Most Expensive Dog Conditions!

With pets, it’s wise to expect the unexpected, but should the unexpected occur, forget about buying that new flat screen television.

Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance, recently analyzed medical claims submitted to find the most expensive insured conditions commonly suffered by dogs and cats. VPI ranked conditions based on the average fees attached to common claims from among its more than 460,000 pets insured nationwide.

The data revealed that the costliest conditions affected dogs of all ages and breeds, and often required diagnostic tests and emergency surgery. The average claimed fees for the priciest conditions ranged from $500 to nearly $3,000.

These are are the top 10 most expensive common conditions for dogs:

CONDITION:	AVERAGE FEE:
1. Intervertabral Disc Disease	$2,844
2. Lung Cancer	$2,032
3. Gastric Torsion (Bloat)	$1,955
4. Foreign Body Ingestion (Small Intestine)	$1,629
5. Cruciate Rupture	$1,517
6. Foreign Body Ingestion (Stomach)	$1,398
7. Cataract (Senior)	$1,244
8. Bone Cancer	$1,059
9. Pin in Broken Limb	$1,000
10. Brain Cancer	$916

Treatment costs vary on a case-by-case basis. Dollar amounts reflect average initial claim fees submitted to VPI and are not intended to suggest typical reimbursements, reflect average national veterinary fees, or account for ongoing fees associated with a particular condition.

While treatments for many conditions not listed are routinely even more expensive than those ranked, VPI only considered commonly claimed conditions.

Lisa Choate of Montgomery, Texas, was one of hundreds of VPI policyholders in 2007 whose dog needed surgery after eating something he shouldn’t have. The veterinarian’s X-ray revealed 42 pieces of a toy metal race car in her Labrador Retriever Beau’s stomach. Only after surgery did Choate find out that Beau had also swallowed a dish towel. In the end, Beau’s curiosity cost Choate $1,866. Within a few days she received a $1,139 reimbursement check from VPI.

“My husband wasn’t too happy with the bill for surgery, so we were both relieved when we got the reimbursement from VPI,’” Choate said. ‘This reminded us why we have insurance. We never would have expected something like this from an 11-year-old dog like Beau. It was very uncharacteristic of him.”

To make sure your dog is in optimum health, take a look at i Love Dogs’ premium range of dog vitamin and supplements, all of which are fortified with green tea and reishi, which have antioxidant properties.

i Love Dogs, Inc.

i Love Dogs, Inc.’s three websites – ilovedogs.com, ilovedogfriendly.com and findavet.us – provide information and up-to-the-minute news to keep pet parents aware of all things dog. A premium canine vitamins and lifestyle company, i Love Dogs is famous for its line of diamond dog collars. The name says it all — at i Love Dogs, we are committed to the health and happiness of our canine companions.