Financial Tips for Pet Owners
Before you read this, I am an RVT with experience in both small-scale private practices and teaching/specialty hospitals. There is a wide range of treatment and diagnostic options for pet owners between these two types of hospitals which can lead to cheaper procedures at a smaller practice but also cheaper minimalistic things at the specialty hospital.
Also, usually there's a reason why one place, specific procedures and/or diagnostic tests are cheaper or more expensive vs the two hospitals and that comes down to quality and quantity- nothing to do with a greedy Practice Owner(s).
Another thing to think about is...Veterinary Hospitals operate almost exactly as your ordinary human hospital does; supplies, medications and equipment. If you're pet needs an I.V. catheter and some fluids, it'll cost you around $50, plus the $30-$80 exam fee depending if it was an emergency or not. Most vet clinics wrap up all the supplies we use in the process of this placement and have one charge under "I.V. placement". The human hospitals charge anywhere from 200%-500% the price of each individual item used to do so, you won't walk out of the hospital under $5,000, though your insurance pays most of it if not all.
So moving forward from that, not so brief, explanation on Veterinary Medicine as a whole, I have several tips for those are wanting to save as much as possible and want their pet to have the best, most thorough care.
Pet Insurance
Yes, this exists and it is amazing!! Most monthly premiums are ~$30-$40 and they cover any and all preventative care, workups, diagnostic tests and usually 80% emergency care, including emergency surgeries, etc.
Some great options are:
Healthy Paws
Embrace
Trupanion
Spot
Nationwide
With each of these, you can tweak the coverage, deductibles and monthly premiums to fit you and your pets needs! I recommend starting your pets insurance when they're a puppy, even before you go to their first Vet visit, your rates are much lower and with most companies, those prices are locked in for your pets entire life.
Websites
Some websites provide cheaper medications, drugs, etc. due to a higher volume of orders from "Big Pharma" companies, this is why the medications are $5-$10 cheaper than what you'd get from your Vet. They also get you to buy toys, foods, etc to get free shipping along with your medication order, which contributes to why they can have lower costs of medications. Not saying this is a bad thing, I think it's fantastic!! I love using Chewy.com as they have almost everything and compare their prices to every other pet store, giving you the cheapest options! They are the Walmart of pet supplies. And their drugs are just as good of quality as the ones at your local pharmacy or Vet clinic.
Preventatives
As mentioned above, boy are these pricey!! I set a reminder in my phone 2-3 months prior to Ollie needing his next years supply of Heartgard and Nexgard, then I save up (~$600 for his size- yes I have a heart attack every year lol). When you buy 6 months- 1 years worth of these preventatives the companies like to give out rebates or coupons, which can give you up to $100+ back in a general gift card form!
I have recently found that using Simperica Trio (for dogs only!) saves me money! It is an all-in-one tasty treat; heartworm preventative + flea & tick + common GI parasites. It might look expensive when you see the total, however when I typed up & compared the numbers in fall of 2023, I was saving ~$15 per month when comparing it to other preventatives.
Veterinary Appointments
Please let the Veterinary staff know you have a budget, and what your budget is, and they can give you tons of options to save money! From payment plans, care credit or a different approach with diagnoses and treatment options.
If you chose the different approach method, they might not find out the true cause of why Fiddo keeps vomiting bile 3 hours after eating a meal over the last 3 months but they can try cheaper options to see if anything helps decrease the symptoms or fixes it altogether- like changing food brands or types and the frequency and/or amounts of feedings.
This can be a problem though; as you might not get an answer and your pet might not see improvements..and unfortunately some Veterinarians end up in court over saving you money..
Why? Well... They didn't run a GI panel or do an ultrasound, turns out Fiddo had an encapsulated liver abscess which didn't show on the radiographs or bloodwork and ultimately led him to get very sick and needing an expensive emergency surgery (Liver Lobectomy) at a Specialty Hospital with a very gruesome, hard and scary recovery..
So when you're Vet recommends X, Y & Z- they truly aren't trying to waste your money, they are trying to rule out this type of scenario- find the issue, help to heal your pet and fix the cause, not just treat or cover up the symptoms.
Humane Societies & Animal Shelters
Adopting a pet can save you hundreds on the puppy vaccinations and the alteration surgery (spay/neuter). Most shelters have every pet up to date on vaccines and all of them are altered! They also have resources and financial donors to help out with emergency surgeries and higher Veterinary bills. (I'm talking $6,000+ bills).
But be mindful, some of these shelters make you surrender your pet to the shelter, some of which will let you adopt them back but I've heard of places who do not allow that.
Good Husbandry
Taking care of your pet will also save you money in the long run.. Brushing their teeth daily will lead to less dental procedures. Keeping them active and at a healthy/ideal weight will also decrease Heart, Bone (Arthritis), Lung and GI problems; like chronic inflammation, over eating out of boredom or eating things that can cause a foreign body. Walking your dog or playing with them outside is very important and has tons of health benefits for not only you but them as well! Taking care of their fur coat and skin will lead to less skin issues leading to the need for prescription medications to fix it. Good quality food will decrease their chances of developing GI, Heart, Bone, Skin, Dental, Cognitive, Liver, Kidney & Pancreatic diseases.
On the contrary...
Foods
You can save money on foods, either by using coupons for high-end Veterinary Diets, researching brands and finding a reputable brand! If I had to chose I would do Iams or PurinaOne. Purina finally collaborated with Veterinary Nutritionists and has a Veterinary and Prescription food line (Purina ProPlan- my overall favorite!!!), this is awesome and means they hopefully upped their game with their basic food line; bettering their ingredients and stricter quality control. Iams is pretty reputable with good quality control and they have the lesser of law suits overall verses the rest of your average dog food brands. Looking into brand specific law suits from current times and past times can give you a good idea whether or not the brand is reputable.
Check out my blog Pet Diets… And why they are important, for more information on Pet Foods!
Another awesome way to save money is signing your dog up for donating blood. This isn't common in the Phelps County area but if you're reading this and live in a big city with specialty practices, your pet weighs more than 50 lbs and they're between the ages of 1-5 years old, receive preventatives every month of the year, look into it! They usually pay for preventatives year round, you get a free yearly work-up and they give you a large bag of food after each donation.
All in all, you CAN save money with owning pets, do some research, find whats right for you and what your end goal is with owning a pet before getting one!! If you're like me and want the best life for your pet, Pet Insurance is key, Veterinary Diets/Coupons are key and rebates on preventatives are a life-saver!!
