Ever wonder what accounts for the most trips to the veterinarian’s office? A recent survey by Veterinary Pet Insurance, a provider of pet health insurance, revealed that the top ten reasons that canines visited their vets in 2009 were:
- ear infection
- skin allergy
- skin infection or hot spots
- gastritis and vomiting
- enteritis and diarrhea
- bladder infection
- arthritis
- soft tissue trauma
- non-cancerous tumor
- eye infection
Veterinary insurers receive millions of claims a year. Add that to the visits made by pets who are not insured, and you can see that despite your best efforts to keep your pets healthy, it is extremely likely that they will develop some ailment requiring a trip to your veterinarian’s office.
This single insurer received almost 68,000 claims for dogs with ear infections in 2009 and 3,700 for the most frequently submitted claim in cats – lower urinary tract disease.
The average claim fee was $100 per visit for the ear problems and an average of $260 per visit for the urinary tract issues. Their most expensive canine condition on the list was the non-cancerous tumor, which averaged a $335 claim per visit; the comparable feline visit for dental disease averaged $360 per claim.
I am sure pet owners are trying to do everything they can to keep their pets healthy. Knowing the cost of care for the more than 300 animals that the Richmond SPCA takes care of every day makes me very sympathetic to pet guardians trying to provide for their pets during a difficult economic period. Every pet guardian, including the Richmond SPCA, wants only the best care for their animals. The more than a dozen pet insurance companies make that much more affordable. All of our adopted pets leave our center with a 30-day, complimentary policy from ShelterCare, which is the insurance that is packaged with the 24PetWatch microchip that each of our pets have implanted prior to adoption.
But what if you do not have pet insurance? What if you cannot afford even preventative care for your pet? Now what do you do when you need to make one of those veterinary visits with your beloved family pet? We will give you some tips as well as resources in our next blog.
Dr. Angela Ivey is the director of veterinary services at the Richmond SPCA. To read her complete biography, or that of our other bloggers, please click here.
Comments