How to Save Money on Pet Health Care and Vet Bills

Proper pet care and veterinary visits are crucial to the pets' well being. But everyone knows it is so expensive to keep the pets on schedule with the routine medical care and the vet bill goes well over $100 per visit just by sitting at the office. This financial factor should not stop you from being a responsible, caring owner because there ARE ways to keep the costs down for your beloved pets.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 

   Only get the necessary vaccination! There are some animal hospitals that try to over-vaccinate your pets. Most owners think that their pets are better protected with more vaccinations. This is simply untrue and is very costly.
   What you really need are only the "core" vaccinations, which include: rabies, parvovirus, adenovirus-2 (hepatitis vaccine), and distemper. Anything other than these vaccinations are called "non-core" vaccinations that you probably don't need unless you live in an environment with high exposure. Discuss with your veterinarian and tell them that you want to get the minimum number of vaccinations. Tell them that you are aware of the core and non-core vaccinations and ask if any of the non-core vaccinations are necessary in your area.

2. Get vaccinations and lab tests via your retail pet store. Nation-wide stores like Petco and Petsmart have vet care clinic programs rotating around your area. Visit your store and find out when the dates are. This program is excellent in saving you money because you don't have to pay for vet office visits and you can get vaccinations in discount packages.

3. 

   Buy online. Do not get routine preventatives from your local vet. Things like heart worm or flea preventatives are MUCH cheaper when bought online. There are so many credible online pet medication retailers (i.e. 1800PetMeds, PetCareRx) out there for you to compare prices and many of them also offer free shipping. You can mail the prescription or just have the retailers call your vet by filling in the information on the website.

4. Join a pet savings program. There are a lot of great savings program out there but one of the best is PetAssure. It is a great program because it only demands a small monthly fee (or yearly fee if you choose to pay annually) and saves you a ton of money at vet's office. PetAssure gives you a list of local veterinarians and retailers that are affiliated with the program. Go to a vet clinic of your choice from the list and you get to save 25% instantly off your bill just by showing your membership card. PetAssure seems to be much better than pet insurance programs that costs a lot and demands a lot of paperwork to be sent. It's a nice cheap way to save money easily whenever you visit a vet.

Resources

• PetAssure saves a lot of money at vet's office

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on 2/28/2009 Some of the pharmaceutical companies will not guarantee their product or stand behind a problem with their product if it is not shipped directly from the drug company to the online seller. Because some of the products sold through popular online pet pharmacies are not shipped directly from the company where they are made, they are not guaranteed by the pharmaceutical company if there is a problem. This is because the drug company can not be certain the product has been stored at appropriate temperatures in transit, for example. Some worm preventative manufacturers will cover cost of treatment if your pet gets worms while on their product, but not if they didn't ship directly to the seller. Be certain to ask the online pet pharmacy that you order from if the product they are selling is guaranteed by the pharmaceutical company that makes it, the way it always is when purchased through you