Dogs can bring a lot of love and excitement into your life, but sometimes, they can bring a lot of stress too. They can swallow toys that were only made for chewing. They can lap up liquids that aren’t safe to drink. They can chase after animals that aren’t so friendly. As a dog-owner, you need to be ready to go to the vet clinic at a moment’s notice and pay the bill.

What Can You Do to Prepare?

A simple annual check-up at the veterinary clinic can be expensive, so you can imagine what emergency visits are going to cost you. An urgent problem like a foreign object in your dog’s stomach — think a chew toy or sock that you left on the floor — costs an average of $1,502 to remove. Treatments for problems like broken legs and stomach bloat can cost you even more. Could you handle that price-tag at a moment’s notice?

Read ahead and find out what solutions will help you handle the costs of an emergency veterinary trip.

Get Pet Insurance

Did you know that you can get insurance for your pets? It can help you cover the costs of veterinary treatment, including emergency visits, instead of paying for everything out of pocket.

Build an Emergency Fund

If you don’t have one already, you should start building an emergency fund to help you cover urgent and unexpected costs. This will come in handy if you ever need to rush your dog to the veterinary clinic.

An emergency fund will allow you to manage to spend without hurting your monthly budget. You don’t have to use money reserved for rent, groceries or utilities to take care of your dog. And if you have pet insurance, the fund can help handle any costs that remain after reaching your coverage limit.

Have a Back-Up Plan

Emergency funds do take time to build up, so you might not have a considerable cushion of savings to dip into when a disaster strikes. To guarantee that you always have a safety net, you should consider applying for a personal line of credit.

What is that? A personal line of credit is an open-end credit product that allows you to draw funds from a pre-determined credit limit. After you make a draw, you can manage repayments. As long as you replenish the outstanding balance on time and stay within your credit limit, you can use the account. Click the link to see how you can apply for a personal line of credit in Ohio and use it as an extra financial safety net.

Dog-Proof Your House

Dog-proofing your home is a different type of insurance. Sometimes, a little bit of forethought can help you avoid an expensive disaster — and a very unhappy dog. Here are a few examples of what you can do:

  • Put locks around cabinets for cleaning supplies and other harmful substances.
  • Keep loose laundry in hampers and not on the floor.
  • Get trash cans with lids.
  • Get gates and safety barriers to keep your dog out of specific rooms.

If you have a lot of outdoor space, you should pet-proof your yard to make it safer for them to play during the warmer months.

You love your dog, and you want to do your best to take care of it. That’s why you need to be financially prepared to take it to the vet and cover the bill at any moment.