Do you have an "emergency fund" for vet visits?

[TinysMom]

I suppose I could post this in the infirmary area - but I wanted to post this in the general area so that more people would see it.

Right now our "emergency vet" fund is depleted and every time I try to build it up again - another emergency comes up around the house. SHEESH!

Anyway - I thought I'd post this and ask folks to share ideas on how to build an "emergency fund" if you felt it was necessary - plus ask how much you think should be kept in a fund....

I know in today's economy it is tough to pay bills let alone face emergency vet bills....

Here are some of my ideas for building a fund....

• Go without something you normally get (coffee at work, lunch at a fast food place or restaurant, that daily candy bar at snack time) and save the money you normally spend
• Set aside something to hold all your spare change and every day dump your change into the container and watch the money build up
• Sell things you don't need - perhaps at a pawn shop or online
• If you live in an area where there is a deposit on soda cans/bottles - go around and collect them up and turn them in for the deposits

Other ideas?

 

[Becca]

What I do is I have a pot on the window sill and when I get any spare pocket money or find some change somewhere etc I put it in - it soon adds up

 

[hartleybun]

very interesting! personally the 2 buns and 2 dogs are included in the household budget along with all the family. i also have a 'spare change' pot - i save all our 2, 1 and 5 pence pieces ( get lots of those as the college canteen always charges 55p for example instead of a round 50p - soon mounts up).

biggest contribution to the pet fund comes from being a former 20 a day smoker - gave up 4 years ago - i was paying over £5 for a packet per day so you can do the math LOL:rollseyes

we have looked at pet insurance schemes in depth but at the moment they are not for us. the buns would like me to mention that the dogs are more expensive then they are.....

 

[slavetoabunny]

I don't have a fund that's earmarked for vet bills. I just pay them as they occur. If I had a major expense, I do have savings. Right now I'm paying out about $300 each month for vet bills for our rescue buns. I've been very lucky that Sparky and Scooter have always been healthy bunnies. When I have had to bring them to our vet, she always gives me rescue rates (50% or more discount).

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

i dont have a fund but once money gets better i want to put money aside each pay just for animal vet bills. I want to get insurance on the rabbits because thier bills are always so much higher then the other ones.

 

[Dragonrain]

I didn't know what to pick in the poll, I usually try to keep at least $1,000 set aside for vet emergencies, and then I have a credit card that I only use for vet bills and supplies for the pets. When Zeus passed away his surgery alone would have costed me over $700, not including vet fees for all his other appointments and the medication he was on for awhile before his surgery. I have personal savings as well that I'd use for the pets if the cost was more.

To save money, my boyfriend and I keep a budget. Every month (my boyfriend gets paid monthly) we set aside as much as we can for the bunny fund, usually $100 ish, or less depending on how much we have saved up already.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

We have a credit card that is only used for pets emergency food what ever.

Storm is on isurence. Phoenix reallly hs never got sick not really sick. She was hit by a car last year while at the pet sitter. But even then nothing major a few bruised ribs.

The credit card has a 5000 buck limit. With a 25 dollar min every month. I can pretty much do anything now paying it off would be the problem. It would take me forever.

I also pull out 100 a month out of our monthly pay check and put that in a coffie can. In the safty deposit box. I go in once a month the people know me by now I probally have 1500 to 2000 in there but I dont count cause I dont want to know. If I know I would be like ok I can take this much out and still be ok.

I have it set to where I can only go in it once a month. Now erroll can go when ever he want But I am the one that spends all the money

 

[irishlops]

i started saving up since jan 09. now i have 3 pounds....
not that much....
i cant cut back on things, saying i dont buy things

 

[degrassi]

I don't keep a vet fund, I just pay the bills as needed. Thankfully my bun has been healthy so i've only had to take him for a checkup a few times and my dog is only around 100$/year for shots/checkup.

I do have savings(not specifically vet savings). So if anything should happen i'd dip into that.

 

[elijahfan]

i don't do this but am fast wishing i did.i had a pig who needed to see the vet then a pregnant rabbit who is gonna cost me in hutches and extra food etc lol

looks like i should consider one lol

 

[DazyDaizee]

Normally vet funds come directly from my savings account, however I set up a separate bank account in case I need it. I spent a few months putting away $100-$200 every two weeks or so, when I got paid. I've only had to take from it once so far, but even after that expensive surgery there's still about $1000 in there. I have my regular savings for routine care and even expensive surgeries, but it makes me more comfortable knowing that I have a separate fund in case the vet bills get too high. I just don't consider what's in that savings account MY money.. I see it as emergency fund.

I also have credit cards, and I'm really good about paying off the entire balance every month, but I know what my limits are and which has the lowest interest rate in case I really need extra time to come up with the money.

 

[kirst3buns]

Our household budget includes a monthly expense for our pets and general emergency savings fund that is not specifically earmarked for pets but can be used for anything that comes up that was not budgeted. I don't think that Iwould have a separate emergency fund for just pets but I currently have only four so it might make more sense if you had a lot of pets. Luckily, I have been able to plan some of my household emergency spending this year. Our air conditioning unit died on the last warm day of last fall so I've had all winter to save up

 

[kherrmann3]

One thing I try to do is bargain shop. If something is normally $10 and I find it (or something similar) for $5, I get it, then save the difference. I hope that makes sense?

 

[Zoomom]

Basically I have an emergency fund for any emergencies, animal or other. A portion of my paycheck goes into it every week, directly deposited, I never even see it, it adds up pretty good and is very handy when the time comes.

 

[JimD]

I actually stumbled upon a good deal when I had to have some major dental work done.
The dentist advised us to apply for a Care Credit account. It's only good for health care.
There's different Care Plans depending on how long you want to pay it off.
Short term agreements can actually be interest free as long as you make the payments and pay it off in the time agreed. Payments can be worked out to as little as 3% of the total bill.
Longer/larger bills can be stretched out with an interest of 13.9%. Not too bad.

After I got the card I realized that it was also good at participating vets....and mine happens to participate.
It sure came in handy for the $400 visit for the 2 doggies.

It's a pretty sweet deal for those of us that haven't got the means to put too much away for the pets.

http://www.carecredit.com

I also put all of my pocket change in a big mug every day. I think there's about $40 in there now. Enough to buy bunny food for a couple of weeks.

 

[GoinBackToCali]

Marry your vet..

I'm just sayin...

 

[BethM]

We don't set aside money specifically for the bunnies. Any vet bill or other bunny emergency comes out of our joint account, which we each contribute to every paycheck. (It's automatic, so we don't even have to think about it.) We contribute enough to cover monthly household bills, plus some extra. That account also covers any "together" household expenses or emergencies that might come up. We only just started that last fall when we got married, most people gave us money instead of a gift.

Smaller things like food, toys, etc.,we split up and pay for individually. (I get bunny veggies when I do my weekly grocery shopping; he gets litter and pellets.)

 

[naturestee]

We always keep a minimum amount extra in checking and in a savings account for emergencies. Just the amount in checking by itself is usually enough to cover large car or vet bills. There is a set amount of money we try to put in every pay period, plus extra if we can. If the savings account builds up enough we either put some into longer-term savings or use it to buy something big like the new dishwasher I hope to get sometime.

We have a credit card too, but that's for larger emergencies. We're both very paranoid about credit card spending, which is good. We're both very careful to live below our means because we don't want to end up in debt like some of our friends.

 

[irishbunny]

Nope we don't, we can't really afford to and anyway any money we would save would probably end up going towards fixing something that breaks in the house like the car, washing machine, heating etc. The bunnies have never been sick and hopefully never will get seriously ill.

 

[paul2641]

I don't have a savings plan for the rabbits if they ever got sick, But I am sure my mother would help, Like she might not do shopping that week just instead live on what we had from the following week. And put it into vet bills, We had to do that when Sebastians nose got injured.