Texas affordable pet care bill on hold for now

Controversial House Bill 3806 would limit access to low-cost veterinary care

Pet owners relying on low-cost veterinary clinics are breathing a temporary sigh of relief now that lawmakers are taking another look at a bill designed to limit pet care access to only the most indigent clients.

House Bill 3806 would outlaw nonprofits from providing any veterinary services besides spaying, neutering, and vaccines to anyone other than the poorest pet owners. Further, pet owners who don't qualify based on their income would have to go to private veterinarians to receive treatments such as heartworm prevention, flea control, or lifesaving procedures.

Last week, Texas's house agriculture and livestock committee heard public commentary on the bill's potential impact on pets' health.

"It is not a good bill. It targets people who would have a hard time paying for normal shots, testing, and some other services for pet owners," Emily's Legacy Rescue employee, Kimber Hopkins, told News Channel 6. "It may even affect rescues receiving low-cost vetting, causing adoption fees to increase and more animals being surrendered to the city shelters."

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One thought on “Texas affordable pet care bill on hold for now

  1. This is ridiculous. Who cares if a Vet wants to offer low-cost services to provide a wide range of services to the GENERAL public. Why in the world does it matter how much money a person makes as to what veterinarian services they require? The only loving being that is going to suffer from a bill like this is the least vocal–the animals. I am a single woman with a full-time salary that I is just above poverty level, but my kitten had a emergency issues on Christmas Eve. I went to a 24-hour vet who even offered to post pictures on Go Fund Me to raise enough money to cover the cost of basic services to care for my animal. As a matter of fact he had yet to even look at my pet before figuring out how much money he was going to be able to wrangle out of me. In tears I begged him to just put my kitten down then so he would not suffer, he had already begun throwing up and I knew he would dehydrate quickly and die slowly. This so called veterinarian still refused any help what so ever. Now tell me, in this little scenario, who had the most to lose. While this guy's beginning bill at this place was over $1000, I left and found another emergency vet still open who charged me $400 for an enema and a shot to stop the vomiting. This bill is going to open the door for this type of price gouging to go full steam ahead. And my kitten would have died a long slow death.

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