Specialty vets: The cat's meow
From the August 8, 2003 print edition of the Orlando Business Journal.
Susan Lundine
Associate Managing Editor, Orlando Business Journal
MAITLAND -- Scalpel in hand, Dr. Jacek de Haan is prepped for another day of orthopedic surgery.
On dogs.
"Very few animal hospitals in the world replace hips in dogs," says de Haan.
De Haan's Affiliated Veterinary Specialists in Maitland does that and a good deal more: Pet owners in Orlando can take their beloved furballs to any number of specialists if necessary, including vets who have dedicated their practices exclusively to neurology, dermatology, ophthalmology or surgery.
None of this comes cheap. Yet pet owners are increasingly willing to pay for pricey treatments.
When Pam Lowe found out her 11-year-old Scottish terrier, Roxy, had lymphoma, the car rental manager spent $15,000 on chemotherapy to extend her dog's life. In return, Lowe says she gained "43 of the most wonderful weeks of my life with that dog." Cost was never a factor: "I'd have sold my house if I had to."
Cheaper than kids
"Specialty practices in veterinary medicine are a fairly new trend," says Donald Schafer, executive director of the Orlando-based Florida Veterinary Medical Association. Of 550 veterinarians in Central Florida, only a handful are board-certified specialists. And when Affiliated Veterinary Specialists first opened 11 years ago, the veterinarians saw fewer than two pets a day.
"A very small percentage of people know of our existence before being referred to us by their family vet," says de Haan.
But those who show up with their pets frequently are willing to pay thousands of dollars for treatments -- usually out-of-pocket. "Probably only 1 percent have pet insurance," says de Haan. "It's relatively expensive and doesn't cover hereditary conditions like hip dysplasia."
But that hasn't stopped pet owners from flocking to the animal hospital.
For one thing, there are simply more pets. The number of cats and dogs in Orange County has grown 33 percent in the last eight years -- more than double the human population growth rate for the same time period. Today, there is about one cat or dog for every two Orange County residents.
Then there are demographics. "Baby boomers have money, and their kids don't live in the same town as they do anymore," says Blythe Waters, a University of Florida veterinary graduate who starts work this month at North Florida's Mandarin Veterinary Clinic. "Pets are replacing kids."
Take Marcia Bexley, owner of Orlando marketing consulting firm Bexcom. She's spent about $20,000 over the past few years on health care for her two cats, Tinka and Cricket. "I can't have children, so I've always had animals," says Bexley. "And they're cheaper than kids -- you don't have to put them through college."
Psychologist David J. Romano, of the Orlando Institute for Psychology and Education, says he's even done grief counseling with people who have lost pets. "Folks see them as family members," says Romano, who also is a pet owner and founder of the Central Florida Westie Rescue, a nonprofit group that shelters lost or abandoned West Highland Terriers. It's the nature of human-animal bonding, he says. "Dogs are always glad to see you. There is an acceptance people get in this type of relationship -- it's one that's not judgmental."
'43 wonderful weeks'
Of course, one reason pet owners may be more willing to pay for specialty services is that such services simply have not been available. "When I was doing my residency, CT scans for dogs were not an option," says de Haan, who specializes in orthopedic surgery and is a courtesy clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
The Maitland hospital is still just one of four in the state with a pet CT scanner. But the demand for such things as CT scans, knee surgery, ultrasounds, nuclear scans, chemotherapy, endoscopy, an oxygen cage and pain management has propelled growth: 18 vets and 30 workers operate out of a $2 million, 13,000-square-foot building. Even so, "We're slowly outgrowing this place," says de Haan. Plans call for a $200,000, 2,500-square-foot addition offering radiation therapy, post-surgery physical therapy and a fourth operating room.
The facility has benefited from a lack of competition. The next closest specialty animal hospital is at the University of Florida in Gainesville, which is why the Maitland facility draws patients from a 75-mile radius, from Ocala to Lakeland, and from Melbourne to Daytona.
Such distances seldom daunt determined pet owners. When Lowe discovered Roxy's cancer might be amenable to chemotherapy, she says, "With myself, I might say, 'OK, I can wait until Tuesday.' But not with Roxy -- I had to take her straight there" for treatment -- despite the fact that the cure rate for her dog's cancer was 5 percent.
"Dogs are like ice cream cones," she explains. "You really enjoy them, and when you get down to the end, you just want to say, 'Can't I just have a little bit more?' "
