Quote:
Originally Posted by Miniata
This sums up the feelings my wife and I have on the issue very well. Several years ago our 7 year old Saint Bernard had gastric torsion,(basically her stomach/intestines were twisted around). Vet said the surgery for it would cost $2500 and had a 50% chance of success. It was one of the most difficult decisions we've ever made to have her put down, but weighing the cost, her age, and risk factors, I believe we made the correct choice. Had the vet said there was a 80-90% chance of success, we may have let our emotions sway us.
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I feel for you, we went through the same thing.
We had a beautiful 6 year old Collie named Tess. She looked exactly like Lassie, only a little bigger. One day, she just totally stopped eating. The Vet said it appeared she may have swallowed something large (like a piece of clothing, which apparently isn't unusual for collies). He said the surgery would be around $3500 and there were no guarantees.
We agonized over it for quite some time but with at that point $3500 and we just couldn't swing it with young children and my wife being a stay-at-home Mom.
When we told the Vet, a member of their office offered to pay for the surgery (at what I am sure was 99.9% discount) if they could have her for their parents who had just the week before lost a similar dog who had a heart attack playing Frisbee (I kid you not).
Of course, we said YES. Sadly, it turned out Tess hadn't swallowed something but had a large tumor. She died on the table because the tumor was to invasive to remove.
That whole event was a huge roller coaster ride for the entire family. Fortunately we didn't tell the kids about the possible save, so they only had to go through the pain once.