Cause and effect

Being something of an animal lover (in the traditional sense - not the sentimental "animals have rights, too!" way), I find this story a little sad.

The charity fears that pets are becoming the latest victims of the credit crunch as owners struggle to pay for food, vets' bills and insurance.

The Stan household has a couple of pets who, touch wood, are pretty healthy - but there have been occasions when we've required the services of the local vets. The last time - about a year and a half ago - cost us a mind numbing £250!

I suppose the sensible thing to do would be to invest in pet insurance, but ... well, I wonder if the high price of vet bills these days isn't something to do with the arrival of pet insurance. I'm sure pet insurance has been around for a lot longer than most of us realise, but it's only in the last ten years or less that it has become widespread.

The thing is, I remember taking an old cat of ours to the vets about 10 years ago for treatment for a quite severe illness. The total cost of that treatment over about 6 weeks was no more than £100 - so how come a single consultation and a course of cat anti-biotic cost £250 today?

Could it possibly be that the availability of pet insurance pushes up vet bills?

Or maybe they just saw me coming.