By admin 
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — Taking care of man’s best friend is getting more expensive for everyone. According to a study by Rover, dog owners are seeing a 15 percent increase in veterinary costs.
Read more ‘I miss him a lot’: Teen mourns newborn killed after Buckeye shooting
A study by Fare Vet shows veterinary costs have risen by 60% over the last decade.
The Rover study points to inflation as one of the culprits for that, as the cost of living in America has gone up almost 3% this year.
Finding affordable and local vet care can be even more challenging for people in rural Arizona.
Holli Scheetz-Guthrie used to drive from Prescott Valley to Phoenix to get affordable care for her pets, until Dr. Kelly opened a clinic in Flagstaff.
“I decided this year to bring her to Flagstaff,” Scheetz-Guthrie said. “I didn’t realize there was a location here, so I’d rather drive to Flagstaff over Phoenix.”
People in rural Arizona were driving hours to go to affordable clinics like Dr Kelly’s.
“We recognize that people were coming from far away. People were coming from Flagstaff to Phoenix or from Yuma to Phoenix,” said CEO Douglas Patriquin.
The Flagstaff location opened in November. Paul Pitts drove from Williams to the Flagstaff clinic for his puppies’ vaccines.
Read more New climate control tech developed in Middle East could help Arizona farmers
“Everything has increased in America immensely,” Pitts said. “It’s very great for rural Arizona. We don’t have enough care in rural Arizona.”
Patriquin said people can save money long term with their pets by getting maintenance care like dental work or vaccines rather than a bigger vet bill down the line.
“You know the old adage, an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure,” Patriquin said. “That’s the same adage in veterinary animal health care.”
Both Pitts and Scheetz-Guthrie said it’s super helpful for pet owners to have an affordable clinic in Northern Arizona, especially with the high prices everywhere else.
“The cost of everything has gone up, so it’s really important to have something to be able to take care of your pets and have it not cost quite so much,” Scheetz-Guthrie said.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Read more AI-generated police reports raise accuracy concerns