Mary Rose Denina

ENG 3010

14 March 2021

Week 9 Writing Activity

The Veterinary Discourse Community

Background

Why the increase in fees is a problem?

Many people consider their pets are part of their family and are willing to do anything for their

pets. From the article “The Impact of Pet Health Insurance on Dog Owners’ Spending for

Veterinary Services” states “In the United States there are an estimated 63.4 million households

that own at least one dog, and 42.7 million households that own at least one cat”. With the

increase of animals being adopted the need for veterinary services have also increased. This

article also stated that

“A 2019 study by the United Veterinary Services Association revealed that 48% of pet

owners are not fully satisfied with the veterinary clinic they go to because of cost/price

issues; however, this study also showed that over 95% of cat and dog owners were

satisfied with the quality of medical care (excluding cost factors) they received for their

pets…roughly 30% of pet owners that do not see a veterinarian at least once a year, and

the average expenditure per pet, this translates into $7 billion of veterinary care not being

delivered to animals”.

Many animals are not being properly being taken care of and taken to a vet when really needed

to because of the cost of the service. Another article called “Consumer Preferences for Pet Health

Insurance” said “but the introduction of a companion animal also brings additional spending and
risk into a consumer’s personal budget in the form of pet food, toys, grooming, and animal health

care” Taking care of an animal is costly on its own from being able to feed and entertain it to the

being able to maintain its health.

What factors determine the price for veterinary fees?

There are many different factors that go into veterinary fees, there is medication if your

animal needs them. Medication administered during the visits as well as medication need to be

taken home if needed. The type of examination whether it being a wellness visit or a recheck up

from a pervious visit. These are all inconsideration when invoicing clients. In Suzanne Jarvis

journal “Is pet insurance sustainable” She mentions the main reason for why vet bills were costly

were because of “…‘defensive medicine’ – a practice often associated with new graduates, but

something that ‘all vets are guilty of’, according to one participant. ‘We are seeing massive bills

on relatively healthy animals” (Jarvis 210). She indicates that newer veterinarians are prescribing

more preventative medication for animal early on in their vet visits. Vaccinations are important

to all animals and even to humans. Getting your pet vaccinated early on in their lives can help

them become less sick in the sense that like human vaccinations some animal vaccines need

booster shots for the vaccine to take full effect if your animals are vaccinated early, they can be

done with the sequence for that vaccine. Meaning they will be more immune to certain diseases.

Do corporations have an influence on veterinary fees?

“Corporates could have a role here, suggested another, as they held large amounts of data on

patients and treatments. Another participant cautioned that data would only help up to a point –
vets still needed to cater for different levels of care, depending on what the client wanted. There

was further discussion around overtreatment” (Jarvis 210).

Pet Insurance

What is pet insurance?

From the article “Consumer Preferences for Pet Health Insurance” they stated that "Pet

insurance can be considered as a variation of human health insurance, where pet insurance

companies reimburse the owner after the pet has received care and the owner submits a claim to

the insurance company" (Williams et al, 3). Just like human health care insurance, pet insurance

is the same thing. People will pay a certain amount of money every month and they will have

certain procedures like wellness checkups covered for with a certain amount of a copayment.

Is it worth investing in pet insurance?

Suzanne Jarvis stated in her article “Is pet insurance sustainable” that "Over the past 25

years the average cost of cover has tripled for cats and has increased six-fold for dogs. As a

result, more owners are considering ‘self-insurance’ - putting money aside each month - to cover

their veterinary fees" (Jarvis 210). You never know if your vet will discover an unknown lying

health concern that your animal may have or if your animal will need a certain surgery. Matthew

Limbs said in his article “Pet insurance claims reach an all-time high” that the "average cost of

surgery was around £1500 (about 2,077USD) and high payouts made last year included

£30,000(about 42,000UDS) to treat a dog suffering from seizures" (Limb 684). The cost for

certain procedures on animals can be costly and its most likely the case that pet owners don’t
really understand the severity of their pets condition but would do anything to keep their pets

health and live for a long period of time.

Ethical vs Non-ethical practices

What is ethics define as in the veterinary community?

Ethics can be defined in many different ways depending on the person and situation.

Philosopher Dr. Bernard Rollin claimed in his book An Introduction To Veterinary Medical

Ethics that "Ethics is the set of principles that governs people's views of right and wrong, good

and bad, fair and unfair, just and unjust..." (Rollin 41). He also stated that

"Veterinarians have moral duties to their clients, For example, they have prima facie

obligations to keep contracts, to tell the truth, to explain options, not to cheat, to maintain

confidentiality, and so forth...some veterinarians believe they are not morally obliged to

keep a contract to eithanize a healthy animal if the client has refused to consider other

options. Others believe that it is not necessary to tell the truth if the truth is very

painful.." (Rollin 48).

 Work Cited

"Is Pet Insurance Sustainable?" The Veterinary record 184.7 (2019): 210. ProQuest. Web. 7

Mar. 2021.

"Pet Insurance Claims Reach an all-Time High." The Veterinary record 182.23 (2018):

648. ProQuest.  Web. 7 Mar. 2021.

Williams, Angelica & Coble, Keith H. & Williams, Brian & Dicks, Michael & Knippenberg,
Ross, 2016. "Consumer Preferences for Pet Health Insurance," 2016 Annual Meeting,
February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 230144, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

Williams, Angelica et al. “The Impact of Pet Health Insurance on Dog Owners’ Spending for
Veterinary Services.” Animals 10.7 (2020): 1162. Crossref. Web.

Phillips, C. (2007), An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Ethics. 2nd edition ‐ by Rollin BE.
Australian Veterinary Journal, 85: 211-211. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/10.1111/j.1751-
0813.2007.00163.x