{"id":1274,"date":"2019-03-12T12:50:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T16:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2022-07-11T09:40:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T13:40:46","slug":"4-truths-about-pet-expenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/4-truths-about-pet-expenses\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Truths about Pet Expenses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pet adoption is one of the most gratifying and worthwhile experiences many of us will ever have. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1275 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/puppy-picture.jpg\" alt=\"A dog looking hopeful\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/puppy-picture.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/puppy-picture-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/puppy-picture-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Unfortunately, it can be easy to let yourself get carried away and to adopt a new companion without fully considering the responsibility that it entails. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sadly, I am regularly faced with pet owners who are not capable of taking care of their friend because they never planned that one day, expensive veterinary care may be on the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What follows are 4 financial truths that every pet lover should be aware of.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For the most part, this list also applies to cat lovers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1. There is no such thing as a free pet<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sure, the \u201crescue\u201d may be free. But every pet you adopt will require food, yearly wellness care and possibly unexpected medical expenses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2. Adopting a giant dog is more expensive<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great Danes, Newfies and Mastiffs are cool. But if you live on a teacup poodle budget, maybe you can postpone adopting a large dog until you are more comfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Most things are proportional in veterinary medicine: big dogs need larger doses of medications and of course larger amounts of food.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">3. Not spaying or neutering can cost you money<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Spaying your pet eliminates the risk of a life-threatening infection of the uterus called pyometra. In addition, spaying before the first heat cycle virtually eliminates the risk of breast cancer. Both conditions require &#8211; you guessed it &#8211; costly surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Neutering your pet decreases annoying behavior, eliminates the risk of testicular cancer, helps prevent prostate diseases and reduces the risk of testosterone-driven girl-chasing incidents that can lead to lost pets and hit by car injuries. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">4. Procrastinating can be expensive<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Removing a small skin lump is logically less expensive than removing a mass that is large enough to require its own zip code. In addition, surgery is much less invasive early on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Next time, we will go over 4 more financial concerns to consider.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free Certified<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pet adoption is one of the most gratifying and worthwhile experiences many of us will ever have. Unfortunately, it can be easy to let yourself get carried away and to adopt a new companion without fully considering the responsibility that it entails. Sadly, I am regularly faced with pet owners who are not capable of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[202,203,157,9],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adoption","tag-pet-expenses","tag-phil-zeltzman","tag-veterinary-medicine"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>4 Truths about Pet Expenses | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pet adoption is one of the most gratifying and worthwhile experiences many of us will ever have.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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