How far are you willing to go for your pet?

dbmata

My husbands friend was raised on a farm and said you can buy a lot of dogs with that money, I of course feel that Dexter is only 5 and I certainly can't just go out and get another Dexter. I dont' care much for money and would much rather have my happiness from my dog, can't really snuggle up to the cash. So what kind of pet owner are you?

Your husband's friend is right. You are right.

It all depends of course, I've put dogs back together, I've let dogs go.

My cat on the other hand, no price too high. How often do you get an animal that will randomly run up to your wife and bite her, then strut off.

dbmata

I would spend any amount of money on my dog, but I do have it to spend. I'm fortunate to be financially secure.
But unfortunately, I had to rehome my beagle earlier this year when he bit my son. That was the red line.

Any amount, but not enough to perform basic obedience training. Indeed.

AddieOverhaul

Honestly I get emotional even thinking about something awful happening to my two cats, but at the same time I have definitely given it thought about how I would pay for it if something were to go wrong. Luckily for me, they are indoor cats and so far have had no issues at all, and I'm hoping that continues for a few more years at least because money is tight (paying off debt). That being said, I put money into my savings account every month even though I'm trying to pay my debt off quickly so that if something does crop up, I can pay for it.

For me it definitely depends on the circumstances. I love my cats a ton. I am 33 with no kids so I take out all my maternal instincts on them and couldn't imagine my life without them, but having lost pets in the past, I know the time will come and it will be very hard - but you have to do what's best for the pet - even if that means putting them down because they are in pain and can't be helped.

If my youngish (one is 7 the other I don't know as he was a stray but probably around the same) had an issue that could be resolved and go on to live long happy lives, I would spend as much as I could get my hands on without putting myself in financial ruin. I also buy them high quality dental care food rather than the cheap stuff because I believe it makes a difference. But I wouldn't fork out thousands of dollars to prolong their life for my benefit if they were going to be in pain or have low quality of life.

And I thought all of this stuff through before adopting my cats. Due to a breakup I have less money than before, but I will do what I can for my "kids". They were both rescue cats so they already have it really good compared to what could have been even if I couldn't afford vet care, but anything up to $5000 I could probably manage between savings, credit or borrowing. If it was more than that I'd really have to think about it and whether or not the outcome would be worth it (long happy life), because it would be a huge financial hit for me.

kcsaville

I'm in this situation right now. I have an almost 4 year old bulldog mix named Gunner. I've had him since he was 7 weeks old. I don't have any kids yet and I absolutely love my dog. A little over a year ago, he started limping. I took him to the vet where they informed me they believed he had a partial tear in his ACL. I asked them what would need to be done and they very nicely explained to me that it would require a $2000 surgery. I asked them what I could do for the short term. They basically made me feel like the most horrible dog owner because I needed to take time to think about spending that amount of money on my dog. I left there with limping pup, happily paying my bill along with 60 days worth of anti-inflammatory/pain relievers. After some rest, his limp started to get better. I took him over to my sister's place one day. After a long day of playing with their dogs, both of his back legs became very sore again. After talking to a few people about this situation, a friend suggesting taking him to a small town vet about 40 miles from where I live. Her dog had the same problem and he was able to do a similar surgery for only about $400. (This is also the vet that my dad used for our farm animals while we were growing up.) This vet confirmed that we were now dealing with two torn ACLs. I asked him about the cheaper surgery and he said it's not recommended for dogs over 60 pounds. Mine is 83 pounds. This vet understood that it was a big deal to spend $2000 PER KNEE for the recommended surgery. He actually made me feel better by reassuring me that Gunner was not really suffering. And he told me it would be ok to ride it out, keep him calm and kind of lazy and he could possibly build scar tissue and it could repair itself. A year later, I still have not had the surgery. If he plays too hard, he might be sore for a couple days, but he still runs, goes on walks with me and plays with other dogs. I guess my point is that, just because I don't think it's reasonable to spend that much money on a dog, doesn't mean that I love him any less than the rest of you love your animals. He is spoiled rotten and gets lots of love an affection. Could I come up with the $4000? Probably. Do I think I should put myself in a financial situation like that for a dog? No. Maybe it's the farm girl in me or maybe it's my sense of reason, but if Gunner's knees get worse and he starts to suffer, I will probably have to say goodbye to him no matter how much I love him. For those of you that say you shouldn't get an animal if you can't afford to give it all the care it needs, I'd like to say this... You better hope they build lots more shelters!! If everybody that adopted a pet needed to plan for thousands of dollars in care, you wouldn't get very many people to adopt these animals. Even a short life with a great family is better than a long life in one of these shelters.

heylookitsval

I'll go as far as the animal shelter to drop the expensive little *kitten* off.

graceire

I'll go as far as the animal shelter to drop the expensive little *kitten* off.

wow. Here's to hoping you don't actually have any pets... :noway:

graceire

I'm in this situation right now. I have an almost 4 year old bulldog mix named Gunner. I've had him since he was 7 weeks old. I don't have any kids yet and I absolutely love my dog. A little over a year ago, he started limping. I took him to the vet where they informed me they believed he had a partial tear in his ACL. I asked them what would need to be done and they very nicely explained to me that it would require a $2000 surgery. I asked them what I could do for the short term. They basically made me feel like the most horrible dog owner because I needed to take time to think about spending that amount of money on my dog. I left there with limping pup, happily paying my bill along with 60 days worth of anti-inflammatory/pain relievers. After some rest, his limp started to get better. I took him over to my sister's place one day. After a long day of playing with their dogs, both of his back legs became very sore again. After talking to a few people about this situation, a friend suggesting taking him to a small town vet about 40 miles from where I live. Her dog had the same problem and he was able to do a similar surgery for only about $400. (This is also the vet that my dad used for our farm animals while we were growing up.) This vet confirmed that we were now dealing with two torn ACLs. I asked him about the cheaper surgery and he said it's not recommended for dogs over 60 pounds. Mine is 83 pounds. This vet understood that it was a big deal to spend $2000 PER KNEE for the recommended surgery. He actually made me feel better by reassuring me that Gunner was not really suffering. And he told me it would be ok to ride it out, keep him calm and kind of lazy and he could possibly build scar tissue and it could repair itself. A year later, I still have not had the surgery. If he plays too hard, he might be sore for a couple days, but he still runs, goes on walks with me and plays with other dogs. I guess my point is that, just because I don't think it's reasonable to spend that much money on a dog, doesn't mean that I love him any less than the rest of you love your animals. He is spoiled rotten and gets lots of love an affection. Could I come up with the $4000? Probably. Do I think I should put myself in a financial situation like that for a dog? No. Maybe it's the farm girl in me or maybe it's my sense of reason, but if Gunner's knees get worse and he starts to suffer, I will probably have to say goodbye to him no matter how much I love him. For those of you that say you shouldn't get an animal if you can't afford to give it all the care it needs, I'd like to say this... You better hope they build lots more shelters!! If everybody that adopted a pet needed to plan for thousands of dollars in care, you wouldn't get very many people to adopt these animals. Even a short life with a great family is better than a long life in one of these shelters.

Don't feel guilty--when I was 17 I tore the ligaments in my right knee. My parents didn't pay for surgery for me!

Six weeks in a cast, rehab after the cast came off, good as new. Just took longer to get the same result.

As long as he's happy and seems to be doing well don't feel badly, you're doing the best that you can!

hararayne

People shouldn't have pets if they aren't prepared to spend that money on them.

You wouldn't have kids then decide when they need money spent on them that you can't afford them anymore and put them down, so it shouldn't be this way with pets.

Our whole society tends to THROW PETS AWAY. So guess what. Honestly, if the surgery was that expensive, I kind of doubt I would pay for it for my dog. I love both my pups. But there are 1,000's in shelters in my state alone. I might adopt a new animal and care for it if the condition was too uncomfortable for my animal, or if it would decrease their quality of life. I'm fairly certain that my golden will have hip displacement within her lifetime, and typical age of golden's dying these days is between 6 and 8 years old. If she was close to that I would probably cut my losses and save another animal. It doesn't mean I don't love her. It means that I understand our society is one that often throws things away. Living things. I have to make my own decision on how to balance out that negative part of American life. Having been to kill shelters vs no kill shelters, I'd also vote for the kill shelter.

Why? Because in a no kill where everything is run on donations they are often kept in squalor, have fleas, are subject to getting into fights with other dogs they are kenneled with, and often do not have a chance of being adopted. What kind of life is that? It's not.

All the kill shelters have been clean, have several volunteers to walk dogs and do grooming, but get a bad rep because they kill the animals we decide we don't have time for. I don't see any decent way to get people to stop breeding, and indeed, I HATE most liscensed breeders because I can't afford 1200 or more for a dog, but I can pay for food, walk them and get them preventative vet care. I also don't want to deal with the problems that inbreeding causes. Give me a mutt any day and don't try to sell it to me as a "designer hybrid".

I'm not sure where you are getting your information on the lifespan of Golden Retrievers. I've been doing Golden rescue for over 10 years and the average lifespan of a Golden is 10-12 years, not 6-8 years.

That was the original lifespan that is often quoted in books about the breed. Do some more research. Tons of them are dying earlier now, due to inbreeding and genetic cancers. And really, out of my whole post that's what you pick on? A factoid?

Beautyne

I would do anything for my bird.. I know she's a bird but you have no idea how intelligent and loving she is. Life without her would be miserable..

IronSmasher

I've risked my life climbing to where the branches become twigs amd can no longer support a very small cat for this one.



Twice.

CollieFit

My pet peeve (pun intended) when I worked in a large, corporate pet store was owners who wanted a pet, but didn't bother to make sure that animal had a good life. Hamsters in tiny cages, fish in too-small tanks, lizards dying for lack of proper heat/light. And vet care? Forget it. They really want that animal (or their little demon-spawn does) but they don't want to care for it.

Very true.

The same goes for puppy mills. An awful trade. :frown:

CollieFit

Here she is... :flowerforyou:

You can tell by her eyes she is a sweetie!

She is a very sweet-natured girl. She was removed from a domestic abuse family and came into the local rescue. Absolutely petrified of strange men initially, but with a bit of love and patience she came on in leaps and bounds. She knows loads of commands including left & right, she knows names for all her different toys etc. You can tell her to bring you a ball and she'd never come back with a stick. She loves to learn!! We've started doing some agility classes and she loves it!! And she is hilariously funny! :bigsmile:

OllyReeves

I'd die for mine. However, there does come a point, where no amount of money is going to do anything but prolong their suffering. I've had to put two dogs down over my lifetime, my first ever was an Akita, Gracie. And the last, my Pit. Had him since he was a year old, rescued from a shelter, he was the best dog I've ever had the pleasure of being allowed to be with. I didn't own him, he let me be his. But when he had his stroke, and there was nothing that could be done...Could've tried steroids, but it would have, if anything, only gave him a couple months more, and he would've been in agony most of it. My sister is a vet, so she came to the house, so that I could hold him when he went. Hardest day, I think, of my life.

If it comes to injury, or illness where there's a good chance to recover their function and live a fully healthy life with little/no restriction, then there is no price tag for me. I'll find a way to do it, if I have to eat Ramen for the next two years.

You'd die for your pet? I know you won't care about my opinion, but I don't believe you would.

'I didn't own him, he let me be his' - wow what a ridiculous thing to say.

rduhlir

This really depends on how the quality of life would be for my pet afterwards I guess. If it were my Buster or Pepper, I would opt to put them down if they were paralyzed. Buster is a pit-mix rescue and Pepper is a heeler-mix, both love to run and play fetch and I just couldn't see the quality of life up to par with what they deserve.

As far as the money goes, it all depends on how much the pet insurance would cover (both are covered for $40 a month, and well worth it) and if the vet would take payments (my current vet does). If it came down to something we couldn't afford, we would look at the options but if putting them down ended up being the only option then yes we would consider it.

SamanthaH10

I'd do anything for my dog, it's a family member rather then a pet to me.

Same here. I have 3 dogs who are the only children I will ever have and just as you with human children won't put them down when they get sick, I can't imagine doing that for my dogs. I spare no expense where they're involved. I'm even paying the cost to move them from my current home (Kuwait) to my new home (Maryland) in February. No way would I ever think of getting rid of them or putting them down for something that can be fixed.

smantha32

Same thing happened to our cat, who was 12. One night his back legs just stopped working. The vet at the clinic couldn't really tell what was wrong though and wanted to do an MRI ($3,000) before surgery. We live in a college town with a vet school, so labs were clamoring to run multitudes of tests on our poor kitty. The vet leveled with us though and said that cats just don't go through surgery as well as dogs do. I was 3 weeks pregnant with our first child, we're both state employees, there was just no way we could afford any of it. So we said goodbye to our sweet kitty the next day. We cried so much the weeks that followed my husband was convinced our baby was turning Goth in the womb. A month later we got another kitty. And that following spring our daughter was born, sans eyeliner. We miss Aslan terribly but life goes on.

I can't imagine what some of these vets are doing.. I've had MRI's done on animals, and I've had their bones set, and it has never run me more than 500$. I would be looking for other vets.

smantha32

Tough call. I probably wouldnt do the surgery. I love my animals, they get good food, and they go to the vet when emergencies arise. However, that is a lot of money to spend and if he can still have a good quality of life without it. My dog recently got a big swollen eye. I took her to the vet, $131, and got her some medication. He had me schedule a follow up to check the eye. However, the swelling has gone down and she's back to her spunky self. I canceled the follow up. If I see it swell up again I'll take her, but I'm hard pressed to spend the money for a follow up when it appears normal. I guess I'm kind of cold when it comes to animals.

Oh and I have to get on my soap box. Yes I think dachshunds are adorable, cute, and make very sweet pets. However, curse the g_d damn breeders for breeding that into a poor dog. Degenerative back diseases and slipped disks are a risk for every puppy born into that breed. I hope those people who bred such a horrible trait into dogs is being slow cooked over a pit in the fires of eternal damnation. Sorry my little rant yes I love the dogs, but I hate to see them suffer because someone thought a long back was cute.

Stay on that soapbox and make some room cause I want up. I had no idea the amount of people that have had dachshunds with this issue until I started sharing what happened to me. I was shocked, I always knew they had bad backs but it's one of those things you expect to happen when they are older, not 5 years old for goodness sakes

Yeah it's the same thing with persians who have chronic respiratory issues because breeders keep breeding them to have flat or even pushed in faces.
People suck.

Lisa1971

I am with the OP, I would do whatever I could if the dog or cat would be able to live a happy life. They are family.

This! Although my husband would disagree!

Lisa1971

I'll go as far as the animal shelter to drop the expensive little *kitten* off.

wow. Here's to hoping you don't actually have any pets... :noway:

:flowerforyou:

Toneyear

Our 7yr old mix lab/shepherd hurt himself several months ago. Slipped on the vinyl floor and hurt his back. We were so scared that we would have to put him down. The vet asked us to give her a chance to help him with meds and rest. We paid a lot of money in the beginning for 6 different meds to keep him in lo motivaton, and resting. Now, he is off most of the med, but will have to continue to take meds the rest of his life. That is about $90 a month extra, but we love him so much and he gives us such pleasure. He and our long-legged jack russel-mix are my husband's salvation on a daily basis and the joy of my heart since we never had kids. I would do as much as I could for our babies, but if I can't afford it, I can't.