"It won't happen to me!"

[Mystics Mom]

Things have been very tight here between food and things for rescue birds..vet work ups..it has been imposible to save and the phone keeps ringing..the other rescues i talk to are in the same boat,as well as just pet owners...

 

[Sunnyside]

It is the economy. I am not a rescue and my phone won't stop ringing either. I have an owner of 2 Cockatoo's and 1 Macaw right now that is desperately seeking a place for her birds

Renae, I do as you 2 separate banks; 1 for me and 1 for my fids.

Actually 3, if you count my DH's account.

 

[chere]

As everyone has said, it can and will happen to you. When Kiwi was sick a while back, it was 6 months of going back and forth to his vet with 3 meds twice a day that had to be refilled at least once each. My vet luckily does take payment plans for their more established customers and was asked if I would like to do so, I refused. Just me!! Also, I do believe that Chase Bank will allow one to set up two checking accounts with a minimum balance in each to begin. Although, two different banks is always a better idea.

 

[Deejo]

You said: "Yep, it happened to me. Step one to fixing your faults is admitting you have them in the first place."

That is so cool; really great advice.

 

[mrstweet]

I'm not saying I was of that frame of mind, I'm just saying that bad things happen when you least expect them. I had a friend who I literally just met about a week ago and she offered to help me pay Boothie's vet bill. Thankfully, we didn't need that help, but having something set aside for those curveballs can ease your mind so much. Like Judy said, a lot of folks would judge for not being able to pay vet bills if something were to happen to so many animals. We get them in the best of times and plan for the worst.

 

[jmfleish]

Yep, I wiped out my savings account and took out Care Credit to pay for Cooper and Taco...over $3000 and I just got another bill for $54 the other day...sigh. The Care Credit is six months interest free but if you don't pay it all back within six months, they hit you with the original interest all the way back to the beginning. I'm still waiting for my bill and went out and got a second roommate to make me feel better about the situation...now I live in the basement with the birds but my bills are getting paid!

 

[Cephus]

It is extremely sad that vets offices don't do payment plans.

Actually, I've never seen a vet office that won't. They might not have it posted, but if you talk to them, most of them will work out some arrangement. It's purely practical, if they perform procedures and the person can't pay, what are they going to do, keep the animal? It's in their best interest to work things out with the owner, so long as they get their money (and maybe some interest) in the end.

 

[Cephus]

I think two bank accounts is a great idea. One for me and one for my fids. I wish my bank now had an option to have two checking accounts. I don't think it does.

They shouldn't care and if they do, simply open an account in another bank. You can have as many checking and savings accounts as you want.

 

[jmfleish]

Actually, I've never seen a vet office that won't. They might not have it posted, but if you talk to them, most of them will work out some arrangement. It's purely practical, if they perform procedures and the person can't pay, what are they going to do, keep the animal? It's in their best interest to work things out with the owner, so long as they get their money (and maybe some interest) in the end.

Actually, most vets won't run tests without first making you sign something that gives you an estimate of the costs as well as the risks associated with the procedures...trust me when I say that I've signed more than my fair share. My vet teases me, saying I can just about write them up myself!

I do have to say that the UW will work with you but they generally want at least half up front...I couldn't even walk out of there without paying for half of the estimate.

 

[mrstweet]

Actually, I've never seen a vet office that won't. They might not have it posted, but if you talk to them, most of them will work out some arrangement.

None of the offices here do payment plans. Payment is due the day services are rendered. The only time they made an exception was when the clinic waited 2 days to cash my check.

 

[Birdasaurus]

I pay my vet bills with credit cards, especially when they are in the several hundreds. That way I never have to worry about a payment plan with a vet...I'll have it with my credit card company instead. I've never yet had to pay interest on any of them, but that's something I'd be ready to deal with should the emergency require more than I can pay off in a month.

I also have a credit union available through work, so they take out $50 a paycheck before I ever get it and put it into an account. That is my backup for paying off the vet bills without interest.

So far I've been lucky and had $700 at the worst at one time. Although Schrödinger is working his way up there too.... *sigh*

 

[Cephus]

None of the offices here do payment plans. Payment is due the day services are rendered. The only time they made an exception was when the clinic waited 2 days to cash my check.

I don't know, maybe I've just had a lot of really great vets over the years, but they've all done it. The first vet I had after we got married, back about 20 years ago, offered a payment plan when our first dog came down with parvo. We didn't ask, they offered it. We didn't need it but it was good to know that, in catastrophic circumstances, it was available.

Of course, that's not something we'd ever need to use, but seriously, how many vets are going to take an animal in a life-or-death situation and throw them into the street because the owners can't plunk down $5000 right this second?

 

[itzmered]

When we were first married and struggling I set up what I called my Envelope Budget. I figured out each and every monthly expense we had, mortgage, phone, cable, electric, gas, insurance, food etc. I divided all of them by 4 since we got paid weekly at the time. I wrote on each envelope what it was for the monthly amount and the weekly amount. I also had a "left over" envelope and a "savings" envelope. Each week I would cash our paychecks and put the weekly amount in each envelope what was left 1/3 went into the left over one and the rest into the savings. The "left over" envelope was for extras like going to a movie or out to eat or special treats for the dog and cat. We didnt have birds at the time. It was amazing when I stuck to this just how much extra money we actually spent that we really didnt "need" to. Our savings grew a lot faster when I stuck to a budget. It came in very useful when the washer died or we needed a new water heater etc. because we actually had the funds to pay for it. I did this for a couple of years until it just became habit to not over indulge all the time and live with in our means. I know it sounds like a silly way to do a budget but it worked for us back then and taught us how to budget our money. It really lets you see how much extra you actually have. I taught this to a friend several years ago who was struggling and she just told me a couple of weeks ago that if it wasnt for me teaching her how I did my "envelope" budget and them doing it and sticking with it they would have ended up losing their house. Made me kind of feel good that my simple little budget helped them