[Sharon]

An animal lover has spent £7,500 on complex facial reconstructive surgery for her pet cat after it was disfigured in a car accident.

Ms Dickson of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, had to a forego a new car she had saved up for, to pay for the work on her grey rescue cat "Hetty" - who despite the name is male - after the accident which left it in a coma.

A £2,500 x-ray and MRI scan revealed that the 18-month-old animal's nasal cavity had been shunted to the back of its brain, one eye had collapsed with another dislocated amid countless fractures.

But with round-the-clock care by vets and surgery to repair a broken jaw with wire, insert a feeding tube into the cat's neck and stitch one eye shut, Hetty is now back to good health - almost.

"He is deaf in one ear and blind in one eye and he isn't as feisty as he used to be," Ms Dickson, an airport security worker admitted.

"He is quite dopey and loves sitting on my lap. But he still has a good quality of life so it was all worth it."

Not having taken out insurance, she was forced to raid her savings to pay for the care.

"The bill just went up and up and up but without the specialist care there was no chance he would have made it," she said.

Ms Andrew, marketing manager of insurer Petplan said: "This case highlights the importance of having comprehensive pet insurance.

"Very few people have money set aside to pay for a bill of this size."


MRI scan of Hetty after the accident


He had an operation to wire his lower jaw, which was split in two


Tanya Dickson used money she had saved up to buy a car to fund the treatment

[Faline]

awww

Would have loved to of seen a before pic though.

[King Herald]

And the fuckin' skanky thing still only comes home when he wants a feed.

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by Kelly ↗

awww

Would have loved to of seen a before pic though.

Yeah, was a pity. Wonder if there is one? Hmm....

...couldn't find one

[Karma]

I would do that. We didn't spend anywhere near as much as that, but when our cat got chased out of the garden by another cat we had newly adopted, someone got hold of him and abused him in an awful way. We found him close to death. It cost us $3000 to save him. He's still alive now, 17 years old.

[juliemd]

we had a cat that jumped through a metal mill fan. This is not a small fan, they are the ones used in mills to pull air in/let air out. She sliced up her face, her eye, nose and broke one of her legs. I had to borrow money from my grandmother to get my cat to the vet. all i heard while i was asking for the money was why don't you put her down.... why? it cost me roughly $528 dollars to fix her up. I had that cat for good lord about 13 years?

[Karma]

Originally Posted by juliemd ↗

we had a cat that jumped through a metal mill fan. This is not a small fan, they are the ones used in mills to pull air in/let air out. She sliced up her face, her eye, nose and broke one of her legs. I had to borrow money from my grandmother to get my cat to the vet. all i heard while i was asking for the money was why don't you put her down.... why? it cost me roughly $528 dollars to fix her up. I had that cat for good lord about 13 years?

Yes that's what a lot of people said to us. But he isn't 'just a cat'. He is a living animal. He never hurt anyone. He's a great cat. He loves everyone. I think it was because he's black and a lot of people think black cats are unlucky. It was almost Halloween when he got out. They did some awful things to him, truly. And if I had got my hands on whoever did it, however old (or young) they were, they would have NOT got away with it.

[wujuan]

i just spent $8000 getting my dogs knees done. he had to have tplo (tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy) on both his knees (not at the same time thank god.) but he's worth it...

[xxxbecsxxx]

Not nearly as much, but I spent over $600 on my pet rat when he got hurt. My sister thought I was crazy for spending that much on an animal.

I wouldn't even have to think about spending any amount on an animal if it could be saved.

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by xxxbecsxxx ↗

Not nearly as much, but I spent over $600 on my pet rat when he got hurt. My sister thought I was crazy for spending that much on an animal.

I wouldn't even have to think about spending any amount on an animal if it could be saved.

I spent only £200 trying to save my darling rat from ovarian cancer but she died. The money meant nothing, I loved my pet that much!