That is very true, do far this year we are at roughly 3.5k in insurance claims. A failed castration on our 40kg goldador that went necrotic internally, I forced the vets hand by refusing to take him home as he went down 3 times on way into vets(this was 7 days after the castration and him being checked by them daily), his ex ball sack became bigger than it ever was and turned into an abscess, they claimed it was just fluid and refused to drain it because it would allow bacteria in. Long story short I had him taken in but drove him to our local vets(from other place, same vets but no hospital at that one, same group if you follow) chief vet was waiting for me when I arrived, she examined him and I said that other vet said he couldn't be operated on until swelling had gone, she said"that's not going away, he needs emergency surgery now", she took him down personally at 4.10pm, phoned me at 7pm to tell me what she had found, worst case she had ever seen she said and her speciality was surgical intervention, I never want to go through anything like that again, she didn't think she was going to be able to close him up because of all the dead tissue inside, ended up with an internal 8 inch scar and same externally, he was very lucky and now you wouldn't know anything had happened to him. Loves going to the vets and seeing all his friends, the staff adored him. 2.5 hours he was in surgery. I'm glad that at least the 1 vet was truly exceptional at her job, lovely woman to boot. But yes, vet bills are a joke really.