I have two sweet precious kitties, Isabelle & Samantha (yes, they are named after soap opera characters). They are both very special to me and I fear the day that they will get sick and leave me. I take them in regularly for all of their vaccinations, make sure that Samantha (the outdoor cat) is in by her curfew so that she won't be eaten by coyotes, and generally make sure they are well taken care of and loved.
But lets face it: pets can be expensive. If anything does happen to the precious furry ones you could be paying thousands of dollars out of pocket for surgical procedures, treatments and medication. Pet medical insurance is available but costly. I haven't done a lot of shopping around but at one site they would charge about $35 a month for full coverage which works out to be $420 per year. If you have 2 cats like me, that would be $840 a year!
Well, Isabelle and Samantha are both due for their vaccinations. I was ready to call the vet to schedule them for their annual torture (they hate the vet) until I read this article on Smart Money called "10 Things Your Veterinarian Won't Tell You". In it, they claim that vaccinating your pet on a regular basic can be more harmful than helpful. Really, it makes sense for your vet to encourage you to bring in your pets every year for their vaccinations, because they make tons of dough on these routine visits. But before you go in make sure you ask the vet to take into consideration your pet's:
- age
- current health situation
- lifestyle (indoor/outdoor)
Doing so may ensure that your pet is not receiving unnecessary vaccinations that could cause cancer or epilepsy and saving you money at the same time!
Also, make sure that you check into low-cost vaccination clinics that may be available. Our veterinarian offers half-price vaccination clinics on Saturdays. Clinics may also be available at your local pet store.
3 comments:
Thanks for the info.
Marti and I also have 2 cats.
We stopped taking them to the vet a few years ago, partly because we are lazy, but also because they are young, indoor and healthy. Nice to see there is evidence to back-up our laziness!
I use petcare.com for my cat, it's $23.95 a month. It covers just about everything except the regular check ups and vaccinations. I'm gonna bring her in soon for that.
hmmm an anonymous comment.
But who can I be ?
Bah I don't have many things to say but my family had cats long ago when I was a kid, and pet food and can cost a lot too. And those pet food producers are so happy to "care" for them that they create more and more "cooked" stuff that is still made of crap but labeled differently than the basic pet food. It just costs much more.
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