Do you have health care for yourself and your family? Do you own any animals? If you do, have you ever considered getting health care for your animals? Just like humans, animals can get sick or injured and need to be taken care of by a vet. There are a variety of different diseases animals can get that can be life threatening if not dealt with by a medical professional. From regular procedures like spaying and neutering, to illnesses, to injuries, pet care can get expensive if you don?t have pet insurance. There?s no reason to let your animal suffer if you could save money in the long run by finding pet health insurance plans that work for you.
Interested in learning more about reasons why health care for your animals is essential? Keep reading to learn how much health care for animals can cost and how pet insurance works.
How Much Health Care Can Cost For Animals
Americans love having pets in their households. In fact, when it comes to owning a dog, nearly 46 million households in America choose to do so. That averages out to around 40% of households owning a dog as a pet. When it comes to cats, there are around 76 million throughout the United States. That?s more cats in the United States than any other country.
Much like humans, health care can quickly become expensive depending on the specific injury, illness, procedure, or medication needed. We may not automatically think to find cat insurance plans or the best pet insurance for dogs when we adopt our pets. However, it?s very important to consider this as an added expense when first considering adopting a pet. Similar to buying food for your pet, you want to make sure you pet is protected from any harm that could come to it.
To help keep our pets happy and healthy, we purchase the best food and medications. Every single year around $20 billion is spent on pet food in the United States. On top of that, another $12 billion is spent on any over-the-counter medications pets need and other pet supplies like toys, beds, and crates. By purchasing high quality food, we can help keep our pets healthy. Over-the-counter medications can do the same. For example, it?s important to give your dogs heartworm and flea and tick preventatives to keep them healthy. If you don?t, you could risk having to pay to help heal them later on.
Reasons You May Need Health Care For Your Animals
Animal health care is not cheap. From buying preventative medicines, to purchasing healthier foods, to necessary procedures, costs can really add up. Every year, people in the United States spend around $13 billion on vet care bills. Depending on whether you have a pet health insurance plan or not, your personal annual costs spend on vet care bills may be higher or lower.
One of the first reasons you will need health insurance for your animals is because they should be neutered and spayed. Sometimes this procedure is done prior to adoption. If it isn?t, it will be your responsibility to make sure you pet has this procedure. Buying the best insurance plan beforehand could help offset some costs in the long run.
Another reason you may need health care for your animals is related to diseases and illnesses they may be prone to. As any animal ages, it is likely to suffer a few injuries or diseases, just like humans. For instance, some dogs are prone to certain cancers, eye problems, or hip problems. Hopefully your pet never has to suffer through any of these examples. If they do, though, you?ll be happy you found the best pet health insurance to make treatments, procedures, and medications more affordable. That way, your pet can be happier and healthier and you can still afford to provide for them.
Have you ever needed to pay for a procedure or medication to help heal your pet? Did you decide to get pet health insurance afterwards? Let us know about your experiences dealing with high vet costs in the comments.