How to handle your pet emergency Credit : How to handle your pet emergency

If you're like most people with a pet in your home, your companion animal truly is a part of the family. A medical emergency involving your pet can be a truly traumatic experience. You need to be prepared for a medical emergency involving your furry family member, both personally and financially.

Common Types of Pet Medical Emergencies

In addition to health problems that develop over time and result in the need for chronic care, there are some types of medical emergencies that more commonly affect pets like dogs and cats. These emergencies can prove costly for a pet owner.

Getting hit by an automobile is one of the more commonly occurring emergencies involving a pet and can carry a treatment price of about $6,000 on average. Pets also swallow foreign objects that can result in serious health complications and a hefty veterinary bill in the amount of $3,500. Pets are also prone to ingest toxic substances, situations that demand immediate medical attention with an associated cost in the neighborhood of $6,500 to $7,000.

Other more common types of medical emergencies involving pets include being bitten by another animal, which can cost $1,500 or even more. In addition, broken bones are also among the more commonly occurring emergencies involving furry family members. Depending on the type of broken bone, the vet bill can run upwards to $1,000 to $5,000.

If you're like most people in this day and age, you maintain a tight budget. You don't have the luxury of socking away extra money every month for emergencies, even for situations involving your beloved furry family members. With that noted, there are some strategies you can employ to address the financial challenges associated with a pet in need of emergency medical assistance.

Liquidate Assets

You might have some assets that you can liquidate or sell more quickly. If you're fortunate to have an investment like a certificate of deposit, you can cash that in early and use the money from that account to defray costs associated with emergency pet care.

You might also have some items of property that you might be able to sell. In this regard, you might have some type of electronic or entertainment equipment that has appeal to others which you might be able to sell rather quickly.

Credit Card

Most veterinarians accept credit cards. As a result, if you lack cash on-hand to pay the costs associated with emergency care for a pet, you can pay a veterinarian via credit card.

Home Equity Loan

If you're a homeowner that has amassed some equity in the property, you may be able to obtain financing via that investment. You may be able to obtain a home equity loan rather quickly. This type of credit line can serve as a resource to pay the vet bills associated with the emergency care and treatment of your four-legged family member.

Online Cash Advance

Online cash advances can be another source of financing the costs associated with unexpected emergency vet bills for a furry family member. If you don't have enough savings on hand, these can be a solid alternative source of funding when you need money quickly to get you through the trying unexpected emergency.

Ultimately, you may find that you need to take advantage of more than one resource to pay costs associated with emergency medical care for your pet. For example, you might elect to use a credit card, whatever cash you might have on-hand, and an online cash advance.

Planning ahead, you might want to consider obtaining pet insurance for your furry family members. There are a variety of pet insurance options available on the market today.