Q: Fiscal prudence when caring for a sick pet?

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by alan.chalkley

Here in australia we buy medical insurance for our dogs and it pays for most of those unexpected treatments.

It's available in the US, although I don't think very widely purchased. I've not seen a huge cost benefit to it frankly. It's (relatively) expensive and is typically not much better than self-insuring unless you have an event where I would question that the treatment is worth the effort and the pain.

[cdrazic93]

$300 for an xray? Damn you guys have good vets. My mom took my goldendoodle to the vet the other day to renew his presecription and get a checkup. All said and done it was a $350 bill. I was like the f*ck? You double charge us or something??

[Mikko]

Ok I might be too sentimental about my dogs but I have had them for 7 and 8 years at the moment so $1K limit (what many are suggesting) seems a bit cruel to me.

Well, I don't have any kids so the perspective isn't probably the same but my personal limit would be somewhere +$8k if the dog has as much as 10 years left. Hell, I might even sell my car for a dog.

(We have insurance for both of our dogs which costs approx. $700 per year (for both))

EDIT: Most of the typos

[Giccin]

Originally Posted by rs999

She is at the vet now getting X-Rays. Nothing is broken according to the doctor so there may be a tear in something in that leg.

But I hear you on the 5K. I'm not loaded but I am middle class enough to buy a FR-S as a fun weekend car.

All I could hear as the doctor was talking to me was cash registers ringing. BTW, her X-Rays were $300 and I didn't even blink.

Wow. Those X-rays cost more than regular "human" X-ray costs. rofl wtf.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Mikko

...my personal limit would be somewhere +$8k if the dog has as much as 10 years left. Hell, I might even sell my car for a dog.
...

And I think that is OK, if you can afford it. It's your money I say go for it.

For me though, its just too much. If a dog needs that much medical attention, it is in some serious kind of hurt. I'd be just as afraid I was spending it to heal my hurt and not considering the dog's suffering.

You got to know when enough is enough, but that is an individual decision.

My father-in-law (FiL), for example, lost a miniature poodle recently that had been with him for over 15 years, and had been his constant companion through some very bad health issues. He literally loved that dog as much as any of his children.

The poor dog could barely move, was half-blind, and received about $300 a month in various medications (including insulin). It finally took his Vet saying that he was doing the dog no favors to let it go when it had a seizure. Afterwards, we found out that they had spent almost $20,000 on the dog during the last 5 years of its life, one ailment at a time.

I would never say this to him (actually I did say this to him every time he asked my opinion on it), but my FiL basically kept that dog alive for selfish interests, and he spent a good chuck of money he didn't have in the process of doing it. You could see the pain in the face of the poor guy (the dog, not my FiL).

My FiL would tell you it was worth every penny, and that's OK. It's just not a choice I would make. At the end of the day, the puppy had a nonexistent quality of life for at least 1/3 of his life, and my FiL still had to go through the pain of losing the dog after $20,000 or more.

[Mikko]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

You got to know when enough is enough, but that is an individual decision.

Thats true, I read your story and understand your point.

Might sound weird but I think it's kinda same with humans too, you wouldn't spend all of your money to keep your 96 years old grandma alive if it would give her only couple painful hospital years more but you would spend that money without blinking an eye if it would give 70 more years to your daughter who is fighting with cancer.

If you love your dog and he/she still has most of his/her life left, do anything you can within the limits you can afford and what is reasonable for dog's well-being. That is the most your dog will ever expect from you.

[rs999]

Originally Posted by Giccin

Wow. Those X-rays cost more than regular "human" X-ray costs. rofl wtf.

I'm still waiting on the results but the vet thinks my dog may have an ACL tear in her right rear leg.

I want to see if she'll be fine after two weeks of prescribed crate rest.

But I'm thinking that at only 3 years old I still have another 10 years of life from her so spending a some money on her knees isn't such a bad thing:

[jeffchap]

That pic alone is worth another $1000. Offhand, I'd probably draw the line at around $3000. Any more than that, and I'm taking away from what I can provide to my children. I love my dog, but my kids come first.

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[Miniata]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Having grown up in a very rural area where we raised a lot of our own food (chickens/pigs/cows/etc), I probably have a skewed view from some but here goes.

I love my dogs, they are always family members and I always form a tight bond with them. That said, I will not spend more on treatment for them than I consider reasonable. That changes depending on my own financial situation, but right now it would be about $1,000 for any single incident, and maybe $100 or so for monthly treatment of "treatable and curable" disease.

I am not going to give a pet chemo treatments, insulin treatments (yes, I know someone that does that) or other extreme measures. Two reasons, it makes no financial sense, and it makes no sense to put the dog through that pain. It's a quality of life thing.

I'll be there for them at the end, and will cry when they are gone, I'll miss them, and then move on to the next pet to bring into the pack.

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.

[Dadhawk]

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.

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.

[Superhatch]

My wife and I had a ACD that broke it's leg and we decided to spend 6K on his surgery (broken in 7 places, pins, plate etc) and he was worth every penny. I've had both knees done on my MinPin due to injuries.

For me, unless it's a decision on a complicated surgery near end of life it's part of what you signed on for when you decided to care for the life of this other animal.

The best advice I have is that if any surgery is needed there are loan services for the procedure with 0% interest for the first year, and very low interest afterwards. These are available through your vet, but not many people know about them as an option. Something to consider.

Lastly, there are people who will foster, and adopt animals that are in need of surgery. Putting down a young dog should be a last, last, last, last, last, last resort.

[rs999]

Good news from the vet last night, after examining the X-rays, the dog only has a strain in her leg.

After two weeks of crate rest and anti inflammatories, she should be in better condition.

Thank God no surgery was required

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by rs999

Good news from the vet last night, after examining the X-rays, the dog only has a strain in her leg.

After two weeks of crate rest and anti inflammatories, she should be in better condition.

Thank God no surgery was required

Great news!

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Superhatch

My wife and I had a ACD that broke it's leg and we decided to spend 6K on his surgery (broken in 7 places, pins, plate etc) and he was worth every penny. I've had both knees done on my MinPin due to injuries.

For me, unless it's a decision on a complicated surgery near end of life it's part of what you signed on for when you decided to care for the life of this other animal.

The best advice I have is that if any surgery is needed there are loan services for the procedure with 0% interest for the first year, and very low interest afterwards. These are available through your vet, but not many people know about them as an option. Something to consider.

Lastly, there are people who will foster, and adopt animals that are in need of surgery. Putting down a young dog should be a last, last, last, last, last, last resort.

It's great that you are willing and able to make that choice, but everyone has a limit. That is a life impacting amount of money for some, for others its not. Everyone has a different limit, your threshold is just higher than mine. For example, your threshold is 7x mine. Would you have done it if it had been $49,000 (7x what you spent)? Some might. A man's got to know his limitations!


Also, I would definitely never borrow money for a pet regardless of the situation, but again personal choice.


As far as the foster/adopt, I absolutely agree that is a great option if available, and as mentioned above have actually used that, as well as been on the other side of it (adopted "needy" pets and contributed to their care).