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poster news reporter du zhengmin reports from jinan

"my cat had urinary retention some time ago, and i went to the pet hospital for three examinations, which cost me 2,000 yuan." "my golden retriever had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis when he was two years old, and it cost more than 1,000 yuan per day in the hospital, a total of tens of thousands of yuan."... nowadays, pets have become an indispensable member of many families. once the "furry children" have physical problems, pet hospitals will become the first choice for most "poop shovelers". on august 30, the reporter interviewed and investigated some pet hospitals in jinan city and found that from the registration, consultation, examination, hospitalization and other services, the cost of treatment ranged from a few hundred yuan to thousands of yuan, and as much as tens of thousands of yuan.

hot search topic on weibo: #it is more expensive to treat a pet than to treat yourself#

it’s a bit expensive to treat “furry kids”

"when 'rebellious child' gets sick, two months' salary is gone." the registration fee, ranging from 50 to 300 yuan, is just the starting price. a set of tests, including blood routine test, urine test, stool test, b-ultrasound, ct scan, etc., will cost you thousands of yuan. if the pet is seriously ill and needs surgery or hospitalization, the daily hospitalization fee and drug cost are mostly more than 1,000 yuan, and the total cost is often over 10,000 yuan.

ms. sun, who lives in licheng district, jinan, has a silver tabby cat. recalling the money she has spent on her cat's medical treatment in recent years, ms. sun jokingly said, "it's enough to buy several kittens."

"this is my first cat, so i take good care of it. before i found out that the cat was not feeling well, i checked online, but we are not real veterinarians after all, so we could only send it to the pet hospital for treatment." some time ago, ms. sun found that the cat was defecating, vomiting and squatting at home, so she hurriedly took the cat to the pet hospital downstairs for treatment. she had a routine blood test, b-ultrasound and pancreatitis test, fed the cat medicine twice a day, and gave injections for three consecutive days, which cost more than 2,000 yuan.

even a minor cold for a pet costs less than 1,000 yuan, including more than 400 yuan for examination and more than 300 yuan for medicine. "i only spent 200 yuan to cure a cold, but i didn't expect it would be so expensive to treat a cat," said ms. sun.

ms. sun showed the reporter the footage of her cat being treated at the veterinary hospital.

pet owner liu yuanyuan's cat has hypertrophic myocarditis. she found that the charges for ct scans and other items are 2 to 3 times more expensive than her family's previous checkups. in addition, the cat needs to take furosemide tablets and clopidogrel bisulfate tablets for life, which costs 7,300 yuan a year.

jinan resident ms. li showed the reporter the payment receipt when her cat went to the pet hospital to treat ringworm last month.

the reporter visited several hospitals in jinan, including the united animal hospital, repaleo pet hospital, and dr. elephant pet hospital, to learn about the prices of comprehensive physical examinations for pet cats and dogs. he found that, under the premise of including basic items such as routine physical examinations of pets and skin sampling microscopy, the price ranged from 200 yuan to 1,800 yuan as the number of items increased. after the reporter said that the price was a bit high, several pet hospitals said that group purchases could be made on the online platform with preferential prices, but the appointment needed to be made 1-5 days in advance.

by comparison, the reporter found that the prices online are generally much cheaper than those in stores. for example, the online group purchase price of the "love pet super value comprehensive checkup package" at the united animal hospital is 405 yuan, while the store price is 855 yuan, which is equivalent to a 45% discount. the online price of the "selected annual health checkup package" at dr. shan's pet hospital is 485 yuan, while the store price is 1,250 yuan.

the online group purchase price of "love pet super value comprehensive checkup package" of united animal hospital is 405 yuan

when communicating with doctors at several pet hospitals, the reporter found that "because pets cannot speak", most doctors took the initiative to ask for a full body check-up first. ms. zhang, a resident of jinan, told the reporter that her cat was sick, and the doctor said after the examination that it needed to take the animal anti-inflammatory drug "sonuo" and "it would take two weeks to recover", so he prescribed 28 pills for a total of 420 yuan. "the medicine is expensive, the examination is expensive, and the doctor ordered all the examinations, but there is no other way, i still have to go."

the pet hospital is "crying out losses"

"my labrador had allergies all over its body some time ago. its eyes, ears, mouth and body were all covered with red spots. it scratched itself and it felt like it had lost its dog life. we took it to the hospital to test for allergens, give it medicine and injections. after several days of trouble, it cost almost ten thousand yuan." mr. chen, a citizen of jinan, told reporters about his "experience" of seeing a doctor while raising his dog.

a full physical examination cost more than 500 yuan, a tooth extraction cost more than 1,500 yuan, an endoscopic surgery to remove foreign objects in the stomach cost more than 3,000 yuan, and a root canal treatment cost more than 2,000 yuan... in five years of raising the dog, mr. chen's medical expenses for the puppy have reached 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

data shows that in 2023, the average cost of medical treatment for a single cat or dog by pet owners is 2,390 yuan and 2,786 yuan respectively. many pet owners are probably aware of the high cost of medical treatment for pets. so why is it so expensive to see a doctor for pets?

midland animal hospital (minghu branch)

"when customers come to see a doctor for their pets, our doctors will explain every expense to them. some customers also question the 'expensive' cost, and the main reason for this problem is cost." a doctor at a pet hospital told reporters.

wang wenli, a pet professional teacher at beijing agricultural vocational college, said that the costs of pet medical institutions mainly come from three aspects:

the cost of training a pet doctor ranges from 20,000 to 50,000 yuan a year. in our country, to become a qualified veterinarian, one must have at least five years of practical experience.

drug costs. currently, domestic pet medical clinical drugs still rely heavily on imports, which are expensive. in addition, the output of pet drugs is less than that of human drugs, so the unit price is high.

equipment costs. for example, the cardiac ultrasound machines, ct machines, mri machines and other equipment purchased in large pet hospitals cost from hundreds of thousands to millions of yuan each. pet medical equipment is expensive and has a low usage rate, resulting in a large shared cost.

in addition, there are rent, labor, water, electricity, equipment maintenance, etc.

industry insiders have said that it is not easy for pet hospitals to make a profit, the payback period is long, and a net profit of around 15% is already a good figure.

"the profits of the entire industry are not high." mr. li from qingdao has been running a pet hospital since 2014. he said that it is not easy to make a profit in pet healthcare.

mr. li also did some calculations. a community hospital usually has 5-10 employees, with labor costs accounting for about 40%, rent and consumables costs also accounting for about 40%, and the remaining 5%-20% is profit. the bulk of the profit is not the cost of drugs and examinations, but the doctor's surgery fees.

screenshot of alipay's "pet insurance" page

screenshot of pet owner receiving claim for “pet insurance” through alipay

the reporter found through interviews that many pet owners now buy pet medical insurance, which can reduce 30%-50% of the financial pressure when encountering serious illnesses. in addition, some pet owners with certain "pet raising experience" will simply "treat" their "fur children" by themselves when they have minor problems. some pet hospitals are also expanding the "internet + pet medical" online consultation business... as the industry gradually moves towards standardization, the problem of expensive pet medical treatment will also be improved.