Advanced Veterinary Care Can Be Expensive
Anyone who has taken her pet to the veterinarian recently knows that a visit there can cost a small fortune. Not too long ago a pet with a serious illness or injury may have been put down. Today, using advanced technology and techniques, veterinarians are able in many cases to give many pets a second chance and a good shot at getting back to good health and leading a normal life again.
Veterinary Medicine in the 21st Century
Veterinary medicine is advancing alongside human medicine at an amazing speed. Pet parents are not only educating themselves on the different treatment options available for their pets but are also demanding them too. Some of the advanced treatments that veterinarians are able to offer today include:
Veterinary drugs are also available that treat a wide range of conditions that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. For example, Deramaxx, Rimadyl, and Previcox are advanced drugs offering relief to dogs suffering from osteoarthritis.
Veterinary Fees Headed Up
Although veterinary medicine can offer your pet the best treatment in the world, it can come with a price tag that can easily reach thousands of dollars very quickly. Emergency veterinary clinics can be particularly expensive because they are open 24 hours, have specialized equipment, and often have specialist veterinarians on staff.
The veterinary industry has no pricing guidelines and faces no pressure from PPO/HMO networks that try to keep prices down. The cost of veterinary care has been growing 6 to 7% each year for the last several years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around twice as fast as your wages, making veterinary care increasingly more expensive.
Despite all of this, veterinarians are still less expensive than human doctors. It might not feel that way though because you are totally exposed to paying the full veterinary bill while with your own health care you have insurance to help pay.
Pets Living Longer Than Ever
Thanks to such things as the widespread use of vaccinations protecting against fatal diseases like distemper, leash laws to prevent pets getting into accidents while outside the home, and cheap antibiotics, pets are living longer than ever.
If pets are living longer, they are also showing their age. Older pets suffer from many of the same diseases and conditions of old age that humans do: obesity due to a sedentary lifestyle, heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, Cushing's disease, and cataracts, just to name a few.
And pet parents must pay out of pocket to treat these infirmities of their senior pets. Pet insurance covers the cost of treating not just senior pets but pets of all ages.