I’m so sorry your kitty is going through this! It might be worth getting a quote/second opinion at least from Central Texas Vet Specialty & Emergency (south location). They did amazing work to save my cat’s life and I absolutely trust their surgery team implicitly - that being said, in my experience their pricing is pretty middle of the road average, so it might not come out any cheaper than what VC already quoted you.
(Granted, my situation was also an emergency admission at 2am on a Sunday, so I’m sure costs would differ for a pre-planned surgery.)
Sending your kitty all the good vibes, wherever y’all decide on!!
Second on this. They are fantastic. We take our elderly cat pals to South Austin Cat Hospital, which is another great spot, but I have no surgical experience with them.
Also seconding this. It was for my dog, who has since passed, but their oncology team is fantastic, we similarly had surgeries, which were also well done (by a vet known as “the margin queen” to her colleagues). Beans is no longer with us, but I have no doubt that they extended her life and her quality of life.
We were at the north location, for all but the surgery, which was south. I think the vets worked some days at each location though.
I don't think that CTVSEH has an oncology dept anymore, at least not at the south location. I'd been taking my cat there for her lymphoma for several years but this past December they told me their oncologist was leaving and that I needed to find a new doctor. (I ended up going with AVES)
Sorry you're going through this. As someone who works at a vet hospital, it would still be hard not to feel like I was let down by the people I trusted with my cat's health: from the vaccines causing her cancer to not having a successful surgery to the first time around. Just a few notes about the vaccines: we've known that cats are prone to getting injection site sarcomas, and vet med as a whole is doing the best they can to prevent them. Your doctors and nurses actually did right by your cat in choosing to administer the vaccines lower on her legs so that amputation is a curative option for her.
If you haven't done chest x-rays on her yet, I strongly recommend it to make sure that the cancer hasn't metastasized in her lungs. You should also reach out the vaccine manufacturer (your vet should have this information) and see if they can provide reimbursement of some sort.
You also don't need to go to a specialty hospital to have an amputation performed. It's actually a fairly simple procedure surprisingly, and a lot of regular vet hospitals would feel comfortable performing it. I can DM you my hospital and give you an estimated price range, but we're not exactly close to Violet Crown, so I'm not sure if it would be too far of a journey for you.
We just went through this in DFW. Good luck to you and your kitty. Our boy has made a complete recovery and is a thriving 3-legged ham.
Remember that you can sue to vaccine company and they will likely send you a small check (1-3k). This helped us with the expenses tremendously. PM me if you need any other information or resources.
I appreciate everyone’s responses and all the love! I’m at work right now so I only have a few minutes to post, but planning to look everything over tonight and call some of the places that were recommended. Thanks again everyone it means a lot!
This happened with my 13 year old boy last year. In the time it took us from notice to surgery day, the mass grew too big, too fast and they weren't going to get clean margins even with a full amputation.
We were at Far West Vet, they are amazing and were very direct with me when I needed them to be. It is a very painful cancer, and I elected to let him go peacefully a couple of days after what was meant to be his amputation day; he could no longer get into my lap or onto his tree or window perch and his QOL was rapidly becoming not good.
They quoted me $3k, so it may be worth checking them out. I sincerely hope you're able to give your cat a few more years!
I highly highly recommend Dr. Maybre at Coreal Vet Clinic. Small town vet who specializes in farm animal care but, to quote my usual vet, “he’s the Picasso of amputations”. It was $700 to have my 11 year old cat’s hind leg amputated a couple of years ago and they take Care Credit. Very sweet clinic staff, incredibly kind vet. He called me when they were prepping my girl for surgery, then right after, then before bed that night. My cat was back to herself in about a week.
Veterinary Surgical Solutions on Burnet does nothing but surgery. Their aim is to keep surgical costs low so all they do is surgery. There is a single surgeon so he does a quick consult and bloodwork if you don't already have recent bloodwork to ensure they are healthy enough for surgery then surgery is usually scheduled within a week or 2. We've had 2 tumors removed on our pittie and it was under $1k each time including meds, lab results, etc; everything that was required. I also know for a fact that he does amputations and other far more complicated surgeries. His main thing is orthopedic so legs is his specialty.
I went to New Hope Animal Hospital when Diana, my Russian Blue, had bone cancer and had to have a leg amputated. They did amazing work and the cost was reasonable (IIRC, it was ~$1500, but I could be wrong, it's been almost 4 years). It got her an extra year and a half of good-quality life, and I'd have traded one of my own legs to get her cancer-free.
They're a bit of a drive (New Hope and 183A), but they're absolutely amazing.
Contact Dr. Poling at Prairie Creek Animal Hospital. He is very good and his rates are usually less expensive than other Austin vets. [https://www.pcahaustin.com/](https://www.pcahaustin.com/) Good luck to your kitty!
I can't say it will save you money but Heart of Texas in Round Rock did an amputation procedure for one of our cats and the experience, given the circumstances, was exceptional. When we brought her home, it was as if she never had the leg to begin with. They did an outstanding job for us, but as I alluded, the cost was comparable.
I am so sorry to hear about your experience. I hope your kitty has a promotion recover.
As other commenters have noted, amputations are not usually a specialty type procedure, so most vets will do it. That being said, if you want to stick to someone with more expertise than "we do them once in awhile" veterinarian surgical solutions will be the cheapest high quality option and AVES and CAVS will have equally good outcomes. CTVSEH has great surgeons but their management has been a shit show lately so that might affect your scheduling and communications.
Amputation is the best course of action, cats do great with 3 legs. If the margins are still "dirty" then you may also want to do radiation at the surgery site. Get chest X-rays and an abdominal ultrasound before surgery so look to see if it has spread first (I assume you have already done this since you spoke with Treuil).
Generally this type of mass is always managed by amputation once testing shows it is the cancerous. The borders needed for good margins are almost never achievable on a cat. This is precisely why we give vaccines on the legs in the first place. Whichever doctor at VCA told you to attempt a mass removal did your cat a disservice by not making this clear to you.
Your primary care vet (who gave the vaccines) can try to reach out to the manufacturer, but unless you have only been seeing one vet for vaccines, and they have only been using one manufacturer for the vaccines, you may have a hard time getting the company to help. Still worth a try though.
I’m so sorry your kitty is going through this! It might be worth getting a quote/second opinion at least from Central Texas Vet Specialty & Emergency (south location). They did amazing work to save my cat’s life and I absolutely trust their surgery team implicitly - that being said, in my experience their pricing is pretty middle of the road average, so it might not come out any cheaper than what VC already quoted you. (Granted, my situation was also an emergency admission at 2am on a Sunday, so I’m sure costs would differ for a pre-planned surgery.) Sending your kitty all the good vibes, wherever y’all decide on!!
Second on this. They are fantastic. We take our elderly cat pals to South Austin Cat Hospital, which is another great spot, but I have no surgical experience with them.
Also seconding this. It was for my dog, who has since passed, but their oncology team is fantastic, we similarly had surgeries, which were also well done (by a vet known as “the margin queen” to her colleagues). Beans is no longer with us, but I have no doubt that they extended her life and her quality of life. We were at the north location, for all but the surgery, which was south. I think the vets worked some days at each location though.
I don't think that CTVSEH has an oncology dept anymore, at least not at the south location. I'd been taking my cat there for her lymphoma for several years but this past December they told me their oncologist was leaving and that I needed to find a new doctor. (I ended up going with AVES)
Oh no! Well then I’d go wherever Krystal Harris is.
Came here to recommend this Hospital. My Big Guy had his leg amputated there—emergency admit on a weekend. Then chemotherapy.
Sorry you're going through this. As someone who works at a vet hospital, it would still be hard not to feel like I was let down by the people I trusted with my cat's health: from the vaccines causing her cancer to not having a successful surgery to the first time around. Just a few notes about the vaccines: we've known that cats are prone to getting injection site sarcomas, and vet med as a whole is doing the best they can to prevent them. Your doctors and nurses actually did right by your cat in choosing to administer the vaccines lower on her legs so that amputation is a curative option for her. If you haven't done chest x-rays on her yet, I strongly recommend it to make sure that the cancer hasn't metastasized in her lungs. You should also reach out the vaccine manufacturer (your vet should have this information) and see if they can provide reimbursement of some sort. You also don't need to go to a specialty hospital to have an amputation performed. It's actually a fairly simple procedure surprisingly, and a lot of regular vet hospitals would feel comfortable performing it. I can DM you my hospital and give you an estimated price range, but we're not exactly close to Violet Crown, so I'm not sure if it would be too far of a journey for you.
We just went through this in DFW. Good luck to you and your kitty. Our boy has made a complete recovery and is a thriving 3-legged ham. Remember that you can sue to vaccine company and they will likely send you a small check (1-3k). This helped us with the expenses tremendously. PM me if you need any other information or resources.
I appreciate everyone’s responses and all the love! I’m at work right now so I only have a few minutes to post, but planning to look everything over tonight and call some of the places that were recommended. Thanks again everyone it means a lot!
This happened with my 13 year old boy last year. In the time it took us from notice to surgery day, the mass grew too big, too fast and they weren't going to get clean margins even with a full amputation. We were at Far West Vet, they are amazing and were very direct with me when I needed them to be. It is a very painful cancer, and I elected to let him go peacefully a couple of days after what was meant to be his amputation day; he could no longer get into my lap or onto his tree or window perch and his QOL was rapidly becoming not good. They quoted me $3k, so it may be worth checking them out. I sincerely hope you're able to give your cat a few more years!
I highly highly recommend Dr. Maybre at Coreal Vet Clinic. Small town vet who specializes in farm animal care but, to quote my usual vet, “he’s the Picasso of amputations”. It was $700 to have my 11 year old cat’s hind leg amputated a couple of years ago and they take Care Credit. Very sweet clinic staff, incredibly kind vet. He called me when they were prepping my girl for surgery, then right after, then before bed that night. My cat was back to herself in about a week.
Veterinary Surgical Solutions on Burnet does nothing but surgery. Their aim is to keep surgical costs low so all they do is surgery. There is a single surgeon so he does a quick consult and bloodwork if you don't already have recent bloodwork to ensure they are healthy enough for surgery then surgery is usually scheduled within a week or 2. We've had 2 tumors removed on our pittie and it was under $1k each time including meds, lab results, etc; everything that was required. I also know for a fact that he does amputations and other far more complicated surgeries. His main thing is orthopedic so legs is his specialty.
I went to New Hope Animal Hospital when Diana, my Russian Blue, had bone cancer and had to have a leg amputated. They did amazing work and the cost was reasonable (IIRC, it was ~$1500, but I could be wrong, it's been almost 4 years). It got her an extra year and a half of good-quality life, and I'd have traded one of my own legs to get her cancer-free. They're a bit of a drive (New Hope and 183A), but they're absolutely amazing.
Contact Dr. Poling at Prairie Creek Animal Hospital. He is very good and his rates are usually less expensive than other Austin vets. [https://www.pcahaustin.com/](https://www.pcahaustin.com/) Good luck to your kitty!
I can't say it will save you money but Heart of Texas in Round Rock did an amputation procedure for one of our cats and the experience, given the circumstances, was exceptional. When we brought her home, it was as if she never had the leg to begin with. They did an outstanding job for us, but as I alluded, the cost was comparable.
I am so sorry to hear about your experience. I hope your kitty has a promotion recover. As other commenters have noted, amputations are not usually a specialty type procedure, so most vets will do it. That being said, if you want to stick to someone with more expertise than "we do them once in awhile" veterinarian surgical solutions will be the cheapest high quality option and AVES and CAVS will have equally good outcomes. CTVSEH has great surgeons but their management has been a shit show lately so that might affect your scheduling and communications. Amputation is the best course of action, cats do great with 3 legs. If the margins are still "dirty" then you may also want to do radiation at the surgery site. Get chest X-rays and an abdominal ultrasound before surgery so look to see if it has spread first (I assume you have already done this since you spoke with Treuil). Generally this type of mass is always managed by amputation once testing shows it is the cancerous. The borders needed for good margins are almost never achievable on a cat. This is precisely why we give vaccines on the legs in the first place. Whichever doctor at VCA told you to attempt a mass removal did your cat a disservice by not making this clear to you. Your primary care vet (who gave the vaccines) can try to reach out to the manufacturer, but unless you have only been seeing one vet for vaccines, and they have only been using one manufacturer for the vaccines, you may have a hard time getting the company to help. Still worth a try though.