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Pet owners face tough decisions as medical advances increase vet bills
| Sunday, Oct 5 2008 12:00 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Oct 6 2008 7:34 AM
Grim news awaited a couple who recently took their middle-age dog to Auburn Animal Hospital in northeast Bakersfield.
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Many practices and animal hospitals now offer financing through outside companies such as CareCredit, which works much like a regular credit card.
Additionally, several pet health insurance companies allow pet owners to fix their costs at as low as about $20 a month. If a pet has pre-existing medical problems, however, insurers may not be willing to offer a policy.
Some veterinary centers help out by accepting post-dated checks or allowing their customers to pay for services over an extended period. Others, such as such as Southwest Veterinary Hospital, do their part by setting up charitable care funds. The hospital also offers one free biopsy a month to customers in need.
Pet owners can do other things to lower their vet bills, said William Grant, president of the California Veterinary Medical Association. He recommended setting up a savings account for new pets, as well as shopping around to find the best price for standard procedures.
Some simply do all they can to save up money for costly procedures.
“People will tell you they’re willing to go without for their pet,” Grant said, “which I find an incredible thing for people to do. It’s an amazing sacrifice.”
Dental exams. Unchecked plaque can lead to infections that can spread to the lungs, heart, liver or kidneys. When brushing you pet’s teeth, though, make sure you use products approved for use in animals.
Geriatric testing. Get older pets checked for diabetes, renal disease, cancer and other illnesses that come with age. Identifying problems early can help avoid tragic illness later.
Weight maintenance. Pets who are overweight can become sluggish and prone to heart disease and problems with muscles and joints. Make sure they get regular exercise, proper nutrition — and no table scraps.
Vaccinations. Keep them current. Canine distemper and feline leukemia are among illnesses that can be controlled with vaccinations.
Allergies. Animals may be allergic to dust, pollen, fleas, feathers, foods and even other pets. Allergies often cause itchy skin. Mental activity. Play with your pets and keep them mentally active. Adding a new household pet sometimes prompts the older pet to take responsibility for tutoring the newcomer.
SOURCE: The California Veterinary Medical Association.
Photos:
Veterinary doctor Frank Virga neuters a dog at his Oildale office.
Veterinary doctor Frank Virga at the North of the River Veterinary Hospital.
Cancer had spread through the dog’s lymph nodes. Veterinarian Kristy Utt told them the disease can be treated with chemotherapy but that it could cost several hundred dollars a month.
The couple just couldn’t swing it.
“For them, it was not a fiscal option to do that,” Utt said, adding that the dog is now on a treatment regimen to relieve its pain.
There’s good news and bad news for pet owners. On one hand, advances in veterinary medicine are making more options available to extend the life of their four-legged companions.
But the often high cost of these new treatments — cat kidney transplants can cost $10,000, roughly the same price of dual hip replacements for dogs — makes it that much harder for pet owners to decide whether to proceed.
“It’s different than people medicine, you know,” Utt said. Because relatively few people have health insurance for their pets, “we have to be a bit more realistic in veterinary medicine about the fiscal aspects of it.”
The drama plays out regularly around Bakersfield, where many veterinary practices are investing in high-tech equipment such as digital radiology and ultrasound machines.
Others are looking at hiring specialists as a way of attracting local pet owners who have grown accustomed to driving to the Los Angeles area for advanced veterinary procedures.
LOVE OF PETS
Some see the trend toward better medical care for pets as a byproduct of pets filling a void as families become more spread out.
The American Veterinary Medical Association found that about half of almost 50,000 Americans surveyed in 2006 consider their pets to be part of their family, while slightly fewer think of pets only as companions.
Spending on veterinary care has been rising. The same association survey indicated that Americans shelled out $24.5 billion for vet care in 2006, up 13 percent from 2001.
Veterinarians say people’s willingness to do almost anything for their pets has pushed the profession ever closer to human medicine.
“Thirty years ago it was a choice between euthanasia and a week of penicillin,” said Katy Ratliff, a veterinarian at Animal Emergency and Urgent Care, on Easton Drive. “And now it’s way different from that.”
Even nontraditional medicine has crossed over to pets.
Frank Virga, a veterinarian at North of The River Veterinary Hospital, charges $65 for 15 minutes of pet acupuncture to treat arthritis pain and cancer side effects. He knows other vets who offer herbal medicine for dogs and cats.
BUY OR NOT?
When deciding whether to purchase expensive new equipment, veterinarians must weigh the size of their investments against what their customers can afford.
At The Oaks Pet Hospital had its eye on a surgical laser that has the potential to quicken pets’ recovery times. But it would have raised the cost of spaying a dog from about $140 to $200 depending on the animal’s size, office manager Julie Schoell said.
Before making the purchase, the hospital surveyed customers a few months ago to find out whether they would be willing to pay more for the laser.
Although many customers said they would pay the extra money, the hospital opted to hold off on the purchase because of the economic slowdown.
“It just seems like people are doing the basic necessities at this point rather than going and spending money on extras,” she said.
Over at Bakersfield Veterinary Hospital, which earlier this year moved to a 14,000-square-foot building open 24-hours a day on Harris Road, owners are considering supplementing their staff with a surgeon and an internal medicine specialist.
Part-owner and veterinarian Paul Ulrich said the idea is to “take this to the next level for our local area” so that customers don’t have to drive to Los Angeles for certain procedures.
TECHNOLOGICAL BENEFIT
Veterinarian Jennifer McDougle told of a cat who directly benefited from the investment of an ultrasound machine at Southwest Veterinary Hospital, where she works on Brundage Lane.
Every year or so the cat would become jaundiced and stop eating. Rather than put the cat through an exploratory surgery, hospital staff used the ultrasound and discovered a liver infection as well as “huge” gallstones.
Combined with an ultrasound-guided surgery to take biopsies, the procedure ended up costing the cat’s owner about $1,000.
McDougle said using the ultrasound accounted for about half the procedure’s total price — but it also allowed the hospital to pinpoint the illness more quickly and helped the cat heal faster.
“It’s nice,” she said, “to have that option and do the ultrasound and find out what the underlying cause is.”