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Emergency Veterinarian Visits Can Break A Pet Owner's Bank

Posted by Tom Lombardo | Thu, Jun 12, 2014 @ 10:00 AM

Veterinarian Costs

Shakespeare’s wild and undisciplined Prince Harry gave us one of the greatest truisms ever uttered: “Love is blind.” And perhaps at no time in the centuries since The Bard’s troupe first performed Henry IV has that been truer than now – so long as you’re talking about Americans and their pets.

Americans have over 140 million pets, and the American Pet Products Association says that 42% of the dogs sleep in bed with their human. Apparently we don’t fully realize they’re animals, and we seem to believe that all our pets need is love, since only a third of us take them to the veterinarian -- even when they’re sick.

Veterinarians find themselves uniquely positioned to turn the sometimes tragic impact of this blindness into a long-term business opportunity by turning a love-struck pet owner into one who is responsibly love-struck.

But to do that you need to be prepared.

First, it’s important to accept – compassionately – that a pet’s health problem often results from its owner’s blindness. For example, Americans feed their pets as much as they love them. Banfield Pet Hospital’s State of Pet Health 2012 Report, which analyzes data from more than 2 million dogs and nearly 430,000 cats, concludes definitively that “dogs and cats are getting fatter.” Since 2006 obesity has increased 37% for dogs and an incredible 90% for cats, and ailments caused or exacerbated by it – including tooth decay, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, kidney failure and thyroid problems – have skyrocketed.

But the really eye-popping statistic is that over two thirds of pet owners, clearly blinded by love, believe their pet is “just the right weight.” And three quarters of them have no idea there’s a connection between obesity and other ailments. Worse, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, over the past decade dog visits to the vet have slipped 21%, while cat visits have dropped 30%. Since so few owners schedule annual checkups, often feeling they are too expensive or that the veterinarian pushes unnecessary treatment just to make money, you often don’t see the pet until something goes catastrophically wrong.

At that point the human is as devastated as she is unaware that she may have contributed to the problem – a situation which needs to be handled carefully in order to develop a business relationship.

Veterinary Procedure CostsThe pet may be in agony too, but of a far more physical kind that often may be alleviated only through surgery. Veterinary Pet Insurance analyzed its database of over half a million pet owners to discover the top ten surgeries performed on dogs and cats, finding that many of them cost over a thousand dollars and some cost several thousand.

The owner may be blinded by love, but he’s also blindsided by this unexpected expense. “What is my worst-nightmare emergency?” writes Dr. Debora Lichtenberg, VMD, for petadvisor.com, “When an owner comes in with a situation that could have been avoided, and cries poverty.”

To avoid “economic euthanasia” for the pet and to create a long-term relationship with the owner, you may need to be able to help that owner pay for treatment – but you need to do it in such a way that sustains, rather than drains, your business.

And for that, you really need to be prepared. The best-case, long-term objective is for the pet to recover and for the owner to acquire an appreciation of the importance of annual visits. Perhaps you can offer the first one at a discount – or offer the third one for free, if the owner comes in for the first two and purchases all recommended treatments.

But first the pet has to get through the existing affliction, and if your owner does not have adequate funds and is unable to use a credit card (a solid majority of card holders have little or no additional credit available), a multiple check option may be a life saving solution. Allow him to write two to four checks to be deposited over the next thirty days. Depending on the check processing company you work with, you may have protection if the client places a stop payment on any of them and you will get all of checks guaranteed before you accept them, assuring payment regardless of the treatment’s outcome.

Preparing a multiple check option in advance of emergency situations like this might help you save pets lives, expand your business, and maybe share a little of that blind love your new client feels for his pet! 

 

hold check, payment flexibility, increase sales

Topics: Veterinarians

Written by Tom Lombardo