Booming Pet Care Industry

[Mellie]

Link:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/11/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Article:
How much would you spend on your dog?
Animal hospitals are thriving on free-spending pet owners.
October 11, 2005: 3:58 PM EDT
By Aaron Smith, CNN/Money staff writer

"I've seen ducks getting cataract surgery and cats getting kidney transplants," said Ryan Daniels, pet health care analyst for William Blair & Company, LLC.

[Tiffany0204]

Well, I do think that people will do anything to take care of their pets. Do I think that there are vets out there who take advantage of that? Of course I do.

Personally it's up to the owner to take care of their pets. My aunt (for example) is testament to this.

She got her dog (a beagle mix) for free from some people who's dog got accidently pregnant and needed homes. The dog, is incredibly hyperactive. She made a "safe place" for the puppy, using baby-gates to keep the puppy in the kitchen.

Bingo (the puppy) somehow managed to semi-climb up the baby gate, and ended up snapping her shoulder. Off to the animal clinic they went, Bingo got fitted for a cast and was told to stay low for 4 weeks. Which is an ETERNITY for a puppy!

So Bingo bounced back from that.

Then my aunt was cleaning her floors, and she had Bingo out in the garage. My cousins not realizing that my aunt had a bucket of cleaning solution on the floor, let the dog back in and she went charging for the bucket. She managed to get a good few gulps in before my aunt managed to get her away from it.

They had to induce vomitting, and back again to the clinic.

She survived that, and all went back to normal. Then a few months later my aunt opened the door to let my cousins back in, and the dog managed to slip out of the house and tore for the street. My aunt lives on a highway so she was panicking and yelling for Bingo to come back.

She ended up getting hit by a car that (thankfully) wasn't going very fast at all, Bingo ran back to the house, she was vomitting and once again, it was back to the animal clinic.

Keep in mind, this is all happening in around a year's worth of time.

We joke around saying that Bingo is part cat because she's definitly got more than one life! The odd thing too, is that my Aunt is an amazing dog owner. She's had them before, and she's home 24/7 so it wasn't like Bingo was left alone and whatever.

She's one of those rambunctious dogs, needs to be watched like a hawk. Anyways, long story short, my aunt has paid a FORTUNE keeping Bingo on the mend. For a dog who was free, she's paid over $2,500 in vet bills. As far as she's concerned, she doesn't mind because she'll do whatever it takes to keep Bingo going.

Sorry for the novel