Feel like a trip to the vet for Fido or Mittens is costing you a whole lot more than it used to? You’re not imagining it, the cost of veterinary care in the U.S. has soared more than 60% since 2014, according to a new study. PetSmart Charities is sharing the results of the research in a new report, “The State of Pet Care,” which finds that more than half (52%) of pet owners have skipped necessary pet care in the last year or declined recommended treatment, mostly because of the cost.
It shows that 71% of the 25-hundred cat and dog owners involved in the study say they couldn’t afford the treatment or didn’t think it was worth it.
- And that’s true across all income levels, even for folks from high-earning households.
- For those with bigger salaries, it’s not just about affordability, as only a third of people earning $90-thousand or more said they couldn’t afford the vet care, compared to 72% of those making between $36-thousand and $60-thousand.
- But 44% of the higher income group said the cost wasn’t worth it, compared to 21% of those in the lower income group.
- Diagnostic procedures (22%), vaccinations (18%), and elective surgeries (16%) were the most common pet services people said no to, but 11% also declined recommended medications and 7% had to refuse a lifesaving surgery.
- And for a lot of those pet owners, they weren’t given another option. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of those who declined treatment weren’t offered a more affordable alternative.
- Fewer than a quarter (23%) were given a payment plan option, which may have made a huge difference.
- Nearly two-thirds (65%) of pet owners said the most they could spend on their pet’s life-threatening condition is $1,000, but if they were given a one-year, no-interest payment plan, most said they could double that and pay $2-thousand.
- Only 15% of pet households can afford gold-standard care, PetSmart Charities estimates, but many more would benefit from payment plan options.⠀
Source: USA Today