Monday, April 20, 2009
Drive by economics: Trends in animal health
A deep recession has all sorts of consequences. Among them, it is bad for pets and domesticated animals. Today I heard two anecdotes from people who sell products to veterinarians. First, that veterinarians are suffering a big drop in business (an assertion that seems to be supported by this article). Second, that the only category of veterinary products and supplies showing strong growth were drugs for euthanasia (derivative confirmation here).
Not in the least bit surprising, but it does make me a little sad to think of it.
3 Comments:
By 
Who Struck John, at
Mon Apr 20, 10:52:00 PM:
Beats the Depression-Era alternative: dump the unwanted pets on the local farmer, who then has to eliminate the unfeedable horde himself. One of the family stories passed down is of granddad handing dad a box of .22 shells and explaining which cats at the barn were "open season" and which cats were emphatically off the list. And "ammunition is expensive, don't miss any."
By 
, at
Tue Apr 21, 09:31:00 AM:
I know a guy in AZ who now has four dogs. Apparently some of the foreclosed leave their pets behind when they move out.
By Retriever, at
Tue Apr 21, 01:40:00 PM:
Part of the trouble (at least where I live) is that the vets became so greedy, and so preyed upon the dotage of people whose pets were surrogate kids, that they convinced people to spend as much money on their pet's medical care as on human care. This is fine if you are childless and rich. But if you have a family to feed and educate, you may love your dog or cat, but be leery of spending 5000 on end of life care for even the most beloved pet.
I literally do not trust my vet to give me an honest answer about the probability of my pets' ailments being worth treating. Every time we have asked, we have been urged to spend thousands on things like chemo, surgery, maintenance meds, etc. So when we got the dire news of six months to a year WITH treatment, we took our golden home for hospice care and no treatment, and he lived 18 mos. Happy as a clam, not in pain. At end, two days of near collapse, after which we euthanized him in sorrow but glad that three days before he had been running on the beach with his posse.
So our family spends a lot of money on feeding our animals (more human grade meat and veg than the dog foods of unknown provenance), exercises our dogs, gets them rabies shots, flea and tick prevention, and not much else.
Of course, we would pay for emergency stitching or a broken leg or porcupine quills out.
We love our animals. But they are not human. If I had 10,000 a year extra to spend (and I don't, with two kids in college), I would not spend it on doggie vets' bills, but give it to a poor human family to buy health insurance.
