Medical services for pets is poised to become the next big moneymaker:
Think of how many sectors of the healthcare business world will pile on to Rover or Whiskers. Before, Whiskers was the family feline who might get an occasional feline distemper shot. Now Whiskers is a potential gold mine for a whole new multi-faceted revenue stream! And who ever dreamed of this same potential for the family ferret? Think of the millions and millions new health care consumers this market has ““ it’s an animal hospital executive’s wet dream!
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he most part this is cash forward too. Very few people have pet insurance, but very few people are willing to put their pet down because of money issues.
I just spent upwards of $500 dollars on dental extractions for my pet. That doesn’t include the antibiotics and pain killers for follo up. Its the primary care business most Family Practice docs would like. Straight up front fee for service.
Pretty soon, we’re going to live in a world where Al Gore’s mother’s dog has to eat PEOPLE food!
Petri, you are lucky. Cleaning/dental extractions for my cat cost me upwards of $800. Now, for those who don’t know the main reason dental work is expensive for pets is that you cannot just tell them to seat still and open their mouth. It is the anesthesia and monitoring that is expensive.
As to the people food, I know some people who feed their pets people food. Some people cook specifically for their pets. I don’t, but then my cat doesn’t eat people food.
I practiced veterinary medicine for about 10 years before I went back to medical school (currently a general internist). I think that I can safely say that there is not a lot of money to be made in most small animal practices. Sure, there are always a few people who have the means and the desire to spend whatever it takes for the best medical outcome. Unfortunately, they are in the minority. Far more common are the people who love their pets as child-substitutes or friend-substitutes (especially a lot of elderly pet owners) and would spend the money if they had it – but they don’t have that kind of disposable income. Or people who have pets for status reasons, for the kids, etc. and when the pet becomes very ill, they make a logic-based decision to cut their losses and put the animal to sleep. I tried to work with all types of people, and didn’t have any personal issues with their choices as long as they made a humane decision. I treated only a few pets for cancer during my years in practice – chemotherapeutic agents are not cheaper just because you are buying them for animals. Most of the time, there was a definite ceiling in the amount people could or would spend. The clients who said “Money is no object, Doc! Do whatever it takes!” generally were the people who never paid a dime (as I learned the hard way early in practice).
It’s unreasonable in healthcare to believe that money is not a consideration. I think its interesting that most people have a definite “ceiling” for spending on animal healthcare but have none for human healthcare.
Why is it so much more acceptable to make humane decisions for our pets, who are often family, but not for actual family members. Though the ceiling would be higher for my mother than for my cat I think it’s healthy for everyone to realize that there comes a point in anyone’s healthcare where you must face the facts and perhaps consider “cutting your losses,” both financially and emotionally. Sometimes I think we are kinder to our pets than to our fellow man.
Now, I couldn’t really afford my pet’s dental work, but I made the sacrifice because I could not in good conscience put her down because she had a very treatable condition with a good prognosis. Had she cancer or some other debilitating condition the cost/benefits would have decreased significantly and I would have considered it, partly because of the financial burden but also because of the emotional burden to keep her in pain and living with little hope.
I’d like to believe that when my time comes to gobble up healthcare that I’m not so selfish as to not consider what it is costing my family and friends both monetarily and emotionally and weighing that against my future quality of life and chances for survival.
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