Saturday, October 29, 2011

Dog Health Insurance: What You Need to Know

By Dirk Gruenberg


The cost of veterinary care has risen tremendously, and pet owners are fortunate to have the option of purchasing dog health insurance, so they can afford to keep their pet healthy.

Naturally, you will need to pay for routine vaccinations as well as regular physicals. On top of that there might be blood work, heart worm testing, stitches, and x-rays.

Furthermore, there is always the risk of a chronic illness that will need to be treated until the rest of his life. Similarly, a short term disease could also be costly if a battery of tests needs to be performed to help your dog.

If you have dog health insurance, you would need to worry about either preventative care or emergency situations. You could simply always get your dog the best possible care, which reminds me of a story from a friend who had two dogs.

Dog health insurance was never something that she had given much thought to, and, fortunately, her dogs never needed intensive care of any kind - which can easily run in the hundreds or thousands of dollars.

There were a few injuries, stitches, ear infections and intestinal bugs, but nothing that impacted her budget too much. However, in three months' time, one of her dogs became very ill, requiring almost one thousand dollars' worth of basic blood tests and medicine trials.

Sadly, in the end, the dog could not be saved and had to be euthanized. And as if this was not bad enough, right after the euthanizing her other dog got sick too. A tooth had to be extracted, and he needed many new vaccinations.

These procedures had to be taken care off, even though they cost $800 - a cost my friend could not afford. Kindly, the vet offered to let her pay in installments, which she did, but frankly, most vets are not in a position to offer that these days.

Fortunately, dog health insurance can help you with some of these financial implications. And, just as importantly, it can out you in a position to provide the best possible medical are for your little friend. And you will not be left wondering how you can possibly pay for it all.




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