10/05/2026
Here we go again… unfortunately we are once again the devils of society because we can not fund emergency care for peoples pets. As much as I would love to take care of every single pet that walks in my door, I just can’t. It got me thinking, how much money would I have to have to keep my clinic open, and be able to care for the most common emergencies. I did a little math.
In the Clarksville metropolitan area (this includes Montgomery, Stewart, Christian and Trigg counties)
Population: 349,001
Dogs: anywhere between 90,000 - 105,000
Cats: 61,500 - 81,600
I will use the low end of the statistic for our purposes today.
Pyometra:
Roughly 30% of dogs are unspayed, and of those 25% will get a Pyometra.
90,000 total dogs, roughly 50% female, 30% unspayed, 25% of those getting a Pyometra means that 3,375 dogs in the Clarksville metropolitan area will get a Pyometra.
If I was to donate care for all those dogs at $3000/surgery it would cost $10,125000.00 at some clinics it can cost as much as $8000 for this surgery. In larger areas like Los Angeles, California and New York City it can be over $10,000.
This figure does not include cats, which are also susceptible to this disease.
Foreign Body:
Dogs:
7% of dogs will require foreign body surgery in their lifetime.
90,000 dogs total, with 7% requiring surgery equals 6300 dog. Surgery cost $4000. If I was to donate this surgery it would cost $25,200,000.00. This surgery performed at other clinics or states can be upward of $7000-$10,000.
Cats:
3% of cats will require foreign body surgery in their lifetime.
61,500 cats in total with 3 percent requiring surgery equals 1845 cats. Surgery cost $4000. If I was to donate this surgery it would cost $7,380,000. This surgery performed at other clinic or states can be upward of $7000-$10,000.
Dogs Hit By Cars:
0.4% of dogs will be hit by a car in their lifetime.
90,000 dogs total with 0.4% getting hit by a car equals 360 dogs. Average bill is $2000. If I was to take care of every dog that was hit by a car I would need $720,000
Parvo
On average 0.45% of dogs nationally will get Parvo with a suspected higher rate in Texas and Tennessee, but this data is not tracked so we will use 0.45% for our purposes.
Dogs that will get Parvo: 405. Parvo treatment can be anywhere from $4000 - 10,000 depending on how sick they are. We will use $6000 for our purposes. I would need $2,430,000.00 to donate care for all the Parvo dogs.
Blocked male cats:
61,500 total cats, 50% male, 10% of male cats will become blocked at least once in their lifetime. In the Clarksville metropolitan area that equals 3,075 cats. It costs roughly $3000 to care for one of these cats depending on how sick they are. I would need $9,225,000.00 to donate.
Statistical data has shown that 80% of pet owners are unprepared financially to pay a vet bill over $1,000 without going into debt. The financing companies do not post any data regarding how many people that apply get approved for financing over $1000 so this data I do not have access to. I did pull some statistics from my own data based on approval odds that I can track. Based on my own data available to me, of all people that applied for financing about 30% got approved for an amount greater than $1000. This is not up to me, but the financing companies.
This data is ONLY for these emergencies, this does not include all of the other emergencies that we see, such as vomiting/diarrhea, pancreatitis, hemoabdomens, GDV’s, panleukopenia, dog fights, dog attacks of cats, other infectious diseases, the list goes on.
Obviously my hospital is not seeing every single pet in the Clarksville area, but because we are only one of two urgent/emergency hospitals we are busy.
With 80% of people being unprepared for a large expense, how is the vet hospital supposed to fund these situations. As you can see, even if we chose one illness to fund all the time, we could never pay for it. How could we choose who to provide care to, and who not to. Currently we have tens of thousands in unpaid invoices from people that promised they would stick to a payment plan, and have ghosted us as soon as they walked out the door. We just can’t do it. If people want to be upset with someone they should be upset with the people that came before them, and ruined the veterinarians good nature. We will continue to have a reputation of being money hungry, cold, and uncaring because the general public just doesn’t know the numbers. They see their personal situation, but not that of everyone around them. With 80% of people not being prepared, the veterinary community has to have the same conversation all day long. We are forced to make recommendations and provide the best care we can based on finances which is heartbreaking. We don’t like it anymore than you do, but we have families and bills of our own. We have pets of our own that need care. Their care costs money. No veterinarian or staff member is getting free vet care either. The argument will be made that the cost shouldn’t be so high, so more people can afford it. It could be lower if $10/hr were a living wage for the people that staff the hospital. It could be lower if pharmaceutical and distribution companies would lower their prices. It could be lower if mortgages and lease agreements were less expensive. It could be lower if the cost of utilities were lower. It could be lower if the cost of a veterinary education were lower. It could be lower if more people provided basic veterinary care for their pets. It could be lower if we didn’t allow pets to get themselves into trouble. It could be a lower out of pocket expense if more people had pet insurance. More animals would receive gold standard care if more people had a saving account for their pets before an emergency happens so they are better prepared. We do everything we can within our means daily. Veterinarians are not the enemy. Please stop treating us like we are.
