Take the bite out of vet bills

Buying cover for your furry friend can cut the cost of pet care and avoid heartache

- NICOLA FIELD

Last month we laid our 16-year-old chihuahua Puk to rest. Despite a lifetime of good health, an overnight stroke saw the little chap head downhill fast. It didn’t take Dr Doolittle to work out that euthanasia was the kindest option. The clinic staff were sympathetic and professional. No problems there. What surprised me was the cost. A few minutes with the vet, a couple of ml of barbiturate, and the bill was close to $200.

In Puk’s case, it was clear he was all out of options given his advanced years. However, a survey by Finder revealed pet owners would be willing to spend an average of $3500 to save their furry friend. That’s more than two weeks of the average salary.

But this level of financial devotion can fall well short of the mark if your pet suffers a serious illness or injury. PetSure’s Pet Health Monitor, which draws on insurance claims data between 2013 and 2018, found the single highest benefit paid over the period was $19,600 for a labrador requiring stomach surgery after it had wolfed down a corn cob.

More recently, Pet Insurance Australia reported a 300% increase in payments for rat bait poisoning, with insurance claims of up to $11,000 for pets that ingested bait – an unhappy side effect of the mouse plague impacting regional NSW and Queensland.

High vet bills underpin pet cover

The upshot is that pets, like people, can be prone to unexpected illness and injury. As with human medicine, veterinary treatment has benefitted from advances in new technologies and drugs. Unlike human health care, vet bills are not subsidised by Medicare or the savings of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. So, treatment can be expensive and the cost comes straight out of the owner’s pocket.