Your Pet Can Cecome Sick at Short Notice

How Prepared Are You?

You’ve just arrived home after a busy day at the office. As you’re getting ready to for the next shift of the day – aka – dinner for four, your daughter emerges from her room and says “Mum” – “Can you have a look at Riley” “I think there’s something wrong with her.”

“In a minute hon… I’m busy”

“No Mum, I mean now!”

You quickly dry your hands and follow your daughter into her room, only to find the normally vivacious family terrier cowering sheepishly under the bed. You immediately notice a small pool of vomit in the corner and the dog staring out at you with big fearful eyes.

Despite coaxing, Riley is reluctant to come out from under the bed so you crawl under to get her.

She yelps as you pull her out and puts her tail between her legs. Riley is clearly not well at all.

“I think we better ring the Vet”

You turn off the stove, organise a snack for the kids while they wait till you get back and off to the vet you go.

During the exmaination you’re informed that Riley is dehydrated and needs to be placed on an iv drip a.s.a.p. Further diagnostic tests are also neded to work out the cause of Riley’s condition. Images of big $$ apear in your head and you start feeling a little ill.

“How much will this all cost” – you ask.

Your vet gives you a breakdown of the initial diagnostic and treatment costs, “the rest of course will depend on what the test results reveal” – he says.

This is not good news for you. You love Riley and certainly don’t begrudge her the treatment but, what a totally inconvenient time for this to happen. You’ve just paid a stack of bills and have just enough to get by till pay day next week.

Would You be Prepared for this?

You could ask your vet for a payment plan. Some vets do offer this as an option but don’t count on it.

1. Most clinics you’ll find expect full payment of fees at the time of patient discharge from hospital. Some may even ask for a deposit before starting any treatment.
2. You could apply for credit through a third party provider such as GE Care Credit. Most vets use a third party credit provider for situations just like this. These companies deduct installments from your bank account over an agreed period of time until the account is paid in full with little or no interest charge to you.
3. You could arrange to borrow money yourself – from the bank, family or friends.

This is not an uncommon scenario in veterinary practice. Many people are unprepared to deal with an unexpected vet bill which adds additional stress to an already emotional situation.
Depending on the nature of the illness or injury, your bill could be anything from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars.

Of course, the best way to avoid situations like this is to take out Pet Insurance. This is the ultimate protection for you and your pet and best taken out when your pet is still young.

Want to compare Pet Insurance Policies

Ask for our Pet Insurance comparison chart.

This handy little flyer is available from our clinic. It compares the fees and inclusions of 12 different Insurance Providers.

Please drop in and grab one.

However, if you don’t like the idea of paying monthly fees for the unknown or you have more than one pet you could do one of the following:

1. Set up a separate account for your pets into which you transfer small amounts of money on a regular basis specifically for situations like these. Even if you don’t end up having all the funds you need in there (if it’s a large bill) – at least it’s a downpayment.
2. If you use a particular vet, keep your account in credit through regular deposits. This way you’re never tempted to use the money for anything else. This also means you’re more likely to be offered a payment plan to pay off the remainder.(This has proven to work well for clients of ours)

Just a final note: Remember – vets are businesses too with the same overheads as any other business out there. They can’t be money lenders as well. It is up to you to make provisions for your pet’s health expenses just as you do for all the other members of your family.

Put simply -“Best Practice” means offering you the best treatment options available for your pet’s condition.

• Sometimes it means offering you the choice of a superior surgical technique over what has been commonly addressed a different way.
• Sometimes it involves a referral to a specialist clinic.
• Sometimes it involves high tech diagnostics or a different approach to treatment.

Naturally “Best Practice” techniques are expected to produce better outcomes. Now whether this means a more accurate diagnosis, a faster recovery process or a better long term outlook for the patient, they certainly have their benefits.

But in the end it does boil down to affordability.

Now while it’s our job as vets to explain these options to you – (from our experience) – it’s the budget that most often dictates the choice our clients make. Sure – it’s great that there’s a host of superior solutions out there, but they’re not so great if they’re out of reach.

Unlike human doctors – we vets don’t have the luxury of always applying best practice techniques. We can’t always run all the tests we’d like to get to the bottom of a problem nor can we send all our patients off to a specialist if a condition is particularly challenging. Most often we have to find a workable solution within a specific budget – at the same time providing the much needed emotional support that so often accompanies situations like these.

Fortunately – many conditions do have treatment options so make sure your vet goes through them all with you. This will help you make an informed decision.

But – if compromises are made, make sure you fully understand the implications of your decision.

• What are the disadvantages of this option?
• What are the risks involved?
• How will it affect the long term health of my pet?
• Will I be able to change my mind down the track and choose a different treatment option?
• If this option doesn’t work then what needs to happen then?
• Have I limited my options in the future by going down this path?
• Has this option worked for patients in the past? How well? What’s your experience?

In an ideal world – we’d all be making “Best Practice” decisions. Like having root canal treatment vs. extraction. The first is clearly the superior option (no gaps – tooth stays in place) but the other works just fine. Gets rid of the pain and is a lot cheaper.

Is it always that simple? Not always. But do get all the facts and give yourself enough “thinking” time to make sure you make the decision that best suits you, your pet and your budget.

And if your vet is unable to provide these options for you – find someone who can.

Ask your vet for a full explanation of all the procedures.

With the increasing demand for high quality care and diagnostic tests – it’s our reponsibility, as Vets to give you information and options available every step of the way.

While some of these are absolutely necessary for the specific situation and cannot be changed, other services may be recommended that you can choose to decline.

Take a routine desexing for example.

This is a fixed fee for a specific surgical procedure and cannot be changed. You may however elect to have a pre – anaesthetic blood test performed before surgery to make sure there’s nothing going on in the inside that we can’t see from a physical exam.

You may also choose for your pet to have intravenous fluids delivered during the surgery to keep her hydrated and make her feel better during the recovery process.

Now while these “options” are good to have and they do serve a very beneficial purpose – they are elective extras that you can decline if you want to.

The point is – always ask your vet about what’s necessary and what’s “ideal” and expect a decent explanation of all the pros and cons of each.