there's no two ways about it vet bills
and vet care can be very expensive but
if you're struggling to afford your pets
vet bills then I've got some strategies
that might just help you today welcome
to the dr. Alex answers show if we've
not met before I'm dr. Alex the
veterinarian behind ourpetshealthcom
when my aim is to help you and your pet
to live a healthier happier life and in
this show I answer all of your dog and
cat health related questions now I had a
reply from one of my newsletters from
one of my subscribers and they said that
their biggest challenge was how to
afford vet bills and how to afford vet
care and their dog so this is a really
common concern there's no getting away
from it vet care can be expensive and if
your dog is very own well if they have a
serious accident then sometimes there
are very few options other than the more
expensive ones but we can think of
breaking down health care into
preventative treatment for our pets so
trying to keep them healthy and reactive
treatment or treating them when they
become unwell but when they have an
injury so there are a number of
different ways we can go about
forwarding both options so if we're
looking at preventative health care then
there are a number of different products
that we can use to help for example
remove parasites in our dogs so it might
be that the tablet that lasts for three
months that does all your fleas does
your ticks those your worms is the most
convenient option for you but it's also
likely to be the most expensive one and
so simply using a couple of different
products they might need to be given at
separate times or they might need to be
given more frequently so they're not
quite as convenient but they might be
cheaper so that allows us to have the
same end result with a cheaper cost so
that's definitely something to consider
if we've got the end goal in mind then
we need to think of what's the best way
we can go about getting that result
preventative health care is also very
important so for something like dental
health if we Institute tooth brushing if
that's possible or we give dental treats
or we use a few different strategies to
try and help keep our dog's teeth clean
there
could help prevent disease in the future
and prevent the need for expensive
dentals if we keep our pet a nice
healthy weight then we really reduce the
risk of them developing arthritis or
developing diabetes so we can not
eliminate but we can do to reduce the
risk of some of our really serious
diseases by concentrating on a few
preventative health matters so that's
simply feeding a good diet not over
feeding or addressing dental care at an
early stage rather than leaving it until
it gets too late and we need expensive
dentals with extractions so another
thing we can do is that some veterinary
practices will have preventative health
clubs or schemes whereby you pay a small
amount every month and that gives you
your vaccinations it gives you your
parasite control it may give you
discounts on food and like if you
discount on certain procedures or drugs
or consultations should they become
unwell so if your vet practices off vet
practice offers that then that's
definitely something to consider as well
it helps spread the cost over 12-month
period rather than having a big cost say
at vaccination time and generally those
cost will be kind of a little bit
cheaper and well you know quite a bit
cheaper and reasonable saving should you
buy them they're all of those things
individually so that's something to
consider as well and my last thought
with preventative healthcare is not to
waste your money on things that are
proven not to work or have no evidence
behind them so there are a lot of fads
with feeding with different supplements
and that kind of thing with different
chews and there are lots of things out
there that are touted as being the the
latest and greatest thing for our pets
health but in a lot of cases there's
actually very little if any evidence
behind them and a lot of it is marketing
so don't waste your money on things that
have got no evidence behind them or in
some cases have been proven not to make
any difference or not to make much
difference at all so using what money
that is available to you using it wisely
and getting the best bang for your buck
okay so moving on to sickness and injury
and how to afford vet bills when your
pet is unwell or if they have an
accident and need a surgery for example
now
there's kind of three main ways that I
see that we can try and afford those
costs now the first one and perhaps the
most obvious one is pet insurance so pet
insurance is great
it will provide payouts for those big
bills for those kind of big-ticket items
so that might be cruciate ligament
surgery for example it might be fracture
repair it might be a week's
hospitalization after your pet that
comes on well for whatever reason pet
insurance works by paying a monthly
premium and now they'll be in excess and
they'll pay up to a certain amount or
they'll be a co-payment insurance works
in different ways depending on the
company and depending on the country
that you're in there are a couple of
problems with pet insurance the first is
that the cost can be quite high
sometimes and you know hopefully you're
never going to need it but the peace of
mind that it provides can be great what
pets insurance often requires though is
it still requires you as the owner to
pay the bill and for you to then be
refunded so you will still often need to
be able to somehow have access to the
money needed to pay the bill before you
then get refunded and the other thing to
think about is that in some cases pets
insurance won't cover pre-existing well
in most cases pet insurance won't cover
any pre-existing conditions so if you're
getting your pets insured at an older
age then either your pets insurance the
company might not be able to insure your
pet or they might have a whole wealth of
exclusions now another way to achieve a
similar result to pets insurance is to
actually start to savings account for
your pet so you get your puppy you get
your kitten and you pay every month into
their own account to their own kind of
emergency fund or their wellness account
or whatever you want to call it now over
their life that can build up to a
certain you know to a reasonable amount
if for example you put all your
insurance premiums into that account
then the chances are by the time they
reach old age there will be a reasonable
amount in there but the problem with
this approach is that if your pepper
comes on well next month or while
they're still young in the first few
years of life and they need an expensive
surgery the chances are that that
account won't have built up to any
great degree or certainly won't be able
to cover the full cost of the procedure
that's needed and that's really where
pet insurance is fantastic so like I say
it's for those big-ticket items is
really really valuable
but yeah paying into your pets own
account is one way to to go about things
that doesn't involve insurance and then
another way is that some vets might
allow you to actually pay money into
your pets account so that their account
goes into surplus and that can mean that
when it comes to even like vaccinations
but also if they become unwell then
there's already a certain amount in your
pets account to offset the bill that
will be given to treat your pets so
that's something else to consider now
there's no getting away from the fact
that despite all of these things vet
bills can be a lot of money and in some
cases and even in many cases the
absolute top of the range the gold
standard treatment will be unaffordable
for many people and there's a few things
to say here the first is that you
shouldn't feel guilty about not being
able to afford that actually
top-of-the-range treatment for your dog
just like human health care pet
healthcare has advanced a really rapid
rate over the last the last few decades
but with that comes an increase in cost
so the cost of veterinary equipment is
astronomical in some cases the cost of
the training and the expertise taken to
perform certain procedures to carry
tests or to give treatments is again
very high and of course that cost needs
to be passed on and that's why a lot of
a lot of bills can be pricey we're
actually able to do so much but it's not
easy and it's not cheap so vet bills can
be expensive but I certainly believe
that owning a pet shouldn't be just for
the rich just for the well-off everyone
should be able to benefit from having a
pet in their life they provide so much
for us and if we go just look after them
and and give them their basic needs so
we try and keep them healthy as to the
best of our abilities then we should be
able to accept that if something serious
comes along we might not be able to do
the absolute best what you really need
to do is you need to be honest with your
vets you need to say look this is what
I've got to work with what can we do
what's the
thing that we can do because very often
there is a plan B C D or e that means
that we're able to try and and help to
try and treat our pet to the best of the
ability with the resources that are
available now it might mean that we do
have to take shortcuts it might mean
that we miss certain things out and
that's not going to be ideal but it will
still give up het the best chance of
success if we go into something saying
well this is what I want but I'm not
able to afford it then that sets up an
unrealistic expectation of your vet's
ability to treat your pet and also it
just sets you up for for a real
stressful situation and guilt of not
being able to afford to look after your
pet so just being honest and accepting
that sometimes we're not able to do the
best but there are definitely still
things that we can do to try and have
that successful outcome so where our
resources are restricted and that's just
a reality you should be asking questions
about what treatment options there are
about what testing options there are and
what recommendations are being made so
we should have it very clear in our
minds that if we do this test we're
going to be able to make these decisions
as a result of it an example would be
well your dog needs a lump removed now
in all cases histology sending it off to
the lab would be a would be a benefit it
will allow us to say exactly what that
lump is what the prognosis and chance of
recovery is what the chance of it
recurring is but if ultimately we're not
going to be able to afford the
chemotherapy that might need to go on if
the mass wasn't completely removed or
we're not going to be able to do
anything differently as a result of that
as a result of the lab report then
what's the benefits of running that test
it's a nice to have but if we're not
able to act on that information then
what's the point of spending money on
that test and there are a lot of things
that we can do if I've been able to
narrow a dog's condition down to two two
conditions and the treatment is pretty
much the same then what's the benefits
in giving a specific diagnosis it could
definitely be good to give prognosis and
that kind of thing but if it's not going
to change what we're going to do
then why spend the money running the
test and that's something to definitely
have a chat to your vet and that brings
me on to kind of my last point and that
is that the relationship that you have
with your vet is incredibly important so
having a trusting relationship with your
vet it's possibly one of the most
important factors when it comes to our
pets health care and that's especially
the case when funds are limited and
we're having to make some quite
difficult decisions sometimes so being
able to trust your vet being able to
work with them and actually having a
pre-existing relationship is very
important as well okay so I hope that
gave you a few points of how to be able
to afford vet bills and how to afford
vet care it's definitely something that
we that we get on a very regular basis
and it's a real reality of of health
care if you've got any questions then
please leave me a comment down below and
if you've got a question for me that
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so until next time I'm dr. Alex this is
our pets health and this is the show
where you ask the questions and dr. Alex
answers