How I turned my pet’s emergency vet bills into a free night in London

Pet parenthood is one of life’s most fulfilling experiences, but as many pet parents will tell you, it can also be one of the most expensive. While I’d do anything in the world to ensure my dog’s health and safety without hesitation, it often takes a pretty penny — even with a pet insurance policy in place.

That’s the situation I found myself in this past December when my pup needed emergency care while traveling. Here’s how using the right credit card in an unfortunate situation helped me earn thousands of additional points and ease a bit of the financial sting.

The emergency

The day before I planned to leave on a pet-friendly road trip, my dog, Stevie, developed a serious-looking limp. I brought her to my local emergency vet, who immediately noticed one of her toes was swollen. Thinking the issue was orthopedic, the vet ordered X-rays, and nearly $700 later, I had a prescription for a pain reliever, confirmation that there was no fracture and the all-clear to head out on the trip.

Unfortunately, two days after leaving home, Stevie’s entire leg had swelled up, and a second emergency vet trip — this time to an animal hospital along our road trip route — confirmed that it was seriously infected. After prescribing several more medications and a cone of shame, the vet scheduled an emergency drainage procedure for the following day, and costs quickly escalated.

Unfortunately, the emergency vet visits didn’t end there. After the procedure, we had to bring Stevie in three more times for dressing changes and wound care. The fact that we were on the move as part of our road trip, coupled with the difficulty of securing a vet appointment, meant that those visits happened at three different clinics, and establishing care as a new patient each time wound up pushing costs higher than they would have been if we had been returning to the same clinic for follow-up appointments.

Thankfully, the infection fully cleared after about four weeks of antibiotics — but not before racking up bills well into the four-figure range.

Related: The best credit cards for pet expenses

Using the right cards

I’ve had the Chase Freedom (no longer available to new applicants) in my wallet for years, and more recently, I added the Chase Freedom Flex® by downgrading a different Chase card. Both the Freedom and Freedom Flex offer the opportunity to earn 5% cash back (or 5 points per dollar) on up to $1,500 of spending in rotating quarterly bonus categories (after activation). And because my husband also has a Freedom Flex, we can collectively earn bonus points on up to $4,500 in spending each quarter.

As luck would have it, last quarter’s bonus categories included pet shops and veterinary services for the first time since TPG began tracking them back in 2012. Between the vet visits on the road and some follow-up appointments at home — plus multiple rounds of antibiotics and a slew of other medications for pain, inflammation and anxiety — I was able to max out the bonus on all three cards, earning 5 points per dollar on $4,500 of spending for a grand total of 22,500 points.

The information for the Chase Freedom has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Related: Chase Freedom Flex card review: Incredible earning with no annual fee 

That’s a sum far higher than I would have earned had I not used the Freedom and Freedom Flex cards. When not working toward a sign-up bonus, I typically use my Chase Freedom Unlimited® at the vet to earn 1.5% cash back (or 1.5 points per dollar). In this case, doing so would have resulted in just 6,750 points — a difference of 15,750 points.

Redeeming the points

The Freedom and Freedom Flex are advertised as cash-back cards, meaning they don’t offer the ability to transfer points to Chase’s airline and hotel partners. Thankfully, there’s a workaround. If you have another Chase card that earns fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points — such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card — you can combine the rewards from your Freedom cards with those in your other accounts, instantly unlocking the potential to transfer them and substantially increasing their value.

As a self-professed hotel fanatic, I wind up transferring a good portion of my Chase points to World of Hyatt for free hotel stays, which is where my recent Chase Freedom haul ultimately went. Not long after the ill-fated road trip, I began planning my next getaway: a long weekend in London this April. For this trip, I chose the Great Scotland Yard Hotel, part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, based on its walkability to major sites and shopping.

The 22,500 Chase points from the vet bills put me just shy of the 25,000 points needed to cover the first night of my stay, which would have otherwise cost 384 pounds — or about $484 based on current conversion rates — for World of Hyatt members. The redemption rate came out to 1.94 cents per point, which is slightly below the 2.05 cents per point that Chase Ultimate Rewards are worth, according to TPG’s February 2025 valuations. But in this case, I was more than happy to sacrifice a little potential value for the chance to cut down my travel spending after an expensive couple of months.

Related: How to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value

Bottom line

Surprise expenses are never fun, especially when it comes in the form of a medical emergency. But a simple credit card swap can greatly amplify your rewards-earning potential, helping you turn unexpected bills into your next vacation. Even a no-annual-fee card such as the Chase Freedom Flex can rack up substantial rewards when used to its full potential, making it all the more important to have the right tools in your wallet — and the knowledge to deploy them effectively.