Will you spend whatever it takes on a pet?

[design_mom]

Like others, I don't have a set amount. We spent "a lot of money" on surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from our first dog. Her prognosis and outlook was good and we felt we could afford it (we sacrificed a lot of 'fun money' but it didn't impact our ability to pay our bills). Unfortunately, she ended up with a second cancer 6 months later and it was in her spine (could not be removed). I'm not sure it was worth it in the end for 6 months of life, but we could not have known the 2nd cancer would happen.

Our second dog got lymphoma and the type did not respond well to chemo. We could have tried chemo anyway and surgery, but our vet said that it was really kind of a "Hail Mary" play. We did not spend the money for that although I loved that dog dearly and would happily have spent it if I thought that it would save his life and give him a good quality of life.

I am thankful that our vet will lay it out on the table.

 

[mom2rtk]

We wouldn't be able to spend that much even if we wanted to. Not sure where the breaking point is, but $15K is well beyond it for us.

And the way I look at it, at that point, I'd have to let them go but then would channel my feelings and resources into saving another pet from the shelter.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I have spent a lot of money on treatments for my dog. HOWEVER... We were able to do that without straining our finances. The welfare of my human family has to come first. I wouldn't put us in a poor financial position.

 

[dclpluto]

Get pet insurance as others have said.
I save about 35 dollars a month going through my employer for pet insurance. I look at pet insurance like this I don't want to make the call if my pets need a expensive surgery done.
Hopefully the insurance company will make money on me that means my dogs had a healthy life.

 

[cmarsh31]

Yes. We lost one of our kittens on Sunday. He wasn't even 2. Broke our hearts. Crushed our children. Would have paid anything on Sunday morning to save our little boy.

 

[jt'smom]

We started out in 2006 with twin cocker spaniels from the same litter, one who had health issues from the beginning and died at 9, and the other who was healthy as a horse, but upon his brother's death went down the same exact path of health issues. We always fed them expensive dog food, did their yearly physicals and shots, and the sick one had thousands of dollars spent on his medical issues. After he had to be put to sleep, we decided to just continue with the great dog food and let our other one live out his life without being on tons of meds that treated one thing at the expense of his overall health. So he is a fat, content, 11 year old cocker who gets lots of treats, car rides and love, but we treat his medical issues with common sense and natural, inexpensive treatments at home. He might not live to 14, but he's gonna die naturally a happy dog who ate pizza crusts with his dad and hogged our bed at night!

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

I currently have two senior dogs; the elder is fifteen years old. At this point putting him through treatment, if something came up, would probably be more detrimental to his quality of life. I would be all for a nice steak for him or something to give him one last good day, but that's it.

The younger one isn't quite ten yet; it would depend on circumstances. But $15K is beyond my reach, either way.

 

[DawnM]

No.
I expect I'll get some slack for my thoughts because I have before on a thread similar to this, but it's an animal not a child or person.

You did? Wonder if I saw it.

I won't give you slack. I love my pets but they aren't my actual human children. I would pay ANY AMOUNT for my child to live. Millions. If I had to go into debt for the rest of my life, I would do it. But for a pet, no.

 

[DawnM]

Get pet insurance as others have said.
I save about 35 dollars a month going through my employer for pet insurance. I look at pet insurance like this I don't want to make the call if my pets need a expensive surgery done.
Hopefully the insurance company will make money on me that means my dogs had a healthy life.

I guess I just keep thinking I don't ever spend that much on my pets. Insurance, even at $45/mo, is $540 per year X 14 years roughly. That is $7,560 for the pet. I have had 3 pets in 21 years, so $22,680.

I pay roughly $100 per year for Vet and shots.
I paid $200 for my dog to be seen when she through out her back.
I paid $400 for my other dog to have a tumor removed.

That is all for the past 21 years for 3 dogs. That is $4,800 in the past 21 years. That saved me $17,880.

And it might have saved more. Does that amount even cover 100% of routine visits, tests, shots, and 100% of an emergency visit for throwing out her back? I don't really know.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

I am sure that I won't be popular here either but to me a pet is a pet and I would not go through chemo, or insulin shots or surgery to save my dog. He is a dog to me and well when his time is up, it's up. We have a dog, he's a good boy but I could do without him. Now, understand that I never want to see any animal hurt or suffering and watching those horrible ASPCA commercials breaks my heart but I am not an animal person - could live without them but I never want to see them injured or suffering. If my dog became ill we would either let him live out his life until he passed or if he was suffering, we would put him down. I won't try to save him for me or my family if that makes sense.

 

[lovin'fl]

No. Which is why the dog we have now may be the last. It is heartbreaking to see a loved pet age and/or get sick. But I just don't believe in taking extraordinary measures for an animal, especially if it's an older animal. A- they don't understand what's being done to them and B- there are no guarantees that they will have many more happy healthy years.

I do take them to vet regularly and get them shots and give them meds for heartworm and flee/ticks. I get their teeth cleaned (sometimes, when guilted) and take them in for emergencies. But when our 10 year old dog was diagnosed with two types of cancer (lymphoma and a carcinoma) and they wanted to do surgery and give her chemo at a cost of like $10K...and they could not guarantee her loads more time with us nor could they guarantee her time remaining would be happy for her... we declined. And our current 11 year old dog had his teeth cleaned twice with the last time being not even a year ago. When they did the last one I told them to not be conservative because it would be his last teeth cleaning. They pulled four teeth. He's an older little dog and I don't want to have him under anesthesia again. And the last time cost us close to a grand. Just had him in last month, for his rabies shot, and they tell me he needs his teeth cleaned again... after just 8 months. And after I told them we wouldn't do it again. So no more pets.

 

[Neesy228]

It really depends on the situation...my dog needed surgery when she was 7 and it was costly, but I felt like she had many years ahead and the surgery was a "cure" to what ailed her. So, we did it.
Fast forward, 5 years and the same dog was approaching 13 and was having a lot of problems. We did some testing and the vet gave us two options: surgery for a quality of life short-term fix, or nothing and let her pass....we opted to let her go. She was having some trouble walking, we were carrying her up and down stairs and it just didn't make any sense. But my first decision, gave us 5+ years with her. I never regretted spending that money.

Our current dog is my favorite dog I've ever had...and he's my sons dog, so between those two things, I would probably spend whatever it took. But only if it was going to help him stay with us longer with a decent quality of life.

 

[lovin'fl]

I am sure that I won't be popular here either but to me a pet is a pet and I would not go through chemo, or insulin shots or surgery to save my dog. He is a dog to me and well when his time is up, it's up. We have a dog, he's a good boy but I could do without him. Now, understand that I never want to see any animal hurt or suffering and watching those horrible ASPCA commercials breaks my heart but I am not an animal person - could live without them but I never want to see them injured or suffering. If my dog became ill we would either let him live out his life until he passed or if he was suffering, we would put him down. I won't try to save him for me or my family if that makes sense.

My thoughts too.

 

[smiths02]

No. Which is why the dog we have now may be the last. It is heartbreaking to see a loved pet age and/or get sick. But I just don't believe in taking extraordinary measures for an animal, especially if it's an older animal. A- they don't understand what's being done to them and B- there are no guarantees that they will have many more happy healthy years.

I do take them to vet regularly and get them shots and give them meds for heartworm and flee/ticks. I get their teeth cleaned (sometimes, when guilted) and take them in for emergencies. But when our 10 year old dog was diagnosed with two types of cancer (lymphoma and a carcinoma) and they wanted to do surgery and give her chemo at a cost of like $10K...and they could not guarantee her loads more time with us nor could they guarantee her time remaining would be happy for her... we declined. And our current 11 year old dog had his teeth cleaned twice with the last time being not even a year ago. When they did the last one I told them to not be conservative because it would be his last teeth cleaning. They pulled four teeth. He's an older little dog and I don't want to have him under anesthesia again. And the last time cost us close to a grand. Just had him in last month, for his rabies shot, and they tell me he needs his teeth cleaned again... after just 8 months. And after I told them we wouldn't do it again. So no more pets.

After having kids, I realized that I am not the kind of person who treats pets as kids or would sacrifice everything for a pet. That being said, our cat (16 years old) died a few months ago, and I don't have any plans for more pets in the near future.

 

[lovin'fl]

After having kids, I realized that I am not the kind of person who treats pets as kids or would sacrifice everything for a pet. That being said, our cat (16 years old) died a few months ago, and I don't have any plans for more pets in the near future.

Yes, this. For a kid or husband or parent I would want to move heaven and earth. But not for a pet and that makes me feel so guilty so it's best I don't have a pet. We even had the cutest hamster for 3-4 years that got sick. I watched her slowly die and felt so awful but I wasn't going to take a tiny hamster to the vet to come out with a triple digit vet bill. Silly. But broke my heart though.

 

[ImDMous]

I also don't have a dollar amount, it would depend greatly on the circumstances. Our cat had to be treated a few years ago for a urinary obstruction. His kidneys had shut down and he was not in good shape. But he was only 4 and it wasn't caused by an illness or chronic condition. He was in the pet hospital for 4 days, not cheap! But he was back to normal again when he came out and has been going strong since, no issues. Don't regret it at all.

 

[weeniecat2442]

Depends on the pets age & whether or not the outcome will justify the means.

I have four cats and one dog. We have pet insurance for the dog and the way he eats things such as chicken wing bones, socks and blankets, it helps me sleep better at night!

My oldest cat who is now 14 was clawed in the eyeball by my moms cat and had emergency surgery to save the eyeball & had her own team of ophthalmologists that we saw every couple of weeks for months. She was one 4 or 5 at the time and I was living at home and thus had the money to spend on saving her eye and the expensive vet visits that came after it.
I also work for a vet part time and am able to get vaccines/routine care/prescriptions etc at cost or for free. Without that I would never be able to have so many pets and care for them properly.
But I do LOVE them. We have no kids and adore our pets. We would do as much as we possibly could within reason to help them out.

 

[DisBud]

No, we won't spend whatever it takes.

We have horses and twice we have paid $2000 in vet bills hoping for treatment to work before we put them down a few days later. One ended up having lung tumors and we tried some expensive meds the week before we ultimately put him down. On a second horse, he had survived a colic episode which cost $3000 only to colic again four years later. We treated him for three days but declined a $10,000 surgery and put him down. That weekend of treatment was still over $2000. Even though we view them as pets and not livestock, I just can't have an open checkbook at the vet's office.

 

[mummabear]

Like others have said, largely depends on the situation, but never unlimited.
Our 13 year old goldie has been having arthritis issues for a while and was having 6 monthly cortisone injections, these became 3 monthly then monthly. Now he is on daily medication costing about $50 a month. We love him dearly, he is our first dog, our 3 kids have grown up with him and he sleeps innour middle DDs bed (has for 4 years), he has given us everything he has, we owe it to him to make him comfortable, sadly the time is coming where what we owe him is to not continue him being in pain just so we get to keep him, we have been clear with our vet to let us know when that time comes.

 

[gemini2727]

Our sweet boy is nine, and I dread him getting older and having health problems. He's the only dog I've ever owned, and he's such a part of our family. That being said, I don't really believe in extreme measures or tremendous amounts of money being spent to prolong an animal's life if they should get really sick. I feel bad saying that, since I do love him so much, but it's the truth.