The worst has happened: your dog ate something while out on your usual morning walk, and now he is vomiting and lethargic. You know he ate something toxic, but you have no idea what it could be—it was swallowed down before you could get it out of his mouth. You rush him to the vet without even thinking about the cost—he is your best friend, and you do not want to risk losing him over a few dollars!
The Animal Health Technicians rush him into the back to assess his vital signs, and the vet begins his examination. You wait. You pace. You start to wonder what the cost of this visit will be, considering it is now after business hours on a Sunday. Soon, the doctor comes to speak to you and confirms your worst suspicions: your pooch ate something toxic and needs medical intervention to survive. He also brings with him a cost estimate for the required treatments and asks you to sign that you understand the associated expenses—plus, would you please pay fifty percent up front? Your mind reels at the price, but your heart speaks louder. You hear yourself say, “Whatever it takes, doctor,” while your hand signs away your vacation to Hawaii.
Veterinary medicine is not cheap. The average pet owner pays the price but grumbles under their breath as they leave the hospital. They feel that vets are gouging their clients because, “How can it possibly cost so much money to get ‘Fluffy’ back on her paws?” Understanding the costs behind veterinary medicine and how best to prepare yourself for any eventuality will make your next trip to the vet less stressful—or at least allow you to focus on the most important part of the visit: your pet.
Vets spend the same amount of time—eight years—in med school as human doctors, yet they make barely a third of the income throughout their careers. Should a vet make less than a human doctor? They are only animals, after all, so it must be easier medicine, right? Wrong. Veterinarians have to wear many hats: pediatrician, general practitioner, radiologist, anesthesiologist, oncologist, nutritionist, cardiologist, urologist, and many more. They also work with multiple species, and their patients cannot tell them where it hurts. Instead, they are dependent on their diagnostic abilities and the tools around them. Because of this, it is harder to get accepted into vet school than human medical school, and in every graduating class of soon-to-be human doctors, there will be at least one person who originally pursued pre-med to become a vet but couldn’t earn the necessary grades to be accepted.
The Bright Side of Veterinary Expenses
What’s also hard to understand for the average pet owner is the cost of running a full-service veterinary hospital. It is a common misconception that, because it is not human medicine, drugs, supplies, equipment, and instruments will cost less. Unfortunately, this is incorrect. The bottle of anesthetic used in a human hospital costs the exact same amount as the bottle of anesthetic used in a veterinary hospital. The same goes for almost everything else.
There are some differences, of course—there’s more room in veterinary medicine to not have “state-of-the-art” equipment, like radiology and ultrasound machines. However, this means the doctor has to work harder to read an x-ray or ultrasound, and time is spent instead of dollars. It’s a catch-22, no matter how you look at it.
Another difference is staffing costs. Human nurses earn over three times what a veterinary nurse earns—this is similar to the vet-to-MD ratio. However, the burnout rate for Animal Health Technicians (AHTs) is much higher, with the average career length for an AHT being just five years. The work is comparable to working in a pediatric emergency room, where all you see are patients who do not understand what is wrong with them, why they’re at the hospital, or who the people around them are and what they’re going to do to them. Two years of post-secondary education to work in the field for an average of five years shows that something is unbalanced between these two nursing fields.
Within the last ten years, veterinary health insurance has become more common, and many pet owners are opting to budget their veterinary expenses on a monthly basis. Pet insurance comes in a variety of prices and packages to address the needs of every animal and every eventuality. Most companies offer an emergency package for as little as $10 a month, covering the majority of situations your pet may find themselves in. The Cadillac of packages includes unlimited treatment and diagnostics for every condition, as well as routine items like vaccines and dental work.
Do your pet a favor and take away the need to look in your wallet every time you face a visit to the vet. Pet insurance is there to take the financial stress out of owning a pet. Now, if only there were a way to remove the emotional stress out of an unexpected visit to the vet!
