Dogs Put Down as Owners Cant Afford Treatment

Fri, 05 Sep 2008

A new survey has shown that 1.6 million pet owners have had their dogs and cats put down in the last five years as they can’t afford the medical and vet bills. Of the vets questioned, 80 per cent have experienced a dog or cat owner decline a course of treatment as their pet is uninsured and they can’t afford the bill, whilst a staggering 51 per cent had actually put down a pet cat or dog as the owner couldn’t afford a treatment. The research from Sainsbury’s Finance revealed that dogs were most likely to be put down due to the owner’s inability to afford the treatment, with 927,000 dogs put down for this reason in the last five years compared to 822,000 cats.

The research suggests that there are two major reasons for this problem. The first is that vet fees are rising by roughly 12 per cent each year, meaning fewer people are willing or able to pay for the treatment. Secondly, over half of the UK’s pet dogs and cats are uninsured, which can render pet owners helpless when faced with large vet bills.

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