Comments on: The cost of keeping a pet

By: CanadianDebtGirl

CanadianDebtGirl — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:28:04 +0000

I never considered skipping the annual vet visit until I inadvertently did it last year. This summer when I went to bring our kitty to the vet, I mentioned to the receptionist that it felt a lot longer than a year ago that I’d brought him – she kindly let me know it had in fact been two years. I had her double check her records to be sure.

Of course, kitty is in perfect health – as I suspected. And they didn’t even tell me he had to lose weight. 15lbs is fine. He also had a urinary issue when he was younger but he has been on a prescription dry food (that we add water to at each feeding) and hasn’t had an issue since (knock on wood).

I’ll have to check our insurance policy, but I think regular check-ups might be a prerequisite for any of our payouts for emergency services….

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:16:34 +0000

I have a cat with a similar disposition. She weighs less than 5 lbs, but she’s a holy terror at the vet. My former vet once took her into the back office to draw blood. I heard a loud crash of metal and then a lot of commotion. When they returned, both the vet and my cat were bandaged. Evidently, the electric shaver had freaked her out, and she bit him and scrambled away, and the staff had to catch her. After that, the vet always asked me to come back and talk to and stroke her while he was drawing blood (through her fur).

However, when I moved two years ago, I warned the new vet about her behavior, but she has never behaved badly with the new vet. She’s been seeing the new vet for two years without so much of a growl.

Good luck with the new vet. Maybe your kitty will respond to this one better.

Regarding annual vet visits: I think it’s fine to skip them when the cats are young, strictly indoor, and appear to be healthy, but after age 12, they can develop easily treated chronic kidney, liver, or thyroid issues that can only be detected with bloodwork, so it’s much more important to have regular check-ups at that point.

By: aemcsy

aemcsy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:21:48 +0000

I wouldn’t skip too many dental appointments! I did that for about 13 years (ok, so maybe that was kinda extreme) and ended up forking out RM6600 (about US2000) for two root canals and the crowns that go with them. Major ouch. I do have optical and dental benefits from my employer, but it’s only up to RM500 (about US147), so most of it had to come from my savings – it already blew my emergency funds right out of the water!

Lovely cat by the way!

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:39:53 +0000

We’ve debated the need for yearly vet visits too, since our cats are indoor cats, and beyond the initial spay/neuter and vaccinations, what can they possibly get if they stay inside all the time?

Being first-time pet owners, we’re probably overly cautious and have now done two yearly checkups, but when I see how much it costs for the vet to tell us they’re in perfect health (which we pretty much already knew)….once a year might not be necessary. Particularly if you are taking good care of them.

I liken this to dentist and eye checkups – ok, going to the dentist every 6 months is probably good, but if I went once a year or even once every two years, would it really change my results, assuming I didn’t have some sort of tooth accident or injury? Cavities aren’t immediately debilitating. Same thing with eyes – I don’t wear glasses, I have 20/20 vision, and I have a checkup once every two years – just to tell me I still have 20/20 vision and that I’m fine. If my insurance didn’t cover these checkups, I would definitely consider not doing them.

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:23:07 +0000

Awwwww… He’s a gorgeous cat!

Good luck with his upcoming vet visits. So sorry you and he have to go through this.