You may love your pets and you may want to do anything for them, but wouldn't it be nice to get a little bit of help with the cost of caring for your pet?
A growing number of American workers say they want that help and that's where a company like Pet Assure can step in. It's a veterinary discount plan and it says that it's seeing more demand in recent years.
Pet Assure is different than pet insurance though. What you get is a 25% discount on all pet care from veterinarians within the network. No animals, no age and no pre-existing conditions are excluded.
"Insurance is usually for dogs and cats, but this plan, you can enroll a horse, a rabbit, a ferret, a chicken — I've seen everything. I once even saw a rat come through on an enrollment form" says Rachel Ostreicher, the vice president of Pet Assure.
If you are a pet owner, you know it's not cheap to go to the vet. The average cost of a basic pet emergency is between $500 and $1,500.
"Queeny just looked a little different, smelled a little different," Ostreicher says of her own pet emergency. "And then I realized that her breath was very minty fresh, and I'm like, 'oh no.' She had gotten into my purse, eaten a pack of gum and xylitol is poisonous for dogs. We went straight to the emergency room, overnight care, including monitoring, everything was totally fine. That bill was between $700 and $800, just for that one, I don't even know how that happened."
One thing to note about Pet Assure: you can only get it through an employer. It costs between $8 and $11 a month.
