Americans overspending on their pets medicines; is that justifiable?
Will death one day become avoidable? Will the criterion of death; if not solved; made postponable, as easily as we postpone our plans? This is, at least, what I expect when I come across something like this. Ageing is something we can't prevent (we common people, not talking about show biz people). It is of course something through which every one of us has to go through. Everyone gets old, everyone dies. But we all try to prevent it, even when we know that it is inevitable till now.
The buzz is that Americans have begun to medicate their pets far more then they medicate themselves. They have been routinely treating their pets for any and every kind of diseases. Increasingly, they buy the drugs from people pharmacies or online and sometimes pay with health insurance. The drugs they generally pick up are from a series of human pharmaceuticals, like steroids for inflammation, antibiotics for infection, anti-clotting agents for heart ailments and even the impotence drug Viagra for a lung condition in dogs.
First, only the farm pets claimed the share in pharmaceutical marketplace but within the last five years, pets have overtaken farm animals in this case. According to the trade group Animal Health Institute, 54 percent of the pharmaceutical market collections come from animal drugs. Americans according to their statistics, bought around $2.9 billion worth of pet drugs in 2005 alone. The market of animal drugs has roughly grown half since the year 2000.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration aren't far behind. It has approved more than 40 new pet drugs over the span of last five years. Slentrol, which came out, as the first government-approved slenderizer, for obesity in dogs, will cost $2 a day. The growth of the market reflects that there has been a growth in the bond between pets and their owners in spite of the decline in ownership. A 2002 survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association recorded that 47 percent of people viewed their pets, not as pets, but as family members. This attitude of people makes customers more vulnerable to overspend on their pets.
Too much attachment with their pets sometimes makes people go for extreme measures and that could prove harmful too. Dr. Steve Suter, who treats pet cancers at North Carolina State University's veterinary college, says that people even mortgage their houses to get the best treatment for their pets. Of course, a lot of people still medicate pets sparingly. People do get uneasy due to the cost of the medicines. Vets generally sell pet drugs, but with the Internet-based companies fighting for business, this scenario could change. Health insurance for pets has also picked up growth from the last five years.Is that really worth?
Source:MSNBC
