Since most people claim that Pets are part of their family I have a question.
If your child was sick and it was going to cost you 20 grand out of your own pocket to save him you would pay it even if it meant selling everything you owned, right?
My first dog died because we couldn’t afford a surgery that was a few 100 dollars and although we all considered the Dog a family member nobody wanted to spend* that * much money on it.
What would be the cut off as far as money goes that you would spend to save your pet?
Would you sell something you owned to save your dog or cat?
Over the years, I’ve spent a few thousand dollars each, to save two of my cats. One of my current ones is turning 17 soon, and has health problems, so I’ll probably be faced with the same question in the near future.
I have no idea what my “upper limit” is, since I’ve never reached it. But it would depend on many factors, such as what kind of treatment is recommended, what are its chances of success, and of course the pain or discomfort of the animal. Not to mention my financial situation.
In both cases, the cat eventually had to be euthanized, but I have no regrets about keeping them alive and happy as long as possible.
But it’s really not fair to compare this to someone with a sick child. I can’t imagine a parent not willing to sacrifice anything and everything to keep a child alive. The time for “letting go” is way farther for a child than for a pet.
We have two outdoor-only cats. Their job is control the mice and rodent population around the perimeter of the house. They’re basically tools, not pets. Because of this, I would not spend any amount of money to “save” them. Cats are free, and if one of them dies, I’ll just get a replacement.
I spent $1200 I didn’t have to keep one alive last month. See my pit thread “On the third day of christmas…”.
I had to take out a “Care Credit” loan to do it. The limit is $5k, and at the time, my wife and I would have maxed it out if that’s what it took to save Ziggy. Thank Og it didn’t.
At least it’s interest free for 12 months :rolleyes:
I dread the day that my vet says, “I can save him but its going to cost $3K”. Because I’da say, “see ya Buddy” and it would not be a pretty picture with the wife.
Of course for this question, there’s no “correct” answer. A few thousand dollars isn’t much money to some people, and a few hundred can be a LOT to some people.
And, $2K on a 12 year old dog with a lot of problems is different than $2K on a 4 year old dog who hurt his leg. I also figure that a dog who makes it to 10 years old has already won. I’d pause at spending much on a dog that old.
At some point, you need to realize that it’s just a pet. Anything over a thousand, I think I’d really start evaluating how much his quality of life would improve and how much time he has left.
That said, just last Friday, I paid $600 to have my dog’s ACL repaired (they call it a CCL in a dog). That included an overnight stay. He’s about 6 and is pretty active. I’ve been calling him Tripod ever since the surgery.
But, I’d never fault anyone for saying, “$200 is too much, why don’t you put him down.”
It would totally depend on what I could reasonably afford and the age of the pet.
Fifteen year old cat with serious health problems that’ll cost thousands to treat? Time to go to that big Scratching Post in the Sky, Fluffy.
Beloved kitten of my adorable 4 year old daughter and it has a weird bacterial infection that’ll cost a coupla hundred to clear up? We’d probably find a way to swing it, because Mommy’s not very good at explaining death yet.
I don’t know what my upper limit would be, but I think I’d start asking lots of questions past the $500 point unless I had money to burn. I definitely wouldn’t go into debt over that amount.
This is why I don’t have pets, I can’t afford to properly take care of them. People shouldn’t take on furbabies unless they can afford regular vet bills, at the very least.
Over $10,000 on a horse eleven years ago. She’s still going strong at age 28, so I consider it money well spent. It totally depends on the quality of life I think they’ll have afterward.
I believe $500-$750 would be my limit, and even then, only if it were a young animal. Most pets don’t live very long, and there’s a pretty low limit on how much I’d be willing to spend to extend their lives. Of course it’s easy for me to say that now, because I don’t currently have a pet. I can imagine that emotions might take over if I had, say, a good and loyal dog with a pricey health problem.
Would I sell something I own to save an animal? Probably. (Bearing in mind the spending limit I mention above.)
We probably dropped $5K-$6K in one month on one of our cats last year, and it only bought her another 11 months or so before we had to have her put down.
IMHO? Totally worth it. Damn, I loved that cat.
Oh, and our other cats are now insured with Pet Plan.
A friend of mine hit a dog that ran in front of his car. He took the injured animal to a local vet and left it there. Sometime later the vet rang him to tell him that the dog’s owners would not pay the bill and didn’t want the injured dog back. Chris paid the bill, about $1600 from memory, and arranged a new home for the dog that wasn’t even his.
This was back before we could afford it, you understand…
About $750 for a dog. She’d swallowed a pipecleaner and it was chewing her up inside. Not pretty.
And, once upon a time, $120 for cancer surgery for a pet mouse. Poor thing. The surgery itself wasn’t so bad (in fact I think the vet, who was a specialist in exotics, was amused) but the two ounces of mouse blood was a bitch to acquire. Apparently there are blood banks. Who knew?
I spend hundreds of dollars every year in routine veterinary care for my animals. They get regular checkups annually and visits when they’re feeling a little under the weather.
I wouldn’t have a problem spending money on treatments for non-terminal illnesses or injuries. If my dog broke a leg, for example, he’d get the treatment he needed.
But if I found out he had cancer, well, that’s a different story. No way would I spend a few grand to treat a terminal disease in a critter. I’d make sure he enjoyed life as much as possible and was as comfortable as I could make him, but that’s pretty much as far as it goes.
Like Crafter_Man, we also have a couple of cats that have adopted the henhouse as their quarters. I’m happy they’re around, because I don’t have any more trouble with rats getting at the chicken’s feed. But if one of 'em got ill or injured, well, they’re outta luck. Medical care is expensive and kittens are free.
I just spent $900 to have our adopted dog’s anal sacks removed and teeth cleaned. The anal sacks where clogging up and would not release naturally, so it was kind of a quality of life thing(for all of us ).
That’s a tough question. I don’t know if there’s a set dollar limit.
Routine vet care and maintenance is already factored in my regular budget. So I’ve never had to decide whether or not I have money to get regular vaccinations, etc.
For unexpected expenses, I pretty much pay any amount up to the point where it really starts to hurt. “Really hurting” means it costs more than I can make up for by reasonable scrimping in other areas or taking on realistic debt. When it does start to really hurt, it would probably depend on the age of the animal and how much good life they could expect. I don’t know that I’d go as far into debt for a 12 year old dog as I probably would for a 6 year old dog. It’s not that I love one more. Instead, the 12 year old dog could probably expect more problems in a short time and I’d see this as the start of the animal’s decline.
My horse currently has major medical insurance, so I won’t have to face that question while she’s still insured (IIRC coverage stops at age 15, so I’ve got a few years left). It’s tougher with the dogs. I’d love to go into the vet and say “save my darling and spare no expense.” Unfortunately, my funds are finite and there comes a point where I wouldn’t sacrifice any more for a dog with only a year or so left anyway. I’d tighten my belt and cut out luxeries without a second thought. But I wouldn’t, for example, go into debt that I couldn’t pay off in a reasonable time frame (for me, that’s probably two years YMMV).
The dollar amount would depend on how much disposable income I had. But I would be willing to spend most of my disposable income on treatment that had a high likelihood of a good outcome, provided it wouldn’t be excessively stressful for the pet. Depending on the situation, I might go the CareCredit option. I would absolutely not, under any circumstances, go to lengths that would endanger the whole family’s financial well-being. I wouldn’t do it if it was just me and the critter, and I most certainly won’t do it when I have my husband and a houseful of other pets to consider.
Funny this question should come up today. In ten minutes, I’m going to pick up Doggie2U from the vet - she had surgery yesterday and the total to fix her is upwards of $1,400. We didn’t think twice when we got her “estimate” - she’s a part fo our family. She has also cost more than any vehicle I have ever owned.
I knew I’d probably be facing this at some point. I know a lot of people set up Animal Emergency savings accounts, but I’m too stupid with money for that. So, I signed up for pet care insurance through these guys: http://www.petcareinsurance.com/can/cat/master/index.asp
I pay $19.95/month and they give me $2,500 in coverage for 6,000 illness and accident coverage. Not sure if I’ll ever need it, but by signing up before the cat turns 7, they can’t kick me off the coverage once he starts to get older.
I’d have a hard time not paying any amount to fix my cat. He’s my best friend.
Second/third/fourth what others have said - I’d spend what I could depending on the age of the animal, likely outcome, what I could afford, and how hard I’d find it to explain to the kids.
Last year, I spent 140.00 on a vet visit for a guinea pig. Part of that was guilt: something startled him while I was holding him, and did a one-and-a-half-gainer on his way to a face-first encounter with the hardwood floor. He was breathing funny, and bleeding from his mouth (turns out he’d knocked his front teeth loose, and had fluid in his lungs). I didn’t want to have to explain to the kids that I’d broken their guinea pig, so off to the vet we went.
