10 Things Your Veterinarian Won't Tell You

Following in my tradition of "here's how expensive your pets are" (see here, here, and here) (need links) comes an article from Smart Money called 10 things your veterinarian won't tell you. Several of them have to do with the expenses of having a pet including:

1. "Good thing you love Schatzi like a son. His care could cost as much."

After a New York City taxi struck Jessica Malionek's dog, Mojo, flinging him 30 feet in the air, she spent $4,000 for veterinarians to perform emergency treatment and then life-saving surgeries on her beloved dog. "It was like they were treating a person," Malionek says.

These days veterinary medicine can be every bit as sophisticated as human health care — and the costs reflect it. Animal lovers spent $19 billion on veterinary care in 2001, the most recent figure available, up from $7.2 billion a decade earlier, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. And per-visit costs are skyrocketing: Between 1991 and 2001, the average cost of a veterinary visit for a dog nearly doubled, from $50 to $99. For cats, costs rose even more precipitously, jumping by 107%.

Why the steep price hikes? Chris Green, an attorney and member of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association, says vets are happily obliging owners who want to keep their pets alive at all costs. That means paying up for the latest high-tech procedures, such as feline kidney transplants and CAT scans. There are also more aged pets today, which require more care.

7. "Go ahead and sue — it'll hurt you more than it hurts me."

When Marc Bluestone's dog Shane died after being treated for seizures at All-Care Animal Referral Center in Fountain Valley, Calif., Bluestone decided to sue. In a precedent-setting ruling, a jury awarded him $39,000 for malpractice, claiming he and his dog had a "special and close relationship." (All-Care is appealing the ruling.)

But that's an exception — suing a veterinarian is at best a dodgy financial undertaking. The reason is that under the law pets are considered property, says Ireland Moore, the animal lawyer in Portland, Ore. More often than not, that means court awards are for the straight market value of the pet, which could be as little as $10 for your beloved mutt. Meanwhile, suing a vet is likely to be an expensive undertaking.

If your pet becomes the victim of a medical mishap, know that your legal recourse is anything but guaranteed. "It's not always the most economically smart thing to do," Moore concedes.

9. "I haven't the foggiest idea why your dog's acting crazy."

The study of animal behavior is a relatively new specialty in veterinary medicine. In fact, the AVMA lists only 36 board-certified animal behavior specialists on its web site, compared with 1,500 internal medicine specialists. Yet many pet owners get rid of their cats and dogs, or even put them to sleep, for annoying behavior ranging from barking to eating drywall. Daniel Aja, a veterinarian in Traverse City, Mich., and president of the American Animal Hospital Association, recalls one client who brought in a St. Bernard to be euthanized because of severe separation anxiety. Once when the owner left the house, the dog jumped through a plate-glass window to chase after him. Aja convinced the owner to treat the pup with antidepressants and had behaviorists on his staff counsel the client on how to work with his dog.

Not all vets will make the extra effort to diagnose a behavioral problem, which entails taking a complete medical and behavioral history and spending hours with a pet. What do you do if Champ continues to chase his tail? Ask your vet if he has experience with behavioral issues. If not, request a referral. The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants' web site lists professionals with varying experience in behavior training, from vets to dog trainers.

Do people really hire animal psychologists? Yikes! Oh well, I guess it's ok, I'm sure they're very inexpensive and highly accurate (please read the last sentence with a sarcastic tone.)

Yes, there's the love of a pet that's to be gained, and that's worth something certainly. All I'm saying -- in any of these pet-related posts -- is to consider the cost. Most people don't really calculate the total costs when they buy a pet.

Comments

[duwbryd]

I don't know how realistic the animal cops are on the Animal Planet Channel but I am concerned about owning a pet. I have never treated an animal as badly as the people on the show but still, people are being arrested. These animal cops are also telling people it is against the law to butcher rabbits, own your own animal rescue shelter, fight dogs or roasters. I have wondered where they draw the line. Sure I am against intentinally harming another animal but when will the day come when I will be arrested for stepping on ants or killing bacteria. Aren't these animal life also?

[Cat House Training]

Well, I've been taking care of a couple of cats lately, for about a couple of weeks. It was great fun, even having a cat jump up and down on me while I was trying to sleep. I found that to get the cats to behave I had to split my affections fairly equally, even though one of the two was much more aggressive in her demands for said affection. I won't miss trying to read my computer screen or pages of a book while trying to peer around a kitten's face. But the apartment feels a little emptier.