Would you put your life on hold for a pet?

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

My SIL is driving my brother crazy. She has an older dog that she will not leave at the kennel since he is on meds. She will not be coming to our family reunion because it would require an overnight stay. I love my pets but I am not sure I would sacrifice so much for them. She made my brother cancel a cruise due to the condition of the dog. I guess I feel that humans are more important than animals.

 

[TerriP]

Yes, I have and yes, I would again. I think it boils down to whether you see your pets as just "pets" or as "family members".

Each person should do what they are comfortable with...and others should respect their decisions.

 

[princess momma]

I usually think that if the pet is that bad off they need to think about putting it to sleep.

I had to put a dog down and it was awful but he was suffering. I love my pets, but I wouldn't give up living a full life for them.

 

[Hoodie]

My DH's uncle missed our wedding due to a dying dog. His aunt and (adult) cousins were on the fence. This wasn't a dog on meds, or a sick dog they were trying to nurse through, but a 17 year old dog that was beyond help.

I would have brought it to the vet to be put down - not only so that the whole family could attend the wedding, but to put the poor creature out of its misery. The poor thing hung on for almost a week not being able to move from it's bed.

 

[swald91]

I think if my dog was VERY sick I would postpone maybe a long trip but to do an overnite for a family function....can't she ask a neighbor to check in on him? I love my dogs & really hate to leave them in a kennel but if that's the only time we can vacation or a neighbor can't check in they go to the kennels! (& then are mad at us for leaving them!!!!)

 

[bballmom56]

When we went away, I boarded my diabetic cat at the vet's. I didn't want the people who were coming in to feed my other cats to have to worry about inslulin shots for this cat. And then I didn't have to worry about the cat, because I knew he was in great hands. Is boarding the dog at the vet's an option?

 

[Hercules10]

I have and will again. Two of my dogs have literally saved my butt more then once. I owe them.

 

[OK!]

Yes, I have and yes, I would again. I think it boils down to whether you see your pets as just "pets" or as "family members".

Each person should do what they are comfortable with...and others should respect their decisions.

Agreed with all of the above. Currently, I have a cat who's diabetic (but who's doing wonderfully on daily insulin injections!) and while my life certainly isn't on hold, I do have to schedule things around his shots. Blessedly, he only gets "stuck" once a day, in the evening, so it's usually not a big deal to work around.

 

[MushyMushy]

I'm nowhere near being a "pet mommy" but you bet I would miss a family reunion because I couldn't board one of my dogs! I would do everything I could to have someone stay with her at home (very few people in my life willing to do that), but I sure wouldn't dream of putting her to sleep like people are mentioning here.

My older dog, who's 9, has pretty bad hip dysplasia. There's no way on earth I'm sending her to the kennel where she'll be sleeping on a concrete floor (even with a dog bed) and getting herself all excited and pacing around, happy to see the other dogs. But she's happy and living a GREAT quality of life at home! Just because she can't be at a kennel doesn't mean she's ready to DIE.

I made a commitment to these pets. Although I'm more than willing to do the right thing when their time comes, I'm not going to put one down out of convenience. I may have to miss a few overnight trips before her time comes, but that's the choice I made when I decided to bring pets into my home.

 

[Angelhalo]

Yes, I have and yes, I would again. I think it boils down to whether you see your pets as just "pets" or as "family members".

Each person should do what they are comfortable with...and others should respect their decisions.

I 100% agree. Our pets are a part of our family. I don't consider having to rearrange things for them to be putting my "life" on hold. They ARE part of my life. When you bring a pet into your family, you realize that you are now responsible for their care and well-being, and sometimes that means you have to make sacrifices.

 

[moon]

I absolutely would! I don't care if people thought I was weird or nuts, I made a commitment to my doggie and I would stick by it. I know my dog loved me more than most people did, so I wanted to give back as much as possible.

BTW, just because an animal is on meds, it doesn't mean s/he has no quality of life. It just means s/he needs more care

 

[Angelhalo]

I'm nowhere near being a "pet mommy" but you bet I would miss a family reunion because I couldn't board one of my dogs! I would do everything I could to have someone stay with her at home (very few people in my life willing to do that), but I sure wouldn't dream of putting her to sleep like people are mentioning here.

My older dog, who's 9, has pretty bad hip dysplasia. There's no way on earth I'm sending her to the kennel where she'll be sleeping on a concrete floor (even with a dog bed) and getting herself all excited and pacing around, happy to see the other dogs. But she's happy and living a GREAT quality of life at home! Just because she can't be at a kennel doesn't mean she's ready to DIE.

I made a commitment to these pets. Although I'm more than willing to do the right thing when their time comes, I'm not going to put one down out of convenience. I may have to miss a few overnight trips before her time comes, but that's the choice I made when I decided to bring pets into my home.

AMEN! I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one appalled by people's automatic suggestions to put the animal down!

 

[npmommie]

Yes I have and I would again, the pets are family members too in my house

 

[Stitchfans]

Each person should do what they are comfortable with...and others should respect their decisions.

I agree.

 

[walkerag]

Absolutely! When I adopted my animals, I assumed the responsibilites of taking care of them no matter what. Our 2 cats rely on us 100%, DD calls them her brothers

Our animals are a part of our family

 

[mumom95]

I certainly would. My pets are more important to me than some of my extended family. Does that mean I would put the animals life above the humans life, no, of course not. But I would certainly put the animals life above the family reunion or cruise.

My dh and I have talked about taking the kids and going to Hawaii for our 15th anniversary, that's in 2011. Our two big dogs will be 13 that year, and who knows what kind of health (13 years old is pretty old for bigger dogs) they will be in. Because of that, we've decided to just hold off and see how things go. Hawaii will always be there, whether we go for our 15th, 16th or 17th anniversary. But it would break my heart if I left my dogs when they were in bad health and something happened while I was gone.

 

[walkerag]

I'm nowhere near being a "pet mommy" but you bet I would miss a family reunion because I couldn't board one of my dogs! I would do everything I could to have someone stay with her at home (very few people in my life willing to do that), but I sure wouldn't dream of putting her to sleep like people are mentioning here.

My older dog, who's 9, has pretty bad hip dysplasia. There's no way on earth I'm sending her to the kennel where she'll be sleeping on a concrete floor (even with a dog bed) and getting herself all excited and pacing around, happy to see the other dogs. But she's happy and living a GREAT quality of life at home! Just because she can't be at a kennel doesn't mean she's ready to DIE.

I made a commitment to these pets. Although I'm more than willing to do the right thing when their time comes, I'm not going to put one down out of convenience. I may have to miss a few overnight trips before her time comes, but that's the choice I made when I decided to bring pets into my home.

Just want to add that my in laws had a 15 year old dog that they put in the kennel for a few days and she died. Not saying that any dog would die in a kennel at all. I know that's not true because I worked at a vet/kennel for years but she had never been to a kennel before and when they did a necropsy they discovered that she had heart condition that had gone undetected and the stress was too much for her

 

[Imzadi]

My DSis was explaining to me how her dog had a serious illness & collapsed right out in the snow, in her front lawn. The dog needed round the clock care for some time afterwards.

She said, you have to make the choice to do what you have to do. Because once it's over, it's over. You don't get to UNdo the one time you decide you aren't going to make sure your dog gets her proper meds or whatever - and then the dog is gone forever.

You only have the time you have with him/her left. Are you going to regret that you didn't do what it took later?

OP, you mentioned this was a family reunion. The wife wasn't going on a trip to visit someone deathly ill and it may be her last time to see them. I'm assuming she thinks there will be other chances for family reunions & vacations later.

The dog doesn't have that same chance. If the dog still has a good quality of life other than needing the meds, then it's the owner's personal choice what she decides to do.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

My mother and I never travel together, due to our dog. She's 15 years old and while she has allergies and some separation/stranger anxiety, she's otherwise perfectly healthy and there is no reason to put her down. She does need an allergy med, special food, and a daily ear cleaning (she's a cocker spaniel). Not only that, we simply feel that it would be cruel to take her out of her home and her routine at her age. We don't feel we're putting our lives on hold - we just do things separately so that one of us is here to care for Tara. We love her and we're happy.

 

[SandrA9810]

Sometimes family reunions only happen once in a lifetime... you've had a lifetime with that dog. It depends on who you feel is more important. And of course if you live in a petless house, it's kind of hard to understand where she is coming from.

I would definatly suggest having the dog boarded with the vet, or a kennel that the vet recommends. And if he would show up if there was a problem. Since it's only one night and not likely something would go badly wrong.

Right now my aunt has been begging me for months to go visit her out in Texas, but the last time I left for like 5 days, Kiani was freaked out by it. She has Kari and she was at home... but she was always expecting me to walk through the door. So now if I do go visit, I won't leave without her. Which does mean that it would cost more for a plane ticket (which thank god is too much for my aunt willing to pay, i wouldn't want Kiani down there). And if I drive, Kari is definatly coming with me. So that means we have to have like 400$ in savings for bills for the two weeks, and a little extra for the drive itself. And my aunt is willing to spend the money for some gas and hotels.
So for me, my dog is highly important, and she depends on me and loves me very much that I really wouldn't want to put her through the stress of leaving her for a week or two. She doesn't even mind staying at the Disney Kennels because she knows I will come love her and walk her.