I had to take one of our guinea pigs to the vet as an emergency last Friday evening. No payment was asked for up front and when I asked about paying when I was leaving the vet said he'd send the bill.

We do take all the animals to him for their various treatments so he does know us which could make a difference I guess but when our pet sitter had to rush our cat to the emergency vet whilst we were on holiday a couple of years ago they didn't have to pay anything either.

We don't have insurance but do have money put aside for 'pet emergencies'.

Pet insurance in the UK is big business and is pretty expensive and even if you have it the insurers do their utmost to try to wriggle out of paying. Sister in law had terrible trouble trying to get them to fork out for necessary treatment on their St Bernard as they argued that it was a known issue with that breed but she did manage to get reimbursed in the end.