A distraught Edinburgh woman has been left with a £7,500 bill after her cat became seriously unwell with a mystery illness.
Iona Irvine, 26, first noticed three-year-old Mildred had began to vomit twice a day and was unable to keep food down so the worried pet owner took her to the vet.
After spending £2000 running a number of tests including an x-ray to see if there was a blockage causing the sickness and treatment for pancreatitis, the vet was out of options and referred the cat to a specialist in West Lothian to help.
Unfortunately Iona does not have pet insurance and treatment at the specialist vet is going to cost a whopping £5500 with the cat's initial appointment on Wednesday July 20.
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The communications worker is now urging all pet owners to take out insurance just in case something happens as she has been left heartbroken at the thought of losing her fur baby while being out of pocket thousands of pounds.
After relying on family to help out financially with the sky rocketing costs, the cat mum has now launched a fundraiser to get the cat the treatment she needs.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live the distraught cat owner said: "It started about two months ago - I wasn't too worried to start because cats can be sick quite a bit but it was turning into 2 times a day roughly which was worrying me so I took her to the vets.
"At that point we did an x ray to check to see if she'd swallowed anything that could be causing a blockage but nothing showed up so we treated it as gastroenteritis with medication and a special diet but the vomiting continued.
"Since then we've treated for chronic pancreatitis which didn't help and tested for Addison's disease, which doesn't look like what she has ever."
Despite several visits to the vets and lots of tests, the vets are unable to work out what is causing the poor wee cat to be so unwell.
Iona explained: "The poor wee thing has been poked and prodded so much for bloods, urine samples etc. I go to vets4pets and they've been really really good, keeping the costs down as much as possible while still making sure she's getting all the tests she needs but at this point she need to see a specialist out in Livingston.
"So far she's cost me around £2k. I very stupidly don't have insurance and have since insured all my cats but since this condition was pre-existing they can't cover any costs.
"'I've reached out to some charities such as the PDSA but since I'm not on benefits I don't meet the criteria. It's great they have that support option for people who need it, but i'm a single person household and with the rise in living costs the money is unrealistic for me to be able to come out with - my family have been amazing and have helped loads as well but it's a lot of money for them too.
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She continued: "I'd do anything for my three babies to keep them happy and healthy and I really regret not taking our insurance earlier but you never expect something to happen until it does.
"Our pets are our world and a member of the family, and I urge anyone who has them and hasn't got their pets insured to do so now to help support them if anything does happen.
"Having a sick pet is very stressful in itself, and the money stress on top can be really overwhelming. It's one of the best things you can do for your little ones to keep them safe."
You can find out more and donate to the fundraiser here.
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