Less than 1.5% of the 150 million dogs and cats in the USA have a pet insurance plan. For most pet parents, confronting a large veterinarian bill may pose problems. Although it may not always be easy to steer clear of the cost, these 7 options can certainly help you at least find ways to keep costs in check.

Get a Discount Plan

Pet insurance can certainly help cut down future veterinarian bills. You have to pay an upfront cost of $99 annually and get a 25% price cut for all veterinarian services. The only catch is you must visit a veterinarian clinic in their network so you would need to find whether your regular vet is in the network. Important questions you should ask before getting the plan include “Do they have treatments done by another medical center that your veterinarian recommended, but that is not in their network?” and “Are medication expenses included?” You can also compare pet insurance plans from different insurance companies at iSelect.

Call Pet Charities

The AAHA Pets Foundation, for instance, helps family pet parents having financial difficulty get access to money for vet treatment. Generally, there are in some cases limits on how much health care you can easily get, usually hundreds of dollars in any year. So, you better take advantage of such organizations not only for your expenses but also for your pet’s health. 

Use Online Veterinary Drug stores

If the main cost is going to originate from future medication expenses (for instance, the hormone insulin), you will be better off using an online drugstore for ongoing medications.

In order to make the most of this particular option, ask the vet for 2 prescription medications – the first for a few weeks’ worth of medication and the other for the remaining time. You can fill the short-term script with your veterinarian so that you can start the prescription immediately and fill the longer term one on the internet to reduce the costs. A veterinarian may not like it, but you’re the one paying your costs.

Arrange the Credit

Care Credit is like a bank card just for treatments, and they provide some very adaptable payment plans with good repayment conditions, usually a lot better than a credit card. You need a reasonable credit rating to be authorized, and your vet must accept Care Credit.

Find State-of-the-art Surgical Alternatives

Interestingly enough, in some cases, sophisticated surgical treatment can be less expensive overall than conventional. For instance, the Society of Endovascular Vet Surgical treatment is revolutionizing non-invasive surgical treatment alternatives for vet health issues such as collapsing tracheas, nosebleeds, and liver shunts. Just one benefit of this surgical treatment is that it’s more affordable (less rehabilitation needed, less time to recover, and so forth) therefore you might find a vet in your town who has been qualified to carry out this surgical treatment – make contact with the Society to find out.