Insurers Reveal Top 10 Reasons For Feline Surgery
Policyholders of Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI) who own cats spent approximately $15 million in 2009 on the 10 most common health conditions requiring surgery. In fact, 1 in 20 VPI-insured cats required surgical treatment for one of these conditions. The company examined it’s database of more than 485,000 pets to determine the top 10 cat surgery claims submitted to the company last year.
Surgical claims are typically some of the most expensive received at pet insurance companies, with the average claim routinely costing thousands of dollars. The most common surgical claim for cats on the list, tooth extraction, cost VPI policyholders an average of $924 per claim, while the least common (cancer of the nasal cavity), cost an average of $927. Interestingly, cancer does not come close to the top of the list as a leading cause of surgery, even when each type of cancer is combined.
Top 10 Reasons For Surgery in Cats:
- Tooth Extraction
- Skin Abscess, Inflammation, or Pressure Ulcer
- Benign Skin Mass
- Bladder Stones
- Cancer of the Abdominal Wall
- Malignant Skin Mass
- Multiple Bite Wounds
- Cancer of the Liver
- Cancer of the Mouth
- Cancer of the Nasal Cavity
"Veterinary medicine has made considerable advancements in recent years, providing pet owners surgical options that weren’t available to them even five years ago," said Dr. Carol McConnell, vice president and chief veterinary medical officer for VPI. "While this is certainly good news, pet owners are often unaware of the cost of these surgeries."
