Will you spend whatever it takes on a pet?

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.
I won't say who but a couple posters actually sent me PM's to chastise me for as they said "not taking proper care of my dog."
 
I spent $11,000 on 2 surgeries in 5 weeks for our cat in 2013, only to have to put her down.
She was DD's cat, and DD had left 2 months before for a year of college in the U.K. The only thing I hoped spending that money would do is have that cat still around when she came home the next year.
My mom had passed away 6 months before and left us enough money to cover that expense. My mom was kind of attached to that cat too, and I think should would have understood.
DD had a better handle on the odds her cat would not be alive when she left than we did. The cat was only 13 years old, but had a number of health issues in the last 4 years of her life.
By spending the money we knew for sure we had done everything we could to save her life. I won't do that again, only because DW and I are at a point of our lives that we want to travel and not be tied down by a pet. So there will be no pets in our future after 50 years or so for each of us with some sort of pet.
 
I won't say who but a couple posters actually sent me PM's to chastise me for as they said "not taking proper care of my dog."

I am sorry.

I love our dog, and I loved our last dog. We feed them, get them immunized, give them lots of attention and love, but they are still not our human children.
 
How far I'd go medically and/or financially would depend on a lot of factors. I'm not one to jump into surgery, and thankfully I've had a great relationship with my vet, as well as medical knowledge that helps me navigate the waters when we have any type of issue. We've never been put in the position of spending an astronomical amount. Of the two dogs I had (as an adult) that had cancer, one we elected not to do any advanced therapies given that he was older; instead we maintained him on pain meds and spoiled him rotten until we had to make that tough decision to end his life. Another one of our dogs had single cancerous skin tumors beginning around age 9 or so, and those we did elect to remove on the several occasions over a couple of years that new ones came up. Each surgery was relatively affordable ($400-500 range) and that was all that treatment entailed. She did pass of a metastatic brain tumor, and we had to end her life as well.

The last two were harder in someways to deal with. Their problems weren't costly in money as much as they were in time and effort. For each of them we had to buy a wheelchair and those ran into a bit of money. (One was custom and cost around $700, the other was used and cost around $300.) They also required pain meds. But the bigger issue was caring for them. My vet had said they weren't in pain, that what they required was nursing care, and I thought, hey, that's something I can do. So, I cared for them, but it was tough. One we had to put to sleep, and the other passed unexpectedly at home. I had no regrets, but was pretty fried from it, which is how I wound up with a little dog for a change, and one whose family health history is stable.

I don't generally buy the insurance because, like Dawn, the numbers don't always make sense to me for our family's needs. So far, that strategy has worked for us. If something catastrophic happens, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I would be willing to spend a reasonable amount of money if need be and things weren't futile. Our dogs are a cherished part of our family and to us, they're worth it. (All that said, $15K seems like an awful lot to me! Yikes!)
 
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I'm with most of you, depends on age, condition, cost and prognosis. We considered pet insurance when we got our dog but instead chose to put $100 a month into a savings account. The money is there if we need it for treatment, if not, we'll have a fabulous life celebration in her honor...
 
Yes, I would spend what it took to save my dog. I'd skip take out, vacations, whatever I could. And I just did. My littlest dog just finished radiation a few months ago. She is a rescue, had been mine for just over a year when she was diagnosed, and is maybe 9 years old. But she brought great joy and love to our family and we all would do whatever it took to save her. We wanted more time (and she's also pretty crazy about us). Worth every cent. I wouldn't jeopardize my family to do this, but I would do everything in my power to have the money to save her. Or any of my dogs.
 
It depends on age, prognosis and quality of life for my pet after treatment. I would spend what I could afford. I wouldn't jeopardize my family's financial security for my pet, even though my heart would want too.
 
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Yes. Our cat had Kidney Disease and between the diagnosis that resulted in a hospital stay and then all the medications and follow up visits we spent around $6000 on her. We got 2 more years with her for that money, so it was worth it. We put her down in August after a long battle.
 
I love our dog but if it came down to a serious amount of money or a sleeping shot, she would be getting the shot.
 
We've probably spent quite a bit in maintenence medications over the years. (DS says the "special" pets always find us. :laughing: ) But in those cases, quality of life is/was excellent with the meds, and the spread-out expense didn't feel as bad.

For a one-time crisis, I don't have a set number (and hope I never need to define one) but I think it would depend a lot on how much the treatment would put the animal through, and how much time it would buy them. I do have a soft spot for those little furry faces!
 
I'll tell you why we spent about $8K on our dog. He was very sick and we were able to do it.

It's a lucky thing we WERE able to because we would have had a bunch of court fees battling the animal shelter we adopted him from. We couldn't hold up our end of the contract(getting him neutered and immunized) until his health issues were resolved, and the shelter took us to court.

We didn't know when we adopted him that he had Kennel cough, ANOTHER type of upper respiratory infection, double ear infections and a bad heart(deformed, Grade V murmer). We had 30 days to get him fixed, microchipped and immunized. Yeah that didn't happen. It took us almost six months to get all of his issues resolved(except the heart obviously) before the vet would do the surgery. We had to bring multiple papers back and forth to the courthouse to prove why the vet wouldn't do it... It was a mess.

We thought about giving him back(the shelter gave us that option) but how could we? He obviously wasn't getting the care he needed there.

Would I have rather spent that money elsewhere? YES! Could I have done something for my children with that money? Yes... But he needed it more at that point. And he shows his love and appreciation every day.
1604917_10153085496866340_1721655095558439428_n.jpg

........Except when he can see the bottom of his bowl and thinks he's starving.
 
I would never jeopardize my family's financial welfare, to pay a pet's medical bills.

I'm not talking giving up vacations here. Sure, I'd give up a vacation or a new toy or any kind of luxury for a pet. What I'm talking about is when people say they'd "do whatever it takes". No, I won't "do whatever it takes". I won't go into bankruptcy. I won't sell the family home. I won't cash in my kids' educational savings.

I love my pets. They see a vet regularly. They have all their shots and any medication they need. I will go above and beyond for them (in the case of nursing the cat with kidney disease, that meant giving her subcutaneous fluids myself, making her a mix tape to keep her happy at night, sitting up with her near the end, and even using diapers for a little while). But they are not my children. They are not my husband. I think it would be VERY irresponsible of me to put their welfare before that of my husband and kids. Heck, to me it'd feel immoral.

I would, of course, sell the house and empty our bank accounts to save my critically ill child. Just not a pet, or even someone else's child, for that matter.

There's no way to answer the question of "would you pay x amount for a pet's medical bills". I think we should pay what we can afford, and that number's going to be different for everyone. I won't judge anyone for spending thousands on their pet, because at the end of the day, it's their money to spend.

That said, if you can't afford routine veterinary care, you shouldn't get a pet. Pets are expensive, even when they're perfectly healthy.
 
That said, if you can't afford routine veterinary care, you shouldn't get a pet. Pets are expensive, even when they're perfectly healthy.


I can totally understand that comment. But with so many pets languishing in shelters and being put down every year, I'm a little more open minded about making such blanket statements.

I do not waver on the need to spay and neuter though.
 
We spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $5K when our schnauzer went into what wasn't diagnosed at the time as anaphylactic shock. I had him out for a walk and he jumped as if something bit him. Got him back to the house and he literally dropped dead on the floor. DW and I rushed him to the vet where they were able to resuscitate him, gave him a blood transfusion, and all over a holiday weekend ($$$).

He is still with us 8 years later but never has been the same since. He shakes every once in a while, used to love people and other dogs and now he avoids them like the plague. I suppose as long as he tolerates us that is what counts right?
 
We have no top out number set as it really depends on the situarion. While we could spend 10K and it not break us it depends on what it is that would cost that. We have a doxie so it is possible he could need back surgery and maintaine that would add up to that. Thankfully it isn't a lump sum just over life. We send our doxie to dog camp once a week so clearly spending money on our dogs isn't out of our nature.
 
We don't have a finite number. It would depend on her age, what the possible outcome would be. If she were getting close to the end of her life and whatever it was was just going to give her another month or two, probably not. If it were tomorrow (she will be 3 next month) and there was some condition that she had that was painful but correctable, we would spend whatever it took.
 
I can totally understand that comment. But with so many pets languishing in shelters and being put down every year, I'm a little more open minded about making such blanket statements.

I do not waver on the need to spay and neuter though.

At least in our local shelter, the animal will get basic veterinary care. I've known people who've taken on pets they can't afford, and when they do that they're really gambling with that pet's welfare. There was a cat I knew who died in agony due to a twisted/blocked intestine, because the family couldn't afford to take him to a vet, didn't want to surrender him to a shelter, and decided to just cross their fingers and hope he got better on his own.

It was not kind or humane. No creature deserves to die like that. A shelter would have put him down and saved him a lot of agony.

While I recognize that fortunes change, I feel very strongly that it's highly irresponsible to take on the responsibility of a pet (or even a child, for that matter), knowing ahead of time that you cannot provide for them.

Besides, if you want to help save animals and can't afford the long term costs of owning one, you can still volunteer at the shelter or foster animals in your home. That would be the more ethical approach, by far.
 
At least in our local shelter, the animal will get basic veterinary care. I've known people who've taken on pets they can't afford, and when they do that they're really gambling with that pet's welfare. There was a cat I knew who died in agony due to a twisted/blocked intestine, because the family couldn't afford to take him to a vet, didn't want to surrender him to a shelter, and decided to just cross their fingers and hope he got better on his own.

It was not kind or humane. A shelter would have put him down and saved him a lot of pain. No creature deserves to die like that.

While I recognize that fortunes change, I feel very strongly that it's highly irresponsible to take on the responsibility of a pet (or a child, for that matter), knowing ahead of time that you cannot provide for them.

Besides, if you want to help save animals and can't afford the long term costs of owning one, you can still volunteer at the shelter or foster animals in your home. That would be the more ethical approach, by far.


At our local shelter, pets are put down routinely. Lots of them. I guess I'd just rather see some pets have a chance at a decent life than the 100% chance of being put down if they are left at the shelter too long.

And treating a twisted/blocked intestine is not what I consider "routine care". Nobody would defend not treating that.
 

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