<prompt> Human: Most vets are pretty bad at personal finance we apparently think an average student loan debt of 170K and a starting salary of 60K is a good idea.. but as I lurk here quite a bit Ive seen a few posts with questions about veterinary bills, insurance, etc so I thought Id share some of my thoughts from behind the scenes.First off, yes, veterinary bills are expensive. Do bear in mind that vets are actually expected to provide modern medicine at a fraction of the cost of human medicine, even when the procedures are the same or similar. That being said, part of the reason that veterinary bills arent more marked up is that the vast majority of the time, payment is expected at time of service. Routinely you will be asked to leave a deposit of 50 of the estimate if you are hospitalizing your pet, and then pay the rest when hshe is discharged. I hear this advice tossed around here a lot, Ask for a payment plan. Most vets do payment plans. I have worked at practices in four states and I have never seen a vet clinic that routinely offered payment plans. The truth is that many vet clinics are small businesses that are not set up to offer payment plans. If they didnt get paid, they couldnt keep their doors open. They would need whole separate staff to administer payment plans, plus eat the cost of clients who bailed on their payments. This would likely drive up costs for the rest of the clients. Other clinics belong to a few nationwide corporations, and theyve probably even stricter about not offering plans as a part of corporate policy. The few times Ive seen payment plans were exceptions for trusted long-term clients, or a few cases that slipped through the cracks and we didnt have any other option. There are wellness plans, which are a completely different animal and do not address medical care for sick pets. The exception is that the vast majority of clinics do accept CareCredit and highly encourage you to apply for it in case of emergency. You do need to have decent credit to qualify. If you dont qualify on your own, consider co-applying with a parent or family member. Make sure to pay your Carecredit bill in full before the promotional interest-free term is up, there is no penalty for early payment, or you will be charged interest backdated to the beginning of the loan, which is awful. What about pet insurance? There are a lot of pet insurance companies out there, some with good plans, others not so good. I would say that if you have between 3000-5000 in an emergency fund specifically for your pet, then you most likely do not need insurance. Some of my clients have lucked out in the sense that they got insurance for their dog when heshe was a healthy puppy, and then developed some sort of chronic condition that needs multiple tests, follow-up tests, medication, etc, and they submit all of those claims to insurance. I have heard good things about Trupanion, which generally pays out 70-90. Ive heard that Pets Best provides excellent coverage - 100 after a deductible, but has expensive premiums. In general, though, you will most likely pay more for insurance than you will get out of it. I prefer the 3-5000K emergency fund - that should cover most serious illnesses, emergencies, and surgery you may need to adjust this upwards if you are in an expensive COL city. Anything above that and you are probably in referralspecialty territory and may need to explore other options. So what are your other options? If you are looking at an expensive vet bill that you cant afford to incur, you should always ask your vet if there are other options. We are very used to getting this question. There are a few exemptions where there really only is one treatment, and it is a matter of life and death. Generally speaking though, if a client tells us they have financial concernsconstraints, we will try to put together an alternative plan, either one that foregoes some of the diagnostic tests and relies on empirical treatments, or a less intensive treatment plan that still has a reasonable chance of success outpatient treatment vs hospitalization, for example. If you are at an emergencyspecialty center, you will most likely be able to get a less expensive option at a general practice regular vet if it is appropriate and can wait. If your vet wont give you another option, feel free to seek a second opinion. One of my vet school interview questions actually asked me what I would do with a patient who has been hit by a car and has a broken leg, if the owner doesnt have money. This is for illustration purposes, but can be adapted to other situations. What I would say is:1 ideally, getting the leg fixed by a surgeon2 if thats not an option, amputation of the leg is much less expensive and can be performed by most general practitioners3 if thats not an option, consider surrendering your pet. Some humane societiesanimal shelters, depending on their resources, will take in pets with injuries or conditions that can be treated if they will still be adoptable pets with a good quality of life. Everywhere I have worked, almost all the doctors and nurses have at least one pet that they got in a situation like this. Sometimes they have connections with rescue groups as well. 4 humane euthanasia. I love pets. I think theyre family. But do I think that only people with 3-5K to drop on their dog should be allowed to have pets? No. Shit happens. There are lots of dogs and cats that live their whole lives without anything major happening; I only have to see them for routine vaccines. But if something terrible does happen, sometimes euthanasia is the best or our only option. We can take comfort in the fact that we gave a pet a good, loving home, and prevented them from needless suffering and neglect.So on from that depressing topic. What are some things you can do at home to make sure your pet is the healthiest and avoids many preventable vet bills?Preventative health care1 Keep your pet at a healthy body weight. If you think your pet might be fat, they probably are. More helpfully, here is a body condition chart for cats: and dogs: Keeping them lean is about 99.9 diet.. Ive heard so many times this winter, Oh well hes fat because of the weather, we arent walking as much. Then reduce his meal portions accordingly! This actually costs less money. Cant say the same for any other medical treatmentadvice. It doesnt matter how much exercise your dog gets if theres a never ending bowl of food available for him. I recommend feeding two portioned meals a day. Preventing obesity reduces the risk of musculoskeletal injury, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, urinary tract problems etc. 2 Brush your dogs teeth! Especially if they are a smaller breed, or one of the poster children for bad teeth: dachshunds, chihuahuas, yorkies.. Bigger dogs seem to get away with less dental care, whether its because their teeth fit better in their jaws, genetics or that they usually enjoy chewing on things that mechanically cleans their teeth. Either way, I recommend at least regularly examining your dogs teeth, especially the ones in the back. Daily or at the very least every other day toothbrushing is the most effective way to prevent plaque and tartar buildup, and save thousands in dental bills over the course of your dogs life.Edit: yes, you should also brush your cats teeth, if possible. Probably best to start when theyre young! If you dont have a pet yet, seriously consider rescuing rather than buying. Purebred dogs are incredibly overpriced and a lot of them tend to have health problems that mixed breeds dont. Purebred dogs from puppy millspet stores are the worst: birth defects from inbreeding, parasites, infections, etc.. If you have your heart set on a puppy, shelters regularly have puppies up for adoption, and will have already been fixed, which saves you a 300-500 surgery, and had a bunch of vaccines. If you have your heart set on a purebred, do research what their common health problems are and make sure you are equipped to deal with them. Second edit: another money saver: its always fine to ask for a written prescription for your pets medications, or ask to have it called in to a human pharmacy if sold there. you can check certain websites to see what the prices of the medication would be. If the med isnt listed, its probably a veterinary-only drug that must be sold through the vet. As far as online pharmacies, I have mixed feelings about them. They are not necessarily subject to the same regulations as brick and mortar pharmacies. Their products may not be covered by the manufacturers guarantee. Some of the products weve seen on there -- their manufacturers actually only sell direct to veterinarians, so those products are either stolen or counterfeit. I have no problem with saving clients money by writing prescriptions to be filled elsewhere, but I am a little leery of the online ones.  <response>: Great post and a nice change of pace for this sub. 