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Vet Prices: 'I Spent £12,000 On My Pug'
Alicia Healey's pug Dorothy has a chronic intestinal disease
Hundreds of people have contacted BBC News about struggling to pay their vet bills.
Dog and cat lovers have told of forking out thousands of pounds from their savings and monthly salaries to secure their pets' medication.
'I spent £12,000 on my pug'
Alicia Healey and her pug Dorothy live in Hertfordshire. Dorothy was diagnosed with a chronic intestinal disease almost a year ago. It's an inflammatory bowel disease causing protein-losing enteropathy.
Alicia manages Dorothy's disease using daily medication and a special diet of home cooking.
She says her medical expenses for specialist consultations, ultrasounds, a biopsy, regular blood tests, urine tests and medication have cost her around £12,200 over a period of 10 months.
"I don't have insurance for her - something I deeply regret now," Alicia says.
"One of her medications, an immunosuppressant called ciclosporin, is about £90 for a 30ml bottle that I buy online. If I bought it direct from the vet it would cost me about £225 per bottle," she adds.
'My vet bill is more than half my monthly pay cheque'
Toni James, 36, from Llanbradach in South Wales, says her vet bills have increased to such an extent she is having to choose between her three pets' cancer and epilepsy medications and paying her household bills.
On top of the medication, Toni says she has to pay £25-£30 for the monthly in-person appointments to collect what the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) classes as controlled medications.
"It's got to the point where, when adding it all together, [the vet bill] is more than half my pay cheque every month, which is just crazy. On top of [other] bills it's becoming unmanageable," says Toni.
"I'm going to have to make a very difficult decision. Do I want to keep a roof over my head or keep my pets?
"They have been my entire life. The idea of putting them down, when actually they're not ill enough, seems so unfair."
Toni's rescue dog Ruby and her rescue cat Theo have inoperable cancer
Toni has a 15-year-old rescue cat, called Theo, who has terminal cancer. He's on medication to manage the pain and antibiotics to manage infection.
She also has a rescue Hungarian Smooth-haired Vizsla called Ruby who is estimated to be 10 years old. Ruby is on medication for two different forms of inoperable cancer.
And her second dog, Amber, a rescue Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla, also around 10 years old, is on medication for an undiagnosed skin condition and epilepsy.
An immunosuppressant for the skin condition costs Toni £450 every two-and-a-half months.
Toni says she's "probably spent around £10,000 over the years" trying to get Amber's skin condition diagnosed.
'My puppy ate a fruit cake and the bill came to £450'
Laura Owen, 55, from Hemel Hempstead has three dogs but can only afford to insure one of them - the puppy - a Boston Terrier crossed with a French Bulldog.
Fortunately for Laura, it was her puppy who acquired the steep vet's bill on the day she climbed onto the dining table and ate a fruit cake.
Laura Owen's puppy Daisy ate a fruit cake and needed to visit the vet
"One Sunday afternoon in early July I baked a fruit cake and left it on my table in my garden to cool. My nine-month-old puppy called Daisy managed to jump onto a chair and consume half of the cake before we caught her," says Laura.
Aware that sultanas can be extremely poisonous to dogs, Laura called her vet straight away, who asked her to come into the surgery.
Laura says the treatment included a jab, which made her puppy sick for around 15 minutes. The bill came to £450.46, which she says included the medicine and administration charges.
"Thankfully we had insurance but we still needed to pay for the administration and excess so the fruit cake cost us £136.52," she says.
"We struggled to find the amount needed to pay the bill in the current economic climate. I can't imagine what anyone without insurance would have done."
How can I keep vet bills down?
Vet prices review launched over 'eye-watering' bills
Pug Dad's Joke About Things That Wake Up Pet Parents Is Totally Spot-on
When you're a parent, there are certain things that you can sleep through and other things that will wake you up in less than a second. For Chilli the Pug's dad, the things that he can sleep through are pretty loud and hard to miss, but the one thing that will wake up him up immediately is the one thing that pet parents everywhere can relate to.
Chilli's dad shared the spot-on video on Friday, September 20th. It starts with dad sleeping on the couch, with a thunderstorm pounding down around him. He doesn't even flinch. He also doesn't move a muscle when gunshots go off or even the nuclear alarm. But watch what happens when he hears Chilli start to throw up...He's off the couch before his eyes are even all the way opened up!
I'm a light sleeper, so everything wakes me up. But hearing your dog start heaving? That'll make any pet parent jump out of bed...Even my husband who sleeps through everything! Chilli's commenters also agreed that this one thing makes everybody jump into immediate action. @Joe Black reminded, "You forgot to scream, "No stop, hold on, I'm coming!!!" LOL!" @Michele V. Said, "It's also true for cat owners..."
Related: Dad Does the Funniest Impression of Humans Going to Sleep Like Dogs
We all know that if we hear our dog start heaving like they're going to throw up that we need to be ready to clean up a mess and soothe a sick dog's stomach. There are other signs that our pooch's belly is upset too, including lip smacking, weird, gurgle noises, drooling, excessive swallowing, or even licking the floor or carpet or eating grass. When any of these things happen, you may want to be proactive and try to make them feel better before you have to clean up dog throw up.
There are some simple home remedies you can try, and they work! Another Pet Helpful article suggests that all of these ingredients can help (but reminds pet parents to consult with their vet and to do their own research before using):
Ginger
Basil
Rosemary
Calendula Flowers
Goldenseal
Valerian Root (with chamomile)
Chamomile (with valerian root)
The article recommends making a tea out of ginger (which is commonly used to treat morning sickness in pregnant woman), and that using a fresh root to steep a tea for your dog will be more potent than the dried alternative. Basil can be used by mixing a few fresh leaves in with some moist dog food or into Greek yogurt. Rosemary can be mixed in regularly a few times a week with food (it's an immune system booster and breath freshener) and in larger doses can treat upset stomachs, diarrhea, constipation, and bloating.
Pumpkin is another good food option to calm an upset stomach, as recommended by the AKC. Simply give 1–4 tablespoons of unsalted canned pumpkin per meal and your dog will start feeling better. Believe it or not, mashed potatoes can relieve upset stomachs, too!
It could be a bit of trial and error to find which option works for your dog; pumpkin was the one that my dog seemed to like best. None of these ingredients will hurt your dog but some work better than others. If you're unsure about which is the best option for your pooch, consult your vet.
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