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A POORLY pooch or a fluey feline no longer has to mean cat-astrophic bills for their owners, thanks to a supermarket chain’s initiative that claims to offer pet prescriptions at a 30 per cent discount to normal veterinary clinics.
A poorly pooch would normally mean an expensive bill for their owners
Asda Pharmacy said today that it will provide over 1,000 varieties of pet medication across more than 200 of its UK stores, including flea treatments, heart disease and arthritis drugs.
Customers simply have to obtain a prescription from their vet and present it at their local Asda Pharmacy, inside Asda stores.
Pet care costs are raining cats and dogs over our purse strings in the UK
Claire Manley, planning advisor for Asda Pharmacy
The news will come as a relief to Britain’s animal lovers, who collectively spend a whopping ?47.6bn each year on 65 million pets.
Most of this is coming out of the pet owners’ pockets – 48 per cent of dogs and 69 per cent of cats are currently uninsured.
15 per cent of dogs in the UK suffer with heart disease, costing their owners ?51 each month to buy a prescription from veterinary surgeries. But Asda claims its customers can buy the same medicine at their pharmacies for ?35.18.
15% of dogs in the UK suffer with heart disease
“Pet care costs are raining cats and dogs over our purse strings in the UK,” said Claire Manley, planning advisor for Asda Pharmacy.
“At Asda, we ‘fur-mly’ believe that no one should be paying over the odds for their pet, especially when their health is at risk.
“Our new pet prescription service is designed to help customers save on rising vet bills, we expect pets to be queuing around the corner to take us up on this paw-sitively unique service.”
Owners spend £98 a year on pet prescriptions on average
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The nation’s love for their furry friends comes at a price.
53 per cent of owners surveyed by One Poll said the cost of their pets has affected their social life, while 34 per cent said they have cancelled a luxury such as a hair appointment in order to treat their pets.
The health of their pets certainly comes first, with 70 per cent of owners saying they would take their animal to the vet when ill, but only 28 per cent would head to the doctor if they felt unwell themselves.
On average, owners spend ?98 per year on pet prescriptions, compared to ?54 on their own.
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