Pets to be given same costly lifesaving procedures as health service

Published on Saturday 20 December 2008 18:37

RADIOTHERAPY for Rover and kidney dialysis for Kitty – almost anything is possible when you're a pet owner with deep pockets.

One of the country's leading veterinary surgeons has revealed plans for a pet hospital that will offer treatments as sophisticated as anything available to humans on the NHS.

Dr Ian Ramsey, director of the small animal hospital at Glasgow Vet School, says the 10m centre will save the lives of many cats and dogs that would otherwise be put down.

But the lifesaving procedures cost up to 5,000 and Ramsey last night advised pet lovers to make certain their insurance would cover the costs.

Until recently pet surgery was limited and if an animal had a problem with its heart, kidneys or developed cancer, the kindest action was to have it humanely destroyed.

But from next year Glasgow Vet School's new treatments will include:

&#149 Radiotherapy at 5,000 for a course that targets hard-to-reach tumours in the head, nose and limbs, using a sophisticated linear accelerator similar to those used in Scotland's cancer wards. The machine, which costs 500,000, is the first in Scotland and can improve survival rates by up to four times that of the current treatments, chemotherapy and surgery.

&#149 Elbow replacements for arthritic dogs, particularly Labradors, that would otherwise have to be put down, at 3,000 per limb. The replacements use titanium-enriched steel and the operation is just as complicated as one on any human knee.

&#149 Kidney dialysis for pets who accidentally ingest poisons, such as antifreeze, to allow the kidneys to recover, at 3,000 per treatment, usually involving a course of two treatments.

&#149 Endoscopy for life-threatening stomach and bowel problems, using a state-of-the art camera that can view blood vessels under the stomach lining and spot early tumours, at a cost of 250 per investigation.

The facilities will be housed in a 10m centre which will replace the current vet school building on the Garscube Estate, Bearsden, early next year.

Ramsey said: "Our facilities are as good as any NHS hospital. I look to the human hospitals and say: 'What are you doing, can we do it?'

We constantly surprise people with what we can do.They take the attitude it's just an animal. When they think of a veterinary surgeon they think of James Herriot, but we have specialist surgeons.

"Many practising vets went to vet school 20 years ago, so their understanding is based on knowledge which is 20 years old and they don't refer so many cases.

"There's a difference between keeping up to date with what you're doing and knowing what's possible. We do try to speak to the practitioners, but they don't always tell the clients."

The vets currently carry out 2,000 operations a year on dogs and cats, most commonly for slipped discs, inflammatory bowel disease, leukaemia and fractures.

The pet insurance market is one of the fastest growing insurance sectors in the UK and last year the number of owners taking out pet insurance rose to 26%, an all-time high. Some insurance companies offer cover of up to 12,000 a year, with premiums starting at around 16 a month for cats and 33 a month for dogs.

However, some cheaper policies will not offer sufficient cover for state-of-the-art treatment, and Ramsey warns owners to make sure they are fully covered.

He added: "Don't ask your vet what's cheap, ask what's possible. One big worry for owners is that we will carry on treating beyond the hope of recovery, but absolutely not, we are all animal lovers here. If the animal is not going to get better you would want that animal to be pain-free. "

Libby Anderson, political director of the animal welfare charity Advocates for Animals, welcomed the development and said she was confident that vets would have animals' best interests at heart. However, she added: "The issues that we have to think about are whether to put a beloved pet though an invasive procedure when they cannot consent. You can't explain to an animal why it's suffering."

Simon Wheeler, of insurance firm Petplan, said that while treatments available currently were covered, there are concerns future treatments will be prohibitively expensive. He said: "One of the big challenges facing the profession is to ensure the cost of extensive diagnostics doesn't compromise the ability of the owner to pay for the resulting treatment – insured or uninsured."

Touch and go for Tibetan terrier

Jacqui McNeil was delighted with her new puppy Cassie, but when the Tibetan terrier was just a few weeks old she ran into life-threatening problems.

During her routine eight-week check, a vet discovered the dog had a heart murmur which was soon diagnosed as patent ductus arteriosus, a life-threatening abnormality with the blood vessel linking two major arteries in the heart.

The puppy underwent heart surgery at Glasgow Vet School, running up a bill of 5,000 between the operation and scans.

Despite weighing just 6lbs at the time of her surgery, smaller than many newborn babies, Cassie's surgery earlier this year was a success. Her operation was a highly specialised procedure involving a large team of specialists, and she is now doing well.

McNeil, 40, from Glasgow, explained: "Before her check-up, Cassie had been running about the house normally, showing no signs of being ill. But after the check-up, she went into heart failure. She was transferred to the Glasgow Vet School and was put on a ventilator. They said she could have keeled over at any minute. She had her surgery the following week.

"They nearly lost her twice during the surgery, it was really touch and go," she added.

The surgery performed on Cassie was a keyhole procedure to repair the abnormal blood vessel. She is now a healthy, active dog with no sign of any more heart problems.

McNeil, who works in customer services, had pet insurance which covered the cost. She added: "Some people will say it's just a dog. But I just did what I had to do."