I have a thread in GQ about a procedure called Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) for the family dog. Around here, it will cost $3500 for my dog to have this done. There is a 30% chance he will need to have a second operation on his other back knee. Quite frankly, I don’t have $7k to spend on my dog.
What would you spend on a family pet?
Parse that however you want, including age, chances of success, etc. Would you ever let the stress it would put into your financial situation enter into your thoughts? Would you just find a way to pay for it and let the cost be damned?
In my case, the dog is relatively young (6) and is strong and healthy otherwise. As a family pet, I’m really the only one that pays any attention to him. The rest of the family wouldn’t really be all that upset if he were to be put down. Others in the GQ thread expressed that putting the dog down would be their option. I’ll find a way to come up with the $3.5k, but I don’t think I’d go beyond that.
I ended up spending over $800 a couple of years ago to save my stepdaughter’s cat. I normally wouldn’t have spent that much, but it’d cost over $200 to find out what was wrong with it.
We spent close to $2K to remove Missy’s tumors almost two summers ago. It’d been her third operation in the past 4-5 years. There were complications in this instance – one being her age (she’s 14, quite elderly for a malamute), the other discovering there were more tumors than previously diagnosed. It took almost a week for the anesthesia to completely wear off ::shudder:: The oncologist warned us there was no guarantee the tumors wouldn’t return, and, if such was the case, to think long and hard before subjecting her to another operation.
No new tumors that we know of, but her dysplasia and arthritis have accelerated with a vengence. She also has the canine equivalent of multiple sclerosis, which is untreatable. Going the very pricey holistic/alternative route may bide her some time, but again, no guarantee.
I’m an animal lover. Any pet of mine would receive treatment, no matter the cost. It’s only when a condition would be considered irreversible and/or age when I would pause, as we are with Missy right now. One of our more heated disagreements is Missy’s continued care. My husband is no-holds-barred when it comes to her continuing care – if there was a mega dollar operation to correct her canine MS, then by golly, he’d get the money by hook or crook.
Me? I’d be more inclined to agree with him if it weren’t for her age and her already problematic medical history.
It’s a difficult decision. But I think on one level you’ve already made up your mind. BTW, one my friend’s dogs had the operation you described – he came out of it with flying colors
My Shiba Inu has allegies, we pay for animal dermatology visits and serum shots, etc. I don’t know the $$ total off the top of my head, but it wouldn’t matter. She’s my kid.
Money is just money. You can lose it all, you can get more. Money is neither dependent on you nor has it a health and well-being to be of your concern. Money has no room in the discussion; it’s of no importance at all.
You must weigh it against all other things in your life. Money has intrinsic value and you don’t need to always consider the pet’s life only against a big screen TV. Sometimes it might mean putting that money away for a child’s education or to provide a loved one with medical care of their own or something else invaluable. This could easily outweigh an extra six months of painful life for a dog.
You have to personally weigh what else you would do with that money and weigh it against the fate of the dog. I mean really segregate it. If you are just going to piss it away on coffee and potato chips then it may be worth it to make the dog healthy and to make yourself and your family feel more comfortable. Otherwise, you might want to take a part of that money and form a doggie memorial fund to help others in ways that will more directly benefit the recipients.
Everyone and everything dies. It is up to you how best to risk the costs and benefits up to your personal values.
Mine is into me for about $300 a year for routine maintanance and random illness and injury. I would have to think long and hard around $1000 and consider value of life with and without treatment. Most of the people I associate with (the owners of the puppy convention that meets outside my door every evening) pay a hundred or more per pet per year for routine things like vaccinations and dentals and etc. and pay up to $1000 for illnesses that have good chances of recoveries and/or prevent future complications. I don’t think I could spend 3500 on her, even though she is cute.
Depends on how old the dog is. I’ll spend up to $500. That’s assuming the post op care isn’t going to cost me a fortune.
Otherwise, it’s cheaper to just have the dog put down and go adopt on from your local humane society.
My cats? If they can’t get over whatever ails them with a couple of pills or a shot; Bye, bye to kitty. I’ll just go find another one for free.
MY logic is; I try to look at the “Bigger Picture”. Why funnel all that money into a dog or cat that’s probably had a fairly good run anyway? There are more younger and needy pets out there.
That’s why I’ve never bought a pet in my life. I’ve always adopted.
This influence comes from my Mother who own’s and runs a Kennel.
However, SHE would go bankrupt before she let one of her Labs take a dirt nap.
A couple of years ago, my Bobbie developed cancer in her sinuses. I was underemployed and could barely pay my bills, but I made sure I had the cash for the diagnosis and treatments to make her comfortable, which came to about 500. The vet mentioned that taking her to Purdue for surgery might buy her a few months, but she might not survive the surgery, and it would cost a couple thousand. Given she was 14 years old, and had some other ailments, I chose to make her comfortable and happy for her remaining days, rather than put her through the trauma of surgery. She died in my arms Aug. 27, 2004. The decision was about her quality of life, not so much the cash. She was the bestest dog ever.
My dog Joplin has some tumors, and he’s 10. Surgery is an option, and he’ll get treatment as long as he is happy and his quality of life isn’t diminished. Nor do I want my own quality of life to diminish – meaning I’m not going to the poorhouse for his vet bills. I don’t think that’s selfish, just realistic. If it’s his time, he’ll die in my arms, peacefully and (hopefully) without pain.
If you want a number, probably 2,000 in that range would be as much as I could afford. Over that, I’d see if I could do a deal with the vet if the prognosis was good that he’d pull through and enjoy a similar quality of life as before the treatment.
I’ve actually paid for surgery on one of my dog’s legs before (this was years ago when I wasn’t near as comfortable financially…and the dog has since died passing at the ripe old age of 13) and she continued to have a troubled-limp for months afterwards but eventually it got much better and she was relatively healthy for 5 more years until she died.
I’d spend a lot of my money to save a pet, I really love my dogs. I wouldn’t spend so much, that, if I had a family it would become a huge detriment to their quality of life. Since it’s just me, I’d not mind going through hard times financially for awhile if it meant saving my dogs life. I wouldn’t lose home or drastic quality of life either (wouldn’t live without utilities and such.)
You wouldn’t believe the amount of money we have spent in the last year on veterinary treatment for a pet rabbit. It has run to several thousand dollars. I don’t know the exact total because I think if I knew it I would freak (my wife has handled all of this).
For me it’s a lot less about how much something costs than the risk/benefit ratio. I would pay for an expensive and difficult surgery for a dog that is young and otherwise healthy if the surgery had a high probability of restoring a good quality of life. I wouldn’t pay for an expensive and diffcult surgery for a dog that was very old, had other health problems and wouldn’t have nearly as much chance of a good outcome from it.
Veterinary medicine is getting more and more like human medicine - it seems like no matter how bad off you are, there’s always one more procedure that can be done to eke out a little bit longer existence, no matter how lousy/painful that existence might be. I don’t believe in doing that for myself, and I wouldn’t do it for a pet either. There’s a difference between living and just surviving.
I wonder if there is a large gap in what would be spent based upon the presence of family/children in the pet owner’s life. I love our dog, and we do what we can to keep her healthy- shots, etc. But if it came down to major surgery (to the point where I see my kids suffering for it), then I’d have no problem with having her put down instead.
That said, I can understand going the distance if the animal is your sole companion, though I lament the circumstances that might lead you there.
I’ve been talking this over this friends and family and most seem to think there is always a way to find the money and it should be done. None have come right out and said that, but it seems strongly implied. Comments like “what would the quality of life be afterwards?” and “look at their age and recovery time” all imply, at least in this case, that the procedure should be done.
I take great care of my dog: daily walks, regular checkups, weekend romps up in hiking trails, etc. I could never, ever do anything to hurt him. But on another level I just don’t see him as “my kid”. I have kids and it just isn’t anywhere near the same thing.
$3,500 is exactly on the cusp on how far I’d go to make him whole again. Is that completely callous of me? Could be. At $2,000 I probably wouldn’t begin to debate it. At $4,000 there is no way I could really ask my family to pay that.
I had insurance for my mutt, but we cancelled it soon after. That dog is indestructable.
If the money means many more years of doggie happiness, it’s worth it to me, however much it is. I would not, however, prolong suffering.
I love my dogs too much to let a silly thing like money stop me from making them better, especially something like knee surgery.
I wouldn’t spend $3000 on a lame, blind, 12 year old dog to get chemo when he has cancer in his pancreas. Anyone who would is a complete fool. Any vet that would allow you to is greedy and irresponsible.
On the other hand, $500 to fix up a 3-year old dog’s broken leg so he can enjoy the rest of his life seems pretty reasonable.
Let’s have people in this thread stop acting like they’re animal lovers because they’d spend whatever it costs to fix anything wrong with their dog because it’s only money. Money isn’t silly. Money is important.
Animals not people. They’re not kids. They get put down when they’re much younger than humans. That’s what happens to them. They live 7-12 years. They get sick. They get put down. You shouldn’t get a pet without realizing that.
You know, we don’t get dogs because there’s some dog out there waiting for cmosdes to come along and make his life complete. cmosdes gets a dog because he thinks that having a dog will bring more enjoyment to his life. If paying for the dog, caring for the sick dog, going into hock over the dog, is going to cause serious distress, then the dog should be put down.
Would you rather be homeless, hungry and not have a job or a car or a penny in savings if it meant keeping your old, lame, blind cancer-ridden dog alive for one single day?
Are you incapable of seeing some kind of gray area or is the extent of your thinking on the issue, “I like dog more than money.”
All your money. Would you sell everything you and your family own to save a 12 year old dog that will never fully recover? Would you allow your family to become homeless, for any present or future children to forgo education, or possibly medical treatment themselves?
There must be some limit right? Money can represent years of stored work and value to others. It isn’t just paper.
I would say the same thing about expensive radical treatment for an elderly loved one.
