Is a �450 vet bill normal for unblocking a urethra caused by crystals? Seems excessive to me for a catheter...

My cats are young so crystals are, I'm told, rare. However, my 2 yr old male couldn't pee so we took him in. Essentially he had to be knocked out, catheterised (appearently was very simple in this case), and then he was on a drip for two days so he got flushed through. My friend also has this problem in her older cat and he went home the same day. Likewise various cultures and tests were done even though they already suspected crystals and we were told all tests had to be done at the same time rather than one after the other as requested. The response was to 'either accept it or put him to sleep'. The bill came to �450. Considering having a cat spade is about �60 and is far more invasive it seems we got ripped off - but it was an emergency and had to get him sorted so we had no time for a second opinion. Has anybody had a similar experience? I'm simply trying to find out whether I should complain to someone or simply change vets if they were milking me for all I've got