How much of a vet fund should I set up?

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Smile414

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Messages
57
Reaction score
10
Location
USA
Hi there,
I was wondering, how much of a vet fund should I set up for a rabbit?
Thanks! :)
 
That's a tough question to answer. It completely depends on your income, location, etc.

Seeing that you're in the U.S., a normal vet visit depending on where you live can range from about $75 - $250(?). An emergency can sky rocket that cost. If you have a vet, call or email them and find out the costs. If you don't have a vet, find a rabbit savvy one in your area and do the same.

It's awesome you are planning. Maybe consider if you have a lump amount to start with, save that and keep adding to it every time you get income. Once you reach a certain amount, you're good to go. Maybe have someone familiar with your situation help you determine amounts to have once you find out the costs.
 
My rule of thumb emergency fund is $300, ideally per pet. Major emergencies will of course cost a lot more, but minor emergencies seem to often be in this amount, for what reason, I don't know. I am always trying to add to my savings fund, personally and for my pets, just so that when things do get dicey I'm prepared.

My emergency fund plan is only for emergencies that I hope will never happen, so general wellness checks or vet trips that can be afforded without dipping into the account are paid for via other means. This is an awesome, super responsible idea, I hope you have good luck with it and it serves you well!
 
Myself had a vet fund of 1500$ which I had manged to save up this year after emptying the vet fund for Odins vet cost last year when he got gi stasis but all will be gone to Toste vet bills this year. So it always good to try save a lot, it can never be too much. Myself is stressing over on how to pay this month vet bills which will sky rock for me. I joked with my brother that I would sell Toste as long as they pay his vet care he will need, because he need an x-ray and correct his ears, which will go over 1000$.

Myself seem to just go plus/minus and stay on the 0 in my vet fund account. I’m planning to build that vet fund more when I have a steady income and find a new job.

A good tip is trying to save a little every month and after a time you will have built up a vet fund. The vet fund will only be touched during emergency when you can’t pay. Vet cost can be expensiv, during Odins gi stasis I had to choice between medicine or operation. I said we tried with medicine first and last step operation, staying 24 hours at the vet costed 1200$ thank god it didn’t go over the insurance budget but the operations would at least cost 5000$ and that wouldn’t be the stay at the vet after.

That just made me have the goal trying to build a budget with at least (5000$) as my vet funds but I have yet reach that goal.

Vet cost is so expensive 😅
 
Myself had a vet fund of 1500$ which I had manged to save up this year after emptying the vet fund for Odins vet cost last year when he got gi stasis but all will be gone to Toste vet bills this year. So it always good to try save a lot, it can never be too much. Myself is stressing over on how to pay this month vet bills which will sky rock for me. I joked with my brother that I would sell Toste as long as they pay his vet care he will need, because he need an x-ray and correct his ears, which will go over 1000$.

Myself seem to just go plus/minus and stay on the 0 in my vet fund account. I’m planning to build that vet fund more when I have a steady income and find a new job.

A good tip is trying to save a little every month and after a time you will have built up a vet fund. The vet fund will only be touched during emergency when you can’t pay. Vet cost can be expensiv, during Odins gi stasis I had to choice between medicine or operation. I said we tried with medicine first and last step operation, staying 24 hours at the vet costed 1200$ thank god it didn’t go over the insurance budget but the operations would at least cost 5000$ and that wouldn’t be the stay at the vet after.

That just made me have the goal trying to build a budget with at least (5000$) as my vet funds but I have yet reach that goal.

Vet cost is so expensive 😅
Yikes! Your area vets sure know how to charge a nice fat amount of money for their services! The biggest bill i've had to pay was around 70€, including both the xray and "consultation fee" 20€ each. I cannot go to work either as this is such a crappy rural place i live in, there are basically no jobs to young people like me, making my monthly income from september to june 60€. That barely covers any expenses i have with him over the year as i have to pay for everything related to him. My savings have waned from 1120€ to under 880€ in this 6-month period!
I've never heard of ears needing corrections though. If you don't mind me asking, what's up with Toste's ears?
 
Yikes! Your area vets sure know how to charge a nice fat amount of money for their services! The biggest bill i've had to pay was around 70€, including both the xray and "consultation fee" 20€ each. I cannot go to work either as this is such a crappy rural place i live in, there are basically no jobs to young people like me, making my monthly income from september to june 60€. That barely covers any expenses i have with him over the year as i have to pay for everything related to him. My savings have waned from 1120€ to under 880€ in this 6-month period!
I've never heard of ears needing corrections though. If you don't mind me asking, what's up with Toste's ears?

Toste have too small ear channels which cause wax build up, so he get inflammed ears. He still have ear inflammation which won’t go down even though he get daily cleaning and go on metacam as pain relief and antiinflammatory. We have tried with medication and regulary cleaning. I’ve had 3 check ups these 2 months and my vet cost have been around 700$ with his medication cost. My vet cost for this half a year have been 1000$. So I’m glad I can live at home while I’m finishing my studies. But I need to save money when I’m going to move out after a year. That budget is right now 0, I’ll need to find some jobs toward winter and try to work as much as I can 🤣

But during summer break I have no income, didn’t want to work with covid-19 patient and risking taking it home to my parents that are in the risk group. So I haven’t been working since april and trying to find a new job during covid-19 is a real struggle. At my work you didn’t have any protection until covid-19 broke out at that place which ended with 30% of the working personal getting sick. Even with protection you get sick. I know a few that have gotten it, nursing home don’t get the best protection as the hospitals.

I know a few jobs I can take but the stress and overwork would literally make me sick for a low salary. I can no longer handle stress that good, it will push my body to overworking and take months to bounce back again.

So I’ve taken to save a little money every month and trying to build the budget for my bunnies as much as I can for emergency. Saving a little over time will become a lot later on.
 
Oh. That is really a lot to go through. I can relate to all the not wanting to bring the virus home as our whole family is full of immunocompromised, stress-intolerant people.
My stress-tolerance has also recently taken a dive in the mud... And getting a permanent bunno issue to fix on top of that isn't great either. I felt so horrible when Musti made a permanent health issue that needed fixing, it really is hard.
I hope we can both pull out of these messy times!
 
Hi there,
I was wondering, how much of a vet fund should I set up for a rabbit?
Thanks! :)
Do you have a "normal" emergency fund? Life has a variety of emergencies from car, house, health and pet. If you have a normal fund maybe you could add to it and maybe earmark a certain amount for vet emergencies. I would say $1500-3000 would be a good amount to set aside for a pet for something serious. You have to think if something was wrong the rabbit may need to come in multiple times, have tests, procedures, x-rays etc.. $3000 is enough for most emergencies in general. $500 would be sufficient for most vet needs if your rabbit might needs labs or tests.
 
Last edited:
Small regular amounts can add up over time. Just be consistent and it will grow.

The total amount will depend somewhat on your financial situation. I may get furrowed brows for this but I personally would not spend thousands of dollars on any one of my pets' medical bills. Hundreds... perhaps, but not thousands. Fine by me if others are willing to do so. It just depends on one's perspective.
 
Small regular amounts can add up over time. Just be consistent and it will grow.

The total amount will depend somewhat on your financial situation. I may get furrowed brows for this but I personally would not spend thousands of dollars on any one of my pets' medical bills. Hundreds... perhaps, but not thousands. Fine by me if others are willing to do so. It just depends on one's perspective.
I would not want to either. Some can and would do so in a heartbeat. I have had pets for 37 or so years. I had 1 pet who was pretty pricey his first year and we had a $700 accumulated cost over a short time but that is it.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top