybe I should just contact my vet with these questions and just tell them I think it's a money making scam and that they need to prove to me why it isn't since they want me to get the consultation.

I've done a total of five ultrasounds without a consultation and I was satisfied with how those worked out, but those cases were more straightforward. In 2004, I did one ultrasound with a consultation and it was inconclusive (they needed to do a biopsy and quoted me $1000 extra). Based on that consultation, I think consultations are bulls**t. But this current case is more complicated and that's why I don't know what to do.

On top of this, I also need to take into account the possibility of needing to take a biopsy during the ultrasound, depending on what's found. Each place has different price ranges for this as well and none of them can give me a more detailed estimate beforehand, just a range with lots of possibilities.

Too much info. I feel like I'm playing a deranged game of Jenga or something. Maybe that's not the right analogy but you probably get what I'm saying.

Any suggestions? If I were made of money I'd just do the consultation just because it wouldn't matter. But I have little money and want to make the most of it. When I took in these cats off the street (they were all strays/ferals that showed up on my doorstep) stuff didn't cost as much as it does now. Wow! After these cats, no more ever again. I love them but things are getting stressful.

We've got too many cats, & 90% were strays. We made a decision early on that there are limited amounts we're willing to spend on vet care. We've only had to put down two cats: one was old age with a likely tumor while the other was much younger but had a completely blocked urinary tract. We made our choices after discussing with the vets, who agreed with our decisions.

With the younger one it came down to (first) the idea of how long has this cat lived vs how long he would have if he'd stayed a stray. IIRC, 3 years is considered a good life for a completely stray animal (in the city, no humans feeding or intervening). I'd also had a friend who'd had a cat with urinary tract issues. He spent $3k+, multiple surgeries, & multiple treatments, & the poor thing was miserable the rest of its life (leaking, pain, eating issues because of the pain, etc.), so I swore I wouldn't do that to one of mine.

So, think about how old is your cat? What is his likely quality of life in the future? If surgery is needed, will he likely be ok after or is there a decent probability he'll be in pain forever after? What are the costs? Other options?

You should always get a printout or email of the test results for your cat. If you aren't, you need to get those to keep in a folder with the cat's info. It's much easier to keep track of the care in the long run that way.

As for the consult, if all they'll do is go over the test results with you, your normal vet should be able to do that. If he's not, it might be worth the consult. On the other hand, if knowing in depth & detail is likely to upset you, then it might be best to skip the consult & just work with the normal vet's advice.

You have to maintain your own quality of life first. You have to be in a decent mind frame to be a decent pet parent. Sometimes that means you must come before the floofs (including making sure your own care & financial needs are met).

I love our cats, but I cannot let them pull my own mental health down too far. We're dealing with kidney issues in our eldest two atm (both over 15 y/o). Trying to get them onto canned from dry has been very difficult.

I do not blame you for being confused! I'm also scratching my head a bit after reading that.

You said the blood work suggests something wrong with your cat's kidneys and they don't know what...but what are they suspicious of? Kidney disease in domestic cats isn't unusual but that is something that can be determined by blood work, so a ultrasound wouldn't be needed. So if it's not THAT; then I'm guessing they are concerned there is a growth or defect to a kidney?

I've always had basic consultation within any vet visit, so I've never been offered to have something done and maybe consult or not. To have them split up seems strange to me. So all I can think is that the additional consult to having just the ultrasound done is probably them doing an entire look over your cat's health history. You (your cat)become their patient.

Basically I think it is you deciding whether you want to basically hand your cat's case (the kidney thing) over to them or if you just want them to provide the ultrasound and let your regular vet deal with the findings and any treatment. If you chose the latter the specialists would largely be "hands off" once the ultrasound service is rendered. But depending on what the results are your regular vet would possibly need to send you back out to them or another specialist. Whereas if you include the consult they would go over your cat's health history with you and probably handle everything there (further tests, explaining things to you, answering your questions, prescriptions, monitoring the issue, etc). This would take more time, which is why there would be an additional fee. Your regular vet would probably not be as included.

Does that make sense? I'm not certain as I am guessing but I that is how I would think of it.