How to Lower the Cost of Owning a Sick Pet

Anyone who owns a pet like a dog or a cat often thinks that their furry or feline friend is part of the family and will do what they can to look after them and keep them healthy.

Pets are just like any other member of the family, they sometimes get sick and need either short-term care or sometimes longer term medication and rehabilitation to keep them as well as possible.

This can quickly add up to a big bill for pet owners, so it makes sense to try and find some ways of lowering the cost.

Pet Insurance

An obvious starting point for saving on costs in the longer term is to pay for pet insurance so that you have some cover for medical expenses and treatments.

The problem is that sometimes you either leave it too late to get pet insurance at a good price, if your pet is already sick and therefore their condition will be excluded, or you find that what the policy covers is not relevant.

It is worth asking yourself a series of questions to see whether buying pet insurance would be a good decision or not.

If you have a cat that likes to explore the great outdoors a lot, they have a bigger chance of picking up a disease or illness than a cat that likes to stay at home more, so that might be a factor to consider.

Another good reason for considering pet insurance is if you would be unable to finance a large vet bill without the financial assistance of an insurance policy to help. A typical scenario would be to consider paying between $20 and $50 per month on your pet insurance so that you could feasibly make a claim for treatment that could easily be as much as $3,000 or more.

Pet insurance is a good safety net and a way of reducing your costs of ownership in the long run, only if the exclusions for pre-existing conditions and other terms make it are not too restrictive. Your vet should be able to offer advice on what the best action is based on your pet's medical history.

Shop online

If you are already at the stage where, for example, your cat has been diagnosed as having diabetes, then your main concern would be to try and get the regular supplies you need to treat the condition as cheaply as possible.

You can find your diabetes supplies for cats on the web and very often the price you pay for ordering direct and online will mean that you make some excellent cost savings compared to buying the same products from your local vet.

Regular exercise

Another way of keeping your pet fit and healthy, which should keep the cost of veterinary bills to a minimum and costs nothing other than your time, is to make sure they get regular exercise.

Making sure that they are as active as possible and do not eat more than they should, will help to keep your pet in good shape, meaning less trips to the vets and lower bills for looking after them.

Sometimes pets just get sick despite our best efforts and even when you are faced with medical expenses and the cost of treatments, there are still plenty of ways that you can keep the costs down, especially if you shop online.

Anthony Jensen is in animal care. He often writes for pet blogs to help owners take better care of their pets.