September 2009 Weddings
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Pet Owners

We were having a debate at lunch on how much you'd spend if your dog (but you can make this more general and say pet) were seriously ill and needed medical treatment.  Assuming your pet would make a full recovery with a reasonable likelihood that this would not affect quality of life or happen again/ come back...[Poll]
White Knot
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Re: Pet Owners

  • We were going to have exploratory surgery done on our kitty Lila when they found the massive tumor that ruptured in her chest which likely would have cost around $2k or so but they said they didn't think she would survive going under the anesthesia.  If they had given us even a 50/50 shot we would have done it in a heart beat, as it was we seriously considered it.  We ended up having to put her down :(   She was our first baby and we still very much miss her.
  • We paid about $1500 for my cat who recently  passed away on more than one occasion.  I think above $2500 we would start to question.  The first couple kitty ER visits is what started our credit card debt.  I still don't regret it.

    I would have to be assured it would save their life, and wouldn't be overly stressful to put an animal through.  We were not willing to put our 13 yo cat through radiation or chemo, even if we could have afforded it.

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  • I can't outright put a number on it... but if the options were A) save my dogs life in a sure-fire way (like fixing a broken limb, removing his obstruction, etc) or B), let my dog die knowing I could've prevented it, I'd take A every time - assuming we had the room on some credit cards to do it or could get the credit to do it.

      If it was chemo or something like that, I don't think I could drag out their lives to make them suffer and drain our savings.  I'd make them as comfortable as possible until we couldn't anymore and say good-bye.

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  • I'm in the 5K+ category. IF I knew for sure it would save their life and they would make a full recovery. However it is dependant on their age. Buddy & Benny are 2 & 3 respectively and if I found out tomorrow either had a tumor and needed chemo/radiation, he would get it in a heartbeat. If he was 10 or 11, I would probably spend the money on medicine to make him comfortable until the time came.

    But long story short, I consider them members of my family & I would do everything in my power to keep them alive and well unless it would end up being counterproductive. 

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  • I may be in the minority here, but I'm of the belief that if you adopted (or bought) your animal, you were bringing them into your family and making a commitment to do whatever you could for them.  I'm not saying going into tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but someone I was talking to was discussing $500 being her limit... That blows my mind.

    But doing a one time procedure that was guaranteed to make your dog better is a different case than something like chemo or radiation where the animal would likely have poor quality of life for the duration..  

    Maybe I'm the crazy dog lady.  We spent $1500 on diagnostic radial xrays for Grace's hips to grade the dysplasia last March.  And several thousand more on emergency surgery over the holidays.   If something happened to her today and we could save her for our savings - our e-fund + a reasonable amount on a credit card, we'd do it in a heartbeat, even if that amount was an exponentially higher than the top of this poll.

    White Knot
    Stand up for something you believe in. White Knot
  • imagemaryandkirk0909:

    I may be in the minority here, but I'm of the belief that if you adopted (or bought) your animal, you were bringing them into your family and making a commitment to do whatever you could for them.  I'm not saying going into tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but someone I was talking to was discussing $500 being her limit... That blows my mind.

    Hand me an oar, sister, we're paddling up the same stream.

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  • imagesarges05girl:
    imagemaryandkirk0909:

    I may be in the minority here, but I'm of the belief that if you adopted (or bought) your animal, you were bringing them into your family and making a commitment to do whatever you could for them.  I'm not saying going into tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but someone I was talking to was discussing $500 being her limit... That blows my mind.

    Hand me an oar, sister, we're paddling up the same stream.

    same here.  I can't imagine what kind of procedure would cost $5K+, but I'd probably do it.  Again, same thing about quality of life - I probably wouldn't do chemo or radiation or anything, but if it was something that would save my dogs' life and they'd have a good quality of life afterwards, then I'm sure I'd do it.

    Heck, Diesel's ear surgeries alone cost us $2K.  Luckily they were able to neuter him while he was under, but we didn't think twice about it. I couldn't sleep with myself if he would have ended up deaf because we didn't do the surgery.

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  • I also believe animals are part of your family.  I said a limit because there probably aren't many surgeries for cats above $2,000 that wouldn't majorly affect their quality of life.  They are inside cats, so car accident/animal attacks are not very likely.

    Even when I was a poor college student, we got emergency vet services for a kitty.

    I give the side eye to someone who wouldn't spend $500 on an animal.

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  • imagemelpfaff:

     

    I give the side eye to someone who wouldn't spend $500 on an animal.

    Me too....especially when you consider that annual vet care/flea medications/maintanence (like food, toys, etc) for my 2 boys is probably over $1000. What's another 4K if you save their life???

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  • Yeah, I side eye the not spending $500 on a dog too. Grace's care runs $2500 a year for insurance, grain free, high quality food and treats, allergy meds, glucosamine and fish oil supplements, heart worm, flea/tick meds, vaccinations, ear cleaning crap, toothpaste, and the unavoidable ear infection or two. I'm okay with that.
    White Knot
    Stand up for something you believe in. White Knot
  • I am also in the 5k+ category. My dog is a part of the family and I think of him as a son. I would get a loan if it meant saving his life.
  • Pets ARE family -- the amount I would spend on them would be priceless...
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  • imageMBMcC421:
    Pets ARE family -- the amount I would spend on them would be priceless...

    That's exactly what I said, if we could afford it we would do it, no questions asked.   

    White Knot
    Stand up for something you believe in. White Knot
  • imagemaryandkirk0909:
    Yeah, I side eye the not spending $500 on a dog too. Grace's care runs $2500 a year for insurance, grain free, high quality food and treats, allergy meds, glucosamine and fish oil supplements, heart worm, flea/tick meds, vaccinations, ear cleaning crap, toothpaste, and the unavoidable ear infection or two. I'm okay with that.

    Heck, I was just thinking $5K in one instance/trip to the vet.  If you're talking about yearly expenses, that's a whole different story.  I'd spend $5K in one trip if it meant saving my pets.  Add that to the yearly expenses like vaccines, heartworm meds, food, etc, then it really does become pretty priceless. 

    This is why owning a pet shouldn't be done by someone who isn't willing to take it seriously.  Pets can be expensive, and anyone unwilling to take on that expense shouldn't be allowed to own one. 

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  • imagemelpfaff:

    I also believe animals are part of your family.  I said a limit because there probably aren't many surgeries for cats above $2,000 that wouldn't majorly affect their quality of life.  They are inside cats, so car accident/animal attacks are not very likely.

    Even when I was a poor college student, we got emergency vet services for a kitty.

    I give the side eye to someone who wouldn't spend $500 on an animal.

    I agree with that...

    but in reality it's really hard to put a price on saving a life or making it better.

    Also as far as affordability, I think some vet offices can do a payment plan.  At least the vet office I used to work for and the office I currently take my cat to. This makes it pretty much affordable for anyone to take well enough care of their pet.  

     

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  • imageMBMcC421:
    Pets ARE family -- the amount I would spend on them would be priceless...

     Agreed.

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  • This is exactly why my girls have insurance and I have a vet credit card. I would pay anything for my loves.
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  • Psh. I spend over $500 a year just on Finn's hypoallergenic food. Between his allergy pills, shots, food, treats, grooming, special shampoo, and all that stuff, I probably spend at least $2k a year on him already. So yeah, I'm in the $5k plus camp.
  • There's no limit to what I'd spend on my pet to keep her healthy. The only medical procedure that would make me consider would be if it wasn't guaranteed to help her in the long run, or one that would be painful/affect her quality of life. Pansy cost us about $5K in vet bills during her first 2 years with us, but she's completely worth it.

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