Help for Pet Health Care Costs

Many pet owners, at one point or another, are faced with unexpected veterinary bills. Although the cost of veterinary care is actually very reasonable in comparison with the much higher cost of human health care, an unexpected medical emergency can present a major financial dilemma for an unprepared pet owner.

If, despite your planning, your pet incurs major veterinary expenses that you have trouble affording, consider these suggestions:

• Ask your veterinarian if he or she will let you work out a payment plan.

• Contact your local shelter. Some shelters operate or know of local subsidized veterinary clinics or veterinary assistance programs.

• If you have a specific breed of dog, contact the National Club for that breed. (The American Kennel Club has a list of the national dog clubs.) In some cases, these clubs offer a veterinary financial assistance fund.

• Check with veterinary schools in your state to see if they offer discount services to the public.

• Contact Care Credit at www.carecredit.com

• Apply for a Citi Healthcard at www.healthcard.citicards.com

The following is a list of organizations that provide financial assistance to pet owners in need.

 IMOM Inc., IMOM.org

 Help-A-Pet, help-a-pet.org

 United Animal Nations LifeLine Fund, uan.org

 Angels for Animals, angels4animals.org

 Brown Dog Foundation, browndogfoundation.org/home

 Canine Cancer Awareness, caninecancerawareness.org

 Cody's Club (Radiation treatments), codysclub.bravehost.com/

 Diabetic Pets Fund, petdiabetes.net/fund/