Tuesday, July 25, 2000
Pet love knows no limits
Extraordinary measures to care for Fido have become the ordinary
By Richelle Thompson
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A few weeks before Christmas, Diana and Tom Frey sat with their three daughters and gave them a choice: Winston was dying and needed surgery, but the procedure was expensive and the family would have to cut back on presents.
The children didn't hesitate to sacrifice extra gifts. They even offered to pitch in some of their own savings.
So the Freys and Winston headed to Columbus where a team of specialists performed reconstructive bowel surgery.
Five years later, Winston, an 85-pound sheep dog, still hogs the queen-sized bed the Freys share.
Price of the surgery: $5,000. Value to the Freys: priceless.
“People would say, "He's just a dog,” said Mrs. Frey, of West Price Hill. “Well, he isn't just a dog. He's a member of the family. He's like another kid.”
These are good times for many of America's 64.2 million cats and 62.4 million dogs that are pets.
Gone are the days of a bowl of dry food, foul-smelling litter, or a metal-link chain in the back yard. Welcome to doggy day cares, animal organ transplants and pet cemeteries.
People seem to value pets more than ever. Consider what they're willing to spend: the pet care industry generated $23 billion in sales in 1998, up from $17 billion in 1994. While owners spend an average $377 a year per pet, it's not unusual for costs to rise into the thousands, especially when an animal is sick.
Chemotheraphy for cancer, one of the most common diseases for cats and dogs, runs about $1,200. An organ transplant starts around $4,000.
So just how much is that doggy in the window?
Connie Childs, of Woodlawn, figures that between shots and food and doggy day care, she's spent about $2,000 so far on her 5-month-old Rottweiler, Phatu.
The pup also cost Ms. Childs a fiance.
“He said, "Something's got to go. It's me or the dog,' and I said, "Well, I guess it's gonna be you.'”
Ms. Childs rubs Phatu's caramel and chocolate fur, as he twists on his leash and prances on paws as big as a woman's fist.
“He's my baby,” she said. “I don't have any kids, and he's my baby.”
Medical advances
The rise in spending is, in part, because of advances in technology. New medicine and surgical procedures come at a higher price.
You could also blame the economy; flush wallets make it a little easier to buy Fido a nice collar and some fancy treats.
But animal lovers and pet experts say more intangible reasons drive this willingness to go to greater and more expensive measures.
In a fast-paced society where people often move away from families, live alone or chose not to have children, pets become substitute companions. For those who feel alienated, pets give acceptance. And for everyone who wants love, pets give it freely.
“Can you imagine another human being loving you as unconditionally?” asked Wendy Danforth, associate editor and publisher of Bonkers, a magazine for pet owners. “They'll love you if you're poor or rich, ugly or attractive, or if you have a bad day.”
Ms. Danforth draws on personal experience. She spends an estimated $10,000 a year on her four dogs — and she wouldn't dream of cutting back.
“If I ended up poor, I would give my last crust of bread to my dog,” Ms. Danforth said. “If you print that, people will think I'm wacko, but I'm bonkers over my dog.”
She's not alone. The human-animal bond has become more mainstream, said Robin Itzler, spokeswoman for Veterinary Pet Insurance, the country's oldest and largest such company. “Twenty years ago, someone who really loved animals you would think of as a little old lady with 50 cats who was a little off her rocker. Today, people are more comfortable saying animals are a part of the family.”
And like other members of the family, pets increasingly are getting their own insurance policies.
Only 1 to 2 percent of pet owners in the United States currently have pet insurance policies, which start at $100 a year for basic coverage. But the number is growing, said Ms. Itzler. Sales at Veterinary Pet Insurance based in Anaheim, Calif., climbed from $16 million in 1998 to $25 million last year. And according to a survey by a Baltimore company, pet insurance ranks among the top five most requested optional employee benefits.
Money no issue
Most of Dr. Kevin Ketring's patients don't have insurance but still are willing to do whatever it takes to make their sick pet better.
“In 23 years of practice, there's no question that people (have become) more willing to spend more money on their pets,” said Dr. Ketring, a veterinarian at College Hill Pet Clinic. Ultrasounds, laser surgeries, blood pressure checks and echocardiograms are routine procedures these days.
The practice had even prepared two years ago to do a kidney transplant on Speedy, an American short hair cat, but the veterinarians couldn't find a donor match.
Dr. Ketring estimates the transplant would have cost $4,000 to $8,000.
Speedy's owner, Charles Haag, said he never asked about price.
“When you care for an animal, (their health) becomes pretty important,” said the Lawrenceburg, Ind., man. “Money's not the issue.”
Since the transplant didn't work out, Mr. Haag hooks Speedy twice a day to an intravenous tube and gives her medicine. She needs shots twice a week. Estimated monthly cost: $300 a month.
With the medicine, Speedy is back to her hyper self, said Mr. Haag, investigating every noise and keeping him entertained.
All dogs go to...
Even modern medicine has limits.
Past cornfields and 1950s ranch-style houses is the Pine's Pet Cemetery in northern Warren County. Marigolds and lavender impatiens throw color onto golf-course-short grass.
On 35 acres, Spike, Nutmeg, Bear and Boo Boo Bunny share final resting places with more than 15,000 dogs, ducks, cats, snakes, chickens, squirrels, horses -- and even 40 people who wanted to be buried with their pets.
There was Daisy, the “perfect dog,” and Piggy, an 8-year-old guinea pig. Annie Jo was the “world's greatest purrer,” and Old Yeller is “God's companion now.”
The grass was still wilting and brown over Priscilla's grave, Section 71, Row 35, Lot 46. She died May 30.
Burial for a small pet starts at $270 — and that's without a casket or a marker. A handmade cherry casket with blue velvet lining is $340, a bone grave plate $384.
“I never would have thought people would go to such (measures),” said Connie Miller, a grief counselor at the cemetery. But for many, “pets make better friends than people.
“I hear every week, "I lost my parents, and I loved them, and I miss them a lot, but it's nothing like how I feel about my pet,”' she said. “People feel so guilty but there's a big difference between an animal's love and a human's love ... An animal's love is unconditional.”
Steve and Virginia Wagner wind their way south from their Dayton home every two to three months to visit the graves of their cats. They have 11 lots.
They've never begrudged the money and feel pets deserve “anything your budget can possibly handle,” Mr. Wagner said.
“We just felt like this was the place for our pets,” he said. “It's just beautiful. You see more flowers here than in a regular cemetery.”
A pampered pet
Winston the sheep dog has his own stocking, gets Easter presents, and special chew toys on his May 3 birthday.
“I usually include him in anything I do for the kids,” Mrs. Frey said. “When we travel, if we're bringing something back for the kids, we bring something for Winston.”
To wit: Winston has a Niagra Falls leash.
“This dog is such a joy,” she said. “He makes people so happy.”
Winston, whose full name is Sir Winston Churchill, gets his nails and fur done every six weeks. And once a month during the summer, the Freys treat him to a medium chocolate and vanilla twist from Putz's Creamy Whip. He doesn't gulp, Mrs. Frey raves. He licks nice and slow and enjoys it.
Still, Winston is getting on age. He's 12 and for a big dog, these are the twilight years.
When Winston does head to doggy heaven, he'll join Princess Abigail and Sir Barnaby in the back yard of Mr. Frey's parents. He'll have his own headstone like the other two, and the family will visit and joke about which beloved pet is pushing up lilies from the flower bed.
But despite a love of animals, Mrs. Frey says Winston may be the last pet.
“It pretty much killed us when we had to put Abby down (in 1995),” she said. “I just don't know if I can go through this with another animal. They just mean too much to us.”
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