Help, My Bearded Dragon Is Sick And I can’t Afford To Pay Vet Bills
How Much Are Bearded Dragon Vet Bills
Any owner of a pet may find this to be a difficult moment. You are aware that you must see a veterinarian since your cherished pet is ill. The vet, though, is pricey, and you’ve already had to spend this month’s savings on a new refrigerator. or new shoes for the kids, or auto repairs. Whatever the reason, your bearded dragon will need to see a veterinarian at some point, and it can be expensive.
Recently, this has been a topic that has been discussed fairly frequently in our Facebook group. When that happens, someone always adds, “If you can’t afford your pet, you shouldn’t have one.” But in practice, nothing is ever really that easy. When you first adopted your pet, you presumably had the means to care for them, but owing to a number of factors, you are currently unable to pay the vet’s bills.
Prevention Can Be Better Than Cure
Recently, this has been a topic that has been discussed fairly frequently in our Facebook group. When that happens, someone always adds, “If you can’t afford your pet, you shouldn’t have one.” But in practice, nothing is ever really that easy. When you first adopted your pet, you presumably had the means to care for them, but owing to a number of factors, you are currently unable to pay the vet’s bills.
However, in this article, we look at many strategies that can enable you to pay those visits to the vet for your bearded dragon when they become necessary if you’ve done all you can to prevent problems and still need one.
Saving Up
The greatest strategy to pay unforeseen expenses is by far this. But for now, don’t count on getting much of a return on your savings. You will earn less interest than the rate of inflation because interest rates are at historically low levels. Savings are probably not the ideal investing option right now in light of this fact.
However, they remain the most dependable approach to cover unforeseen expenses. Of course, using emergency savings funds isn’t limited to covering medical expenses. They can pay for unforeseen household emergencies or auto maintenance.
The majority of financial gurus concur that your goal for savings should be 3 to 6 months of monthly income. It is possible to find financial organizations that offer interest rates between 2 and 3% annually while looking around. Since inflation is now running at about this rate, at least your money isn’t losing value as you wait for that unavoidable emergency.
Naturally, saving money is much easier said than done, so here are some more options in case your unanticipated veterinary expenses end up costing more than you had anticipated.
Find The Right Vet
Vets in general are excellent, of course. They likely have years of experience and have studied for years in college. But a lot of veterinarians lack familiarity with bearded dragons. Find a veterinarian with experience treating bearded dragons. Even “reptile” veterinarians occasionally lack sufficient competence with dragons (specialising instead on snakes for example).
Finding the right veterinarian can enable you to receive the correct diagnosis more quickly and for less money overall. The professional vet for bearded dragons will be able to identify symptoms, possibly without the need for pricey imaging or blood tests, or if they do, they’ll be more likely to request the appropriate tests the first time.
So, before picking a veterinarian, find out if they have experience with bearded dragons. Ask them if they know of another veterinarian who does if they don’t. When answering the questions, please substitute a bearded dragon for your unique pet if you are reading this and have a snake or chameleon, for example.
Exotic Pet Insurance
This is a challenging one, especially in the UK. There seems to be just one company offering bearded dragon pet insurance, despite my extensive searching.
The only insurer offering vet bill insurance for bearded dragons is ExoticDirect.
At the time of writing, the cost is approximately £12 per month, and their plan offers coverage for up to £1000 per lizard. At $12 a month, it will take you around 8 years to save $1000. If your pet lives longer than 8 years, buying insurance would be more expensive than setting money aside. However, the advantage of purchasing insurance is that even though you would have saved only £240, the cost of a large vet visit for your pet after just two years can total that much.
With pet insurance, you may visit the veterinarian when your bearded dragon becomes unwell without worrying about the cost, which provides you piece of mind.
If you know of a pet insurance program that covers bearded dragons in the US or Canada, please leave a comment below so that I can update the article. I haven’t been able to discover one yet.
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