Shortly after I saw a couple of my veterinary friends announcing this service, our vet informed us about this opportunity with his clinic as well. Very cool.
What is a veterinary care plan?
It might come under different labels, our plan is called FVH Family Plans for Your Pet’s Health. Veterinary care plans are managed care plans versus the conventional fee for service models.
Crudely put, it is a subscription type of thing to veterinary services.
It is especially valuable for dogs with chronic health issues, such as Jasmine was.
The expense of basic health care for your dog spreads out over a year. It permits more visits for a predictable cost, without economics driving the decision whether you can take your dog to a vet or not.
Often enough I’ve seen people put off a vet visit for financial reasons.
Neglecting health checks exams, or having a symptom looked into, can result in serious health problems and substantially larger expense later on. Skimping on vet visits just isn’t a good idea.
Veterinary care plan allows you to do right by your dog without the financial pressure.
What can a veterinary plan look like?
Our vet is offering two plans.
A primary plan includes per year
- up to 12 visits
- monthly roundworm prevention
- webstore access
- 4 urine health screening tests
- vaccinations
A premier plan includes per year
- up to 12 visits
- monthly roundworm prevention
- webstore access
- 4 urine health screening tests
- vaccinations
- anemia/leukemia blood tests
- kidney tests
- liver tests
- diabetes tests
- 50% discount on spay/neuter or alternatively teeth cleaning and oral prophylaxis
Did we get on the veterinary care plan wagon?
We certainly did. We chose the premier plan. I think it is well worth it, particularly with Jasmine who, I am sure, will use up all of the 12 included visits (I’m just hoping she doesn’t manage to use them all up in one month!)
The plan allows to pay for the entire year up front and get one month free, or monthly billing. The monthly billing works best for us but I was surprised how many people actually opted for the upfront payment.
What’s the point of so many visits included in the plan?
Did you ever wait too long to take your dog to the vet with a minor issue which then turned into a big problem? Sometimes even a simple infection can get quite bad quite quickly.
Early detection and management of problems of a chronic nature such as obesity have been shown conclusively to prolong and improve the quality of life. Some problems, such as arthritis, diabetes, cognitive degeneration are best detected early and may require several visits to get the best balance of medications and supplements because dogs do respond as individuals.
Since the paperwork for our plan emphasizes this repeatedly, I should probably as well: this is not insurance, it is really a subscription sort of thing to routine health care for your dog.
Is it worth it? I definitely think so.
Does your vet offer a veterinary care plan?