How much $$$ would you spend to save your pet?

In My Humble Opinion
21

The question needs to be fixed to match “kid” to “cat”. A kid (a baby or young person) is ~0-20 years old. A cat’s “youth” is roughtly 0-3 years old.

After that it’s roughly 21-45 as middle age, for a cat that’s only 4-8 years depending on breed. Would you really spend $40K saving a 45 year old “kid”? As mean as it sounds I probably would not sell everything I owned to save my sickly kid if the problem wasn’t solvable (as in, genetic defects, not regular injury).
I was lucky with my cat. He lived 18.5 years in relative health. Regular shots and medical visits were only ~$150 a year with end-life medical costs (being put to sleep, cremation etc) at $300. The cost to fix what was wrong with him (impacted bowel) was $1700 but at 18 years old that’s like spending $25000 saving a 105 year old.

22

I never want to prolong a pet’s life ( if they are aging poorly and miserable) if I cannot let go. It isn’t fair at all.

Our dog’s acl’s are not the best and she is not in any pain. She gets around fine and still wrestles with the neighbor’s dog who is younger and heavier. She is my best friend, but one day pretty soon she will be going on her next journey. $1200 per leg for a surgery…on a 9 year old dog…no.

23

I have five rats. Four of them, I paid nothing for. One, I paid $5 for at PetCo.

The $5 feeder rat, I’ve spent $100 on so far between two vet visits. Right after I got her, she started sneezing a lot, and rats get sick and can die very quickly so we took her to the vet. My vet charges $45 for an office exam, but is very knowledgable with rats, so it is worth it. (Good vets that treat them are VERY hard to find.) She turned out to be OK but at least then I knew for sure. I recently had to take her back, and get Revolution for all five of my fuzzbutts, because they contracted some species-specific lice.

How much will I spend? It’s hard to say. Depends on the illness, and whatever is within my means, I suppose. I have done a lot of research, so little things like an absess I can drain and treat at home. I know the dosage amounts for several human medications they can be safely given, to treat temporary problems. If I can’t treat it, and it’s serious, I take them to the vet. But when they get closer to 2 years, and start having things like tumors that require expensive surgery, I will probably just have to let it go and have them put down once their quality of life is obviously suffering. I feel bad about that, but I try to give them the best life I can.

I’m pretty poor (I live on my own with some help from my bf; made about $10k last year), but you know… I have serious problems with depression and really bad anxiety/stress that sometimes makes it hard to work or even keep an outside job where I’m not in control of my environment… and I’ve never tried and can’t afford medical treatment for it. Getting pets is the one thing I have tried that consistently helps with the depression and my stress levels. They are cheaper than the alternatives. So when they need a vet visit, the bf and I just skip the small entertainment budget we allow ourselves, or I see if I can find an extra commission or, last resort, borrow a bit of money from the emergency savings.

I have a lot of people roll their eyes and me and say, “Well, they’re just rats,” but you know… I think you take an animal, you take the best care of it you can within your abilities, not treat it like a throwaway because of its species.

24

We adopted our dog from a no-kill shelter in '97 - she’ll be 9 in April. Our cat adopted us just over 2 years ago - he’s probably around 3.

They both get regular vet care, and I consider that part of our budget. Outside of that, I’d have to think long and hard to spend more than $200-$300. They’re a part of the family, but they are, after all, critters. I don’t want either of them to suffer, and we spoil them, but if either gets really sick or when old Bernie starts to go downhill rapidly, we will let them go in peace. I’d feel better donating a chunk of change to the local shelter rather than spending it on expensive medical bills for a single animal.

Gotta look at the big picture.

25

My oldest dog, Shane, is 11 now. She’s a mutt that I got at a second-hand store. She goes in for routine checks and vaccinations; I don’t have to take her in for dental cleanings because she lets me scale her teeth. She’s got arthritis and thyroid problems, so I already pay out $40/month for prescriptions for her. It cost me well over $500 to find out she needed the thyroid meds in the first place. I took her in a couple of weeks ago for a limp; found out she had sprained her toe and while we were there we did her annual blood screen for her thyroid and to make sure her arthritis meds aren’t messing up her liver–$160 for that visit.

mr.stretch recently got a Golden Retriever puppy (she’s eight months old now). This is his first dog in 20 years (Shane is mine), and my, but he loves her. Jake is already such an important part of mr.stretch’s life that I can’t imagine what he would do without her.

I also recently got a Golden Retriever pup (she’s almost five months). Part of the reason we got Loki was so I would have a dog when Shane does finally go (Jake is not mine :slight_smile: ). The other consideration was that Jake have a companion that could keep up with her as she was plain wearing Shane out.

We also have four housecats. The oldest is almost 10, the youngest is 8. They go for routine vaccinations and checks, etc. None of this bunch of cats has cost too much. Ted had to have some mouth work done a couple of years ago and we still don’t know what caused the problem–$200. The Bad Cat has had to have five teeth pulled because he’s not cooperative so problems are only discovered on vet visits-not that the vet looks forward to seeing him. Max, the youngest, has always had a heart murmur but seems to be okay. Sybil is the feral cat we rescued hasn’t had any problems yet.

So after writing all that, I realized I didn’t answer the question. Here’s the answer: I don’t know what my upper limit would be for treatment for one of my pets–as others have posted, it would depend on the treatment, the quality of life after treatment, the age of the pet, etc.

Pets cost money every day and I’ve agreed to care for my pets to the best of my ability. I don’t feel like I could just say, “Oh, well, this was a free dog. Now she’s costing me $600+ each year is meds and whatnot, besides the food and shelter. And now that it’ll cost $1200 to fix her broken leg*–I didn’t sign up for this shit, down she goes.” Because I actually did sign up for that shit when I got my pets, just like I signed up for that shit when I had kids. The prognosis would have to be dire or the quality of life would have to be significantly impaired for me to not have my pets treated for something if I could figure out a way to swing it financially. Now that the kids are all grown, I can better afford this attitude.

Ten years ago when my beloved cat came down with kitty AIDS and there was nothing that could be done except watch him die and hope he didn’t infect the other cats, I had him put down. Prognosis=dire, no treatment. When my daughter’s dachshund broke her leg, it cost me $800–there was no question about getting her treated (even though mr.stretch hated that dog). Quality of life after treatment=unimpaired, she was treated.

*or whatever cost for whatever treatment

26

I’ll have to second FairyChatMom. I love the cat, she’s been a good companion for the last nine years, and Fang thinks the world revolves around her, but at the end of the day… she’s just a cat.

Eventually, all pets will have the poor taste to die on you. I cannot justify spending hundreds of dollars on the cat when it could go to better use for the rest of the family.

27

I’m a certified animal lover, but not one to spend money on them.
They should have a natural life and death that doesn’t call for heroic doctoring.
Whenever people tell me they spent five grand to give a dog a hip replacement, I can only think how many poor children need something simple like innoculations that they aren’t getting because we don’t value human life enough.

This is called looking at the big picture. The Humane Society has dogs that “need” hip replacements, but when the time comes that is weighed against keeping a few hundred adoptable dogs a few days longer.

28

I don’t care whether they’re rats or not. I just think that if you can’t afford foreseeable medical bills for an animal, you shouldn’t get one in the first place, especially if you’re someone who can’t let an animal go when it’s going to be a financial burden.

29

I suspect there may be a large gulf between city dwellers and country folk on this whole issue. I live in the city now, but grew up in the country. Our pets’ trips to the vet were few and far between when I was a kid. That was partly because we were reasonably good at treating animals ourselves, and partly because we were jaded. You live in the country, you see death all the time (both wild animals and domestic, from all manner of causes), and maybe you become a little fatalistic about it.

30

I don’t buy this. If the pet owners choose not to spend that $5000 on their pet, what makes you think they’re going to give it to a children’s charity?

We chose not to pursue aggressive cancer treatment with my dog. She was nearly 12 years old; the cancer had started in her liver, and had spread drastically by the time the vet school diagnosed it. She spent two nights in the ICU; total costs (including the euthanasia) were over $3000. I feel that this was still worth it; I know that she was comfortable during her last days and not in any pain.

31

I spent over $1000 just under a year ago to help fix my ailing kitty who had swallowed a needle and thread (a good amount of that was for the abdominal surgery; x-rays showed her intestines were bunched up, which meant that they might have had thread wrapped around them. Turns out, it was something else that caused the bunching, and it was taken care of, and we won’t have to worry about it causing a problem in the future).

Kitty was 10 months old and my boyfriend and I are totally in love with her. There was no way we would not have paid to make her better, especially since it was our fault the needle/thread was within reach in the first place.

If it had been a 15-year-old cat, or a cat with a terminal illness, that would have been another story. But this was a sword-swallowing kitty who’d already had more than her fair share of life trauma, and we love her to pieces. Luckily, someone here recommended Care Credit, since at the time I didn’t have $1000 lying around. I paid it off in 5 months.

32

I’ve had to make this decision only once before, nearly twenty years ago, when I thought that spending $200 or so on the family cat was a waste of money. But then, I’m not really a pet person.

33

Well, yeah. When they are sick I find a way to take them to the vet or care for them myself if possible. Some ailments are pretty easy to treat at home if you do your research. Two of my rats came from pretty bad conditions (previous owner) just the fact that they have room to turn around now and get fed healthy food is a vast improvement. I do everything within my means to take the absolute best care of them, including mixing their food myself (low cal/protein dog food + mix of grains and stuff that’s actually cheaper than buying the crappy petstore food anyway.)

But when they start getting tumours and old, I’m going to have to let them go, because I really can’t afford $150+ a rat removing multiple tumours… once they start getting them, they usually reoccur. Most rats make it to three years old if they get really really lucky, so it’s not like giving them expensive surgeries extends their life all that much, anyway.

34

I would, but only because the cost of having an animal euthanized can be that expensive anyway ($145, IIRC, for my dog). Might as well lay down the extra $55 and hope for the best.

I don’t remember what my limit was but it wasn’t just, “Meh, I don’t really feel like spending all that cash on a freakin’ dog.” It was about expense, yes, but it was also about the quality of Sunny’s health even after treatment and, in this case, it didn’t seem worth it.

So my answer is “It depends”.

35

My cat is my closest friend. Even reading this thread has me close to tears. And I rarely cry. I would spend as much as I could if it meant keeping my friend.

36

Like many people, I’d have to weigh the age and condition of the animal before I made the decision. That being said, I’ve never, in 43 years of having animals (cats, dogs, horses) made the decision to euthanize based on finances. I have a 13-15 year old german shepherd who is getting obviously older. I have to feed special food to keep him eating. When he was recently sick I sat beside him feeding him from my hand.

I’m fortunate that my vet knows my financial condition and vastly undercharges me for services rendered. When my airedale was hit by the mailman recently she stabilized the dog, treated for shock, did stitches and took x-rays all for $60.

StG

37

That’s a hell of a nice vet.

As for me I haven’t hit an upper limit yet ( and actually I don’t currently have a pet - there’s an unofficial no-pet clause at my place, unofficial because my landlord forgot to add that line in my lease or even mention it, but I am the only one he forgot ). But I spent a couple of grand on my previous cat of 17 years to remove a leg after she developed a fibrosarcoma and the vets assured me that she was otherwise in the pink and the chance of it being curative and uncomplicated was very high. In retrospect it was a bad bet as she died of a heart attack while coming out of anaethesia a few months later ( she was having an abscessed tooth removed ).

I don’t regret it, though. I could afford it ( with some wincing, but nonetheless ) and she did recover nicely and seemed to be still enjoying life and getting along fine on three legs. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought it was likely her quality of life would have been compromised ( she was 17 afterall - I didn’t want her doing something as agonizing as chemo ).

So how much? A couple of grand at least, depending on circumstances, because I can. But I certainly wouldn’t sell my car or a kidney.

  • Tamerlane
38

Not sure. I have 2 hobo cats that I got as kittens. One is 10 years old and the other is 15 years old. Neither of them shows signs of slowing down and they don’t cost anything to maintain. I think I spent $100 for some minor work on the older cat and both of them were neutered as kittens.

I might spend $1000 on one of them but I would factor in age and quality of life for the cat.

39

Interesting question…

Our yellow lab puppy got sick and the bills really added up. It’s never like “it will cost $x000 to save your pet”, from my experience.

When we had our puppy at the vet, they did X-rays, which was around $350. Then they still didn’t know. Then we bought some antibiotics and special dog food, another $50.

Then she still was not better, so she needed a basic blood test, and they gaver her some sterroids. Another $350.

Then they thought they had the problem narrowed down and had to do a specific blood test. Another $350.

Then they did a barium test to check for blockages, another couple hundred smackers.

Several vets never did know exactly what ailed her. I am certain though, that the IV and drugs they gave her to feel better did save her life. I am nearly positive that she would have died had we not taken her in, simply due to dehydration.
End result is we spent about $1500 that week, and today we still have our happy, healthy puppy, and she has been fine ever since (this was about 6 months ago). It was a really long week and we spent a lot of cash, but everytime I get home and see her spring out with her tail wagging to great me, my wife and I both think it was worth it.

40

If I knew my cat would recover, and still be happy- a couple thousand.