How far would I push myself to financial ruin?
I’m teetering on financial ruin as it is. I can afford the routine shots and check-ups, food, litter, and other needs, but if there was a major surgery required or another expensive emergency, I simply wouldn’t have the resources to pay for it. I don’t have a house to put on the line, I don’t have anything of value.
I have kids. As much as I love our two Corgies, there’s no way I’d ask my kids to sacrifice their futures to save them. So no expensive treatments, especially for chronic issues.
For those that don’t have kids, I sort of understand what you’ve been saying about where your pets fit into your lives, even though I find it hard to agree. I hope that you can understand my position on it.
I’d dip into savings SOMEWHAT if there was a good prognosis. We had issues with two cats last winter. They both died, but we went a couple hundred on each, until it was clear they weren’t going to survive. It’s tough, but you work with the vet and you’ll know when to stop.
I love my pets, but Fluffy is not getting a kidney transplant. Ordinary medical care, sure, but I’m not about to spend everything I have to prolong the life of a non-human. I guess I’ve come to realize that pets, however wonderful they are as companions, are only transitory company by design.
Go on, call me a cold hearted bastard.
It would really depend on the situation. While I haven’t had to have a pet put down, I HAVE had to give one up for his own good; I couldn’t care for him properly where I’m living now.
My budget is limited. Very limited. While I can cover routine things like shots – and if you can’t afford the yearly stuff, you can’t afford a pet – I couldn’t afford a vet bill that was over a few hundred, unless said vet was willing to work out a payment plan.
My cat had a bad bout with a urinary tract infection several years ago, the sort where their urethras get blocked completely and they can die, and I dropped about $300 at the vet that week. Afterwards, he was put on special food that costs $10 for a four-pound bag. Ouch. But well worth every penny, since he had no further blockages, and his life was otherwise unaffected. Once they get blocked once there’s always a chance of it happening again, unfortunately, but I kept a very close eye on him when he was peeing. I made it very very clear to the rescue he went to that he had had this problem, and while he was okay, it could conceivably recur, and if it did it was a major emergency.
Had he gotten blocked repeatedly, though, I couldn’t have afforded it, and it’s a horrible condition for them. I’m sure I couldn’t have afforded the worst-case scenario – surgery to remove his penis. (Oh, he’d never have forgiven me THAT!) Unless the vet had taken mercy on me – I’m pretty sure they would have tried – I’d have had to have him put down. I never ever want to see a kitty of mine in that sort of pain again.
But oh, God, I love animals. What is best for them is not always what is good for me, though. Even if I could afford to drop a lot of money on vet bills, I wouldn’t do it unless I was assured that the animal would have very good quality of life afterwards. I haven’t had to make the decision to put one down yet, but I’m sure I will, as much of an animal person as I am.
Wow, this is such a relevant thread for me. My cat Harley was a street rescue and had FIV when I got him. Over the years he’s been diagnosed with megacolon, heart murmur, stomatitis, crystals in his urine, and now a food allergy.
his summer, he couldn’t pee and had to be in the hospital for 5 days. $800. After severe bouts of constipation, he now has a diarrhea problem. Expensive tests have shown that he needs to eat hypoallergenic food. Overall, I’ve spent $1500+ on him, and I know he has a terminal illness that will kill him sooner or later.
I am a humble school teacher, and Harley’s health care has cost me my savings. I’ve had to ask my dad for money, as I suddenly had to move AND put a new transmission in my car in the last 5 months in addition to hospitalizing Harley. I have no regrets about this, since his quality of life is excellent and his love and devote for me are unwavering and rewarding…
…but now I’m told that, if I want him to be comfortable and happy, I have to pull his teeth b/c of the stomatitis. This will cost upwards of $300, and with Christmas and all, I cannot do it. It will have to wait, as he is able to eat and everything. Sigh. So the long answer to your question is, I would go into debt to help my cat, but I cannot do EVERYTHING that he needs because my finances have limits. It’s a judgement call I make every time he gets sick, and luckily for both of is, every time, he’s recovered.
Over the past year and a half, I think I have spent 3 to 4 thousand dollars trying to get my horse into safe riding shape. I’ve easily spent more on vet bills for that horse than I paid for him. Unfortunately, after it all, surgery, joing injections, supplements, he was still not comfortable for what I want him for. But he’s my baby, and I had to try. He’s now semiretired, and is used for teaching people to ride. He was my first horse, and I plan to keep him around and make him the first horse of any children that I have.
And as to how much I would put into him? It would vary by situation, but if they could keep him alive, comfortably, I would pour everything into it.
phraser, the dog’s had a complete neuro workup, with CT, and he’s just got really intractable idiopathic epilepsy. He’s on the max dosages of phenobarb and KBr, and he’s still having major seizure activity on a regular basis. Last night, we injected 4ml of IV Valium (I can never remember the concentration on that one), along with 8 cc of propofol, and 260 mg of phenobarbitol, before the full-blown seizure tapered off to tremors. This poor thing only weighs fifty pounds.
The last time he was in, they finally had to put him on a cri of propofol to stop the seizures, because they’d maxed out the dosages of everything else and he was still going. The bill for that stay was $2000, and what we did for him last night was about $200. Money aside, the prolonged seizure activity has pretty much fried his brain; he still gets around all right but his owners say he’s just not at all the same dog he was at the beginning of the summer.
Our cats get basic routine medical care (shots, spay, flea meds, etc) and when one had a mouth abcess, we got her antibiotics, which cleared it right up.
But my husband and I agree that we will not spend large amounts of money on an animal. Anything that would cost us more to treat than simply replacing the cat isn’t an option.
This may sound cold, but even though I love my kitties, I will love the next one just as much. Unless they have a really outstanding personality or talent (playing the cello?) cats are pretty much all alike.
(look@hergo stands back and ducks, waiting for the rotten tomatoes to fly.)
We rehomed one cat when we left NZ, had one euthanised 
as he was too old to rehome or bring with us and brought two with us. That cost about $400 at a time we were very very broke.
Jim had a kidney infection last year which cost us over $500 to treat. The vet let us pay it off. He’s now on an expensive special diet as is his fat brother, Bob. I don’t know that I would have agreed to treatment if P the Elder had not been in the room when the vet said it was treatable.
Now Jim has diabetes and it’s doubtful we will treat it longterm. I simply do not have the money or the ability to cope with a cat who needs daily injections as I’m already dealing with two kids with special needs. I love my cat but when the time comes, the time comes
CCL, I’ve had 2 epileptic dogs. I’ve have been on a canine epilepsy email list for the last couple of years. We spent a good bit of $$ (nothing like what some of the folks posting here) on my Sasha dog to get the meds right, and she was pretty well controlled on a combination of Pb and Kbr. My Ivan dog was lots easier to control, and he takes a low dosage of Pb every day.
A lot of people on the canine epilepsy list spend lots and lots and lots of $$ on their dogs. They cook for them, buy drugs like Neurontin and rectal valium for stopping clusters, etc. Me, I’m like a lot of folks posting here, though, in that how much I’m willing to spend would depend on the prognosis for the animal. My Sasha dog died in September of a previously undiagnosed hemangiosarcoma on her heart. But if I’d known about it in advance, I don’t think I would have put her through any heroic measures to keep her for another 6 months.
I feel the same way about my own health, btw. I don’t know that I’d want to have a lot of expensive, painful treatments with a relatively small chance of success. Just keep me comfortable and let me go with dignity.
The Canine Epilepsy site her here, btw, just in case it might help.
I remain stunned at what people will put into dying animals. Why, when the juvenile versions are so damn cute?
(and Euthanol (okay, these things are named funny) is so cheap.)
My best friend is a vet, and the local Petco recently spent $400 to have a tumor removed from the head of a finch. The animal survived (good anaesthesia work, Mark !) for about a week after the surgery.
So, we know the pet store doesn’t make economic decisions, either.
I don’t have pets (I travel way too much) so maybe I don’t understand. If it’s painful and hopeless, do the right thing.
I sure wish I’d been able to do that for the last human I watched die horribly in the hospital.
I just had to answer that question a bit more than a month ago. When my 17 year old cat suddenly couldn’t walk or stand up, the vet said she might get better on her own in a few days, it would cost about $500 to keep her there and see if she did. For about a day she seemed to be doing a bit better, but then she started seizing. The prognosis was dramatically different at that point, so the vet told me. If it had been a question of a few more days in the hospital, or regular meds, or surgery that would help her, I would certainly have done it–or tried mightily to afford it, in any event, though I wouldn’t jeopardize my kids.
But though there were more things to be done–CAT scans, and possibly surgery if there had been a brain tumor–they were all not only very expensive but unlikely to do much good, especially considering her age.
I’d hate to say to any life I was responsible for, “well, that’s it, toots. We’re out of money and you’re out of luck.” I’d want to do as much as I could. But if nothing you can do will be much help, there’s no point in doing more than making the poor thing comfortable and saying goodbye, heartbreaking though it is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get a tissue.
I’ve had pets all my life. I accept the fact that they are animals. They are not my children or my siblings. They have a shorter natural lifespan than I do.
I will not spend vast amounts of money in heroic measures to save my animals’ lives. I had a yellow lab who lived to 15 years with insulin-dependent diabetes. I didn’t mind spending the $20 or so every month for his insulin and needles. But if the doc had told me it would cost me, say, $3,000 to keep him alive I would have put him down.
I earned the wrath of a veterinary assistant once. When the Feline Leukemia vaccine was still experimental and expensive, I was asked by the assistant if I wanted my 2 cats immunized. She said it was important to do because they were outdoor cats and were “at risk” for feline leukemia. I said no. “Thanks anyway, but if these two die I can get new kittens just about anywhere for free.” Boy, was she pissed off at me!
Not too far. Yeah the two cats we have are cute. But I can get a new one for free. There are basic costs, have them spayed /neutered, shots etc. but I am not going to go into debt if they get hit by a car or chewed up by a dog, and if the cat is over 10 years old, thats a pretty good run. I’ll just get one that looks the same and name it Sally II.
In the case of my dog, Snoopy, money was never an object. We felt that any treatment that would result in a high quality of life for her was well worth the money. When she was diagnosed with liver cancer at the age of 11, we decided to have her put down. Even then, cost wasn’t the point; she was already miserable (wasn’t eating, had trouble walking, etc.), and any treatment would have only prolonged that existance by a few months. That just wouldn’t have been fair to her.
Since Snoopy’s death, I’ve had several people ask when we’re going to “replace” her. Each time I was asked, it made me furious. My dog was not a material possession to be replaced on a whim, she was a living creature with unique quirks and personality traits that made her an extremely important part of our family. There will be other dogs in our life, but none will be able to duplicate Snoopy.
Fluffy didn’t make it.
Noooo, Fluffy wasn’t worth 5000 dollars…
(George Carlin, I think, correct me if I’m wrong).
For my dogs? I’d go into debt (not sure if I’d go to financial ruin, I guess you’d have to define financial ruin), if it meant saving them and that they would still have a reasonable quality of life.
For instance, it’s going to cost me 150 for the pair to fly to SeaTac from Anchorage, and another 160 from SeaTac to DFW.
A little over half what MY tickets were…
Oh, and 160 for special airline crates. That’s not counting the purchase price for each, the puppy and maintenance shots, the spaying (no it is NOT “spaded” it’s spAYed!! arrrrgggghh), and neutering, the vet visit when one of them got sick and was acting as if she were on her deathbed, but then was perfectly fine (not even a darn doggie fever) when we got to her vet appointment.
And they’re still very young dogs. One is not quite 5 and the other is just 3 months old.
My dog (Bronson) was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy on November 10th. Since then I’ve spent a huge amount of money, vet bills, medication, and food. There is 20kg of dry food in the garage, but he is not very interested in it so I’ve been having to buy tinned dog food, chicken thighs, beef, lamb… basically anything he’d like to eat (since he’s going to die his diet is a non-issue except for foods high in salt, they are banned)
I’m moving house in just over a month, but my power has been cut off as I spent the money for the bill on an echocardiogram for my dog, so I am staying at my mother’s house until the move. I’m eating as cheaply as I possibly can, and I’ve spent almost all of the money I had set aside to buy christmas presents on caring for the dog. There’s still some left, but I’m saving that in case Bronson goes into respiratory distress and I need a house call, or to have him put down, and also to hire the machine to dig a hole big enough for a 50kg (well, actually, 40kg now :() Dobermann in hard clay soil.
OK, so it’s not like I’m close to ruin or bankruptcy… but I would be worried about it if not for the fact that Bronson will probably not even last another 10 days.
Fortunately, the vet has not charged me for a consultation for a few weeks, and last time told me I only need to pay for his medication and x ray films (but not the full cost of an x ray, should he need another one). They drained his abdomen (ascites) at no cost to me yesterday. I’m not sure if they’re just being nice, or if it’s because Bronson charmed them (he does that to everyone) or if it’s because my mother is on the veterinary surgeon’s board in this state (but I doubt that, they are competent, and they’re within their rights to charge me for everything so that shouldn’t be an issue for them)
Whatever the reason, it’s a huge relief to me. But to finally answer the question (in my long winded fashion) I would pay whatever was needed. While the vets are still telling me he does not need to be put down, I will pay whatever it takes to keep him comfortable. I’d spend all my money then borrow some if need be. But while he’s still seeming happy, interested in things and eating well despite the severity of his condition, I will do whatever I can. And spoil him rotten.
Our Boy Kitty sounds a lot like whiterabbit’s cat. When Boy first had the urinary block, Hubby didn’t have a job and we just didnt’ have money for the bill, and the vet put us on payments. By the next blockage, Hubby had gone to work part-time in the vet’s office. So we had the 2nd surgery at cost. Which helped tremendously. And Boy’s now gone 5 more years with no more surgeries.
Basically it’s a quality of life issue, if the expensive treatment will help then I’m for it. If the treatment will only prolong a painful death then no.
I’ve always taken the best care I can of our cats and dogs. They get neutered, they get annual checkups and shots, and a couple of them have had emergency care. I’ve mourned them when they’ve gone.
But they’re just animals. I’ll do what I can to give them good lives and painless passings. I will not dip into savings or eat cereal for a month for any pet. I won’t let them suffer, but they won’t make me suffer either.