Paws-atively part of the family

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Portsmouth Herald

By Susan Morse

When pets are treated like family, their owners are willing to spend money to take care of them in sickness and in pampered health.

You may get your teeth cleaned without additional payment thanks to the benefit of health-care coverage, but without the same insurance for kitty, it's going to cost $150 out of pocket to have her gingivitis problem cleared up.

"I don't know how you can look at your pets and not afford it," said Kristine Byrnes of Stratham, who owns two American cocker spaniels, Harley and Reba.

She has already paid $4,000 in knee surgery for Harley and is facing another $2,000 bill for Reba's upcoming ligament operation.

"I have no insurance, but we also don't have children," she said.

Byrnes has a crate with bedding set up in the living room for Reba's return from the hospital.

"There's no stairs for her to climb," she said. "It's 12 weeks of limited, non-existent walking. I'll have to carry her in and out for her to go to the bathroom. When we got them, we made the commitment to them and to us -- we made the commitment to take care of them."

Reba will get round-the-clock attention because Byrnes works out of her house as a dog groomer, a business she began nine years ago.

She caters to clients who like her policy of keeping the dogs for only a couple of hours.

Some groomers require the dogs be left all day. Owners may feel their pet is too high strung to be left for hours among numerous barking dogs.

"I cater to a different kind of clientele," Byrnes said. "They generally come to me for that reason."

Most of her 65 clients either have children or are older, she said. Neither group has the time nor the ability to bathe and clip pets. Try it at home, she said, and "you've got this mad, wet wild dog running willy-nilly through the house."

People appear more willing today to spend money on their pets, she said.

"I see a lot more people willing to treat them certainly differently than I was growing up," she said. "You're responsible for them -- you have to look out for them."

Insuring Fido

The nationwide demand for pet health insurance has grown significantly in the past 20 years, according to a spokesman for The Hartville Group in Canton, Ohio. In the past 10 years, he said demand has grown by 25 percent.

"Over the last 10 years, consumer spending on veterinary care has doubled," said Chris Edgar, the Hartville Group's chief marketing officer. "Advances in human technology are being transferred to animal care."

His company recently developed a pet insurance plan with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at aspcapetinsurance.com.

Basic plans for pet insurance, which cover accident and illness, cost $200 a year. The average policyholder spends $300 a year, Edgar said.

There is a co-pay, with insurance typically covering 80 percent of the cost. Some plans include wellness issues and dental problems.

Handicapped Pets, a three-year-old Web-based business out of Amherst, has capitalized on the desire of pet owners to keep their dogs and cats for as long as possible.

Partners Deborah Winters and Mark Robinson provide products and support for elderly and disabled pets. Business is booming.

"Today, more people are making choices to keep their pets," she said. "A lot of time people find us because they're desperate, on the Web, doing a Google search. Other people have just left the vet who says there's nothing more we can do. The owner says (he's) not ready. I'm going to care for them until the time I have to let them go."

Robinson founded the company after making the decision to put down his dog, which had epilepsy.

"He euthanized the dog, it bothered him," Winters said. "When he became more educated, he said, �Wait a minute, I could have put my dog on medication.' That's when he came up with the idea."

The company does not make health recommendations, Winters said. They are not veterinarians.

"The first thing we say to a customer is, �Have you checked with your vet?'" she said. "We've learned a lot because we've had to."

The most frequent injuries are back or hip problems, ailments requiring rear wheel carts that sell for $300 to $800.

Also popular, particularly with vets themselves, is the belly sling. It's great for transporting an animal to the car after the pet has had surgery.

The company also sells seat belts, life jackets and supplements.

The biggest seller, since the company recently started manufacturing it, is Pet Peepers, a disposable diaper for animals with incontinence issues.

"I have an 11-year-old Lab on Peepers," Winters said. "He's very lame."

Social hours

Beyond health, there's the business of well-being.

The Barking Dog Ltd. in Exeter, which opened in December 2005, offers pet owners' canines a heated pool, playroom, agility course, flyball room and more. A grooming service is available for dogs and cats.

Dogs love being in the pool area with other dogs, even if they don't like to swim, said owner Jody Rodgers.

"It's doing really well," Rodgers said. "It's really tailored for healthy dogs to get exercise and socialize. The overall result is better behavior. They're more content if they're tired at the end of the day."

Rodgers has three such gyms in Exeter, Hooksett and Derry. The cost is $25 for a full day, which can run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., $18 for a half day, and an additional cost for sleepovers, though the facility does not offer boarding.

Rodgers plans to open a boarding facility soon in the Seacoast.

She opened her first boarding kennel in 1989, and began seeing a trend in the need for doggie day care in the 1990s.

"People began requesting day care and socialization," she said. "I see so often, people get one dog and feel badly about leaving it all day. So they go out and get another dog. It's astonishing to me, (people's) lifestyles are getting busier and busier, they're getting more animals. They're emotional support. I think people want it all and part of that is pet ownership."

The dogs get excited when they arrive, Rodgers said. Socialization is a big part of the dog day afternoon.

"They have their certain friends," she said. "We try to give feedback to owners, this is what your dog did today, this is his buddy. If they have issues, we get them into a training regimen."

A dog's life just can't get much better.

"We kind of fill the gap," Rodgers said. "It really enhances a dog's life."