Adrianna Tan
I've been looking at our household budget so that we can plan for 2025 and
This is a terrifying number but it might help others figure out costs of having senior pets in the Bay Area.
On vet bills alone, our 15 year old dog and 18 year old cat racked up US$19 419.77.
We paid US$1280 in pet insurance premiums, and got refunded US$11 162.42.
Like with most pet insurance, it's a pay first and reimbursed later. It took between 3 days and 30+ days to get paid back.
Adrianna Tan
Our dog passed away this year. She had some ER visits which were expensive, which really ran up the numbers overall.
The average cost of a normal outpatient vet visit was $455.
The average cost of a ER visit was $1500.
The highest ER vet bill was $6,662.93.
It cost $679 to say goodbye to Cookie at home.
I'm not in a hurry to get another pet. Mila's bills are far more normal, even though she is 18 and has many chronic illnesses. Dogs seem to cost a lot more somehow.
Adrianna Tan
We felt very happy to have received ER treatment for Cookie at SF Animal Medical Center. Dr Winnie Ybarra is the vet I hoped that Cookie would get as she was dying. Dr Ybarra made sure to call us regularly and she tried many things that made Cookie very comfortable till the end.
She did not suggest expensive treatments that would prolong her life unnecessarily, even tho ER visits were costly, I felt they worked with us on our budget and only did the necessary. Not all vets are like that
Adrianna Tan
I actually don't think that vets cost this much when I first got Cookie. Partly it's location, but I also know from my family in Singapore that vet bills are also astronomical in Singapore now.
Earlier on it was much more affordable but I think there's been a lot of global consolidation of vet practices across the world, and vet bills have really soared.
This is the 'holy shit last 5 years got really $$$ thing'. Partly it's that Cookie got older, but also bills have gone up everywhere
kkeller
@skinnylatte is that the place on Fillmore? We brought our elderly doggo there after a seizure (they couldn't do much for him, but he recovered (as much as any elderly dog does) and actually lived reasonably well for a few months after).
Adrianna Tan
@kkeller yep!
Adrianna Tan
@skry yep! We use PetsBest. I got a good rate through work and continued to pay them even after I left that job. The premiums were quite a bit lower that way. Look to see if any company you’re affiliated to has a similar benefit
skry
@skinnylatte Thanks for sharing the insurance math. I will get some next time around now that I know it can work. If you feel comfortable doing so, would you please tell me the pet insurance company name?
Adrianna Tan
@timrichards it's worth it in the US. out of almost 20K, i got back almost 12K. even though i only paid $1.3K in total for the insurance
elsewhere, i've heard it doesn't cover very much
Tim Richards
@skinnylatte Have you looked into pet health insurance? I wonder if it's worth the money.
Timo
@skinnylatte Vet bills have become very high. I overheard our neighbor telling one of their kids they couldn't have a dog because the vet bills would be too high. 😬
Timo
@skinnylatte We had both of our dogs pass in the last two years. Their care was recently getting much more expensive as they were getting older. Luckily we found a retired vet who did house calls part time. We are not in a hurry to get a new dog because the kenneling costs are as expensive as the trip we went on. It really doubled the cost of the trip.
Timo
@skinnylatte I found this article about Hedge funds buying vet clinics. From the article: "According to the FTC, private equity firms have been acquiring a large number of veterinary clinics and consolidating them into larger groups, resulting in increased prices for veterinary services and reduced competition." https://www.k9ofmine.com/vet-clinic-acquisition-by-private-equity-firms/
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