Vet Bills

[Bill419]

Susie is 14 1/2 years old. She collapsed with a slipped disc 4 weeks ago. I have spent $900 on vet bills so far plus I cut my hours at work so she will not be in the house with out someone being home in case she falls. I feel that when I can't afford to give my dogs proper medical care then it's time for me to stop owning dogs.

[Guest KennelMom]

It really depends on the disease, the prognosis, the treatment (what will the pet's quality of life be like during treatment AND after treatment). Our decisions are first made based on what we believe is best and most humane for our pet. Of course, money is a factor at some point for MOST people. That point will differ from family to family and at different times of the year for some families even.

[Greylover97]

http://www.greyhoundfriendsnj.org/animals/rainbowbridge

 

Please check out the story of Dennis under the Rainbow Bridge section of GFNJ website. If anybody falls onto hard times ask your adoption group for help.

[grey14me]

Please check out the story of Dennis under the Rainbow Bridge section of GFNJ website. If anybody falls onto hard times ask your adoption group for help.

 

that is just too sad

[Guest GiJenn51]

Dog named Tigger:

 

Cost of adoption: $200

 

Cost of dental 3 weeks later: $300

 

Cost of right front foot: $3,000

 

Cost of bowels after antibiotics: $1,200

 

Cost of major bruising: $450

 

Cost of right back foot: $500

 

Cost of his smile everytime I walk through the door: Priceless

[Guest jettcricket]

Please check out the story of Dennis under the Rainbow Bridge section of GFNJ website. If anybody falls onto hard times ask your adoption group for help.

 

that is just too sad

1640672[/snapback]

.......What a shame. What an irresponsible owner to have "allowed" this to happen. There's also Care Credit that a lot of vets/hospitals offer. My Care Credit card is interest free for 6 months. Some vets will even take monthly payments. Poor pupper..he didn't sign up for that.

[Guest KennelMom]

http://www.greyhoundfriendsnj.org/animals/rainbowbridge

 

Please check out the story of Dennis under the Rainbow Bridge section of GFNJ website.  If anybody falls onto hard times ask your adoption group for help.

1640408[/snapback]

 

So sad

[Guest rcorrao]

Wasn't for my grey...but my JRT - $7000 to re-route a destroyed urethra, ....2 months in intensive care - ...but more than 5 years later - he's still springing around.

[Guest shalea]

Like most people, it seems, I voted "no limits." I'm lucky. I'm in a position where any medical decision my DH and I might have to make for either Larson or my cat, Josquin, could be guided solely by perceived quality and length of life gained by the $$ spent, and not the $$ themselves.

 

But I think equally firmly that a dear friend of mine, when faced with osteo in his beloved 'hound (spooky, scared of the vet) on one hand and a family and limited financial resources on the other, made the absolute right choice in simply managing the illness with companionship and pain meds until it was time to let his 'hound go. Was it the decision I would have made? I don't know. But it was the decision he made, and I was as supportive as I knew how to be.

 

This is one of those things where the only wrong decision is the decision to berate someone else for the choices they've made.

 

-Shalea (Larson's person)

[Guest 4baddogs]

I voted "no limits". We've "been there-done that" many times and there is NOTHING we won't do do for our dogs.

[Guest Lillitth]

We just spent over $600 on Zephyr's dental. I could not answer "no limit" because there is a limit to how much money I can acutually put my hands on at any given time. But, THAT is how much I will spend. However much I can get to. I will take all my vacation/sick time coming to me if I need to stay with one of my babies.

 

I did not find the poll offensive. What I find offensive are those people who think I am wrong to feel that way. (Like the people your friend works with.) I have to call in sick where I work to take my pets to the vet. I was on my lunch hour when my beloved 14 year old cocker had to go to the bridge. So I understand how difficult it is to work with/for people like that.

 

No one here owns a pet and I am not sure that they ever have. They all think I am weird because we have two dogs and two cats. My bosses daughter told me she would FREAK OUT if she found an animal hair in her house. (Oh by the way, to my horror, she said her husband wants to get a Golden Retriever.....which they plan to keep in a dog run outside. I have been talking her out of getting a pet.

[DianeFG]

Between Fudgie, Sassy and Goods, the last 5 weeks have put me over $2,000.

 

DH is still seeing stars over that.

[ElizabethGPAPS]

Like everyone else here....I would spend whatever I could if it meant a meaningful recovery for my pet. How much would that be, exactly? I don't know. I can't say "I will spend X amount and not a penny more". We cross these bridges when we come to them.

 

I've known many people who made veterinary decisions partially based on what they could afford, particularly when deciding how aggressively to treat cancer or chronic spinal problems. Some have gone much further than I would or could, and some haven't done as much as I would have in the same situation. There's no right or wrong to me. Just personal decisions based on a number of factors.

[Guest Mars]

Our last dog racked up a lot of medical bills in her 13 years. I would always grumble about the cost (in jest), but only afterward when we knew she was OK!! I remember one year in late November she ran up a vet bill of about $600 in the course of a couple of weeks. An allergy flare up, a pinched nerve in her neck, and a stubborn aural hematoma all right at the same time! The money came out of my snowthrower fund (1600+ square foot driveway) so every time it snowed I would look at her and say - "Go on - get out there and get it shoveled ole girl!" People always kidded us and told us that when she died, the vet would buy us a dog of our choice just to keep us coming back.

 

She went to the bridge on 7/16/05. I was holding her late that night when the vet said there was nothing they could do to save her. If they would have said they could save her for $20,000, I would have paid it right then and there.......

[robinw]

I think each situation is unique.  We all love our babies and do what we think is right,  it is unfortunate that we don't all have millions of dollars to spend on veterinary care.  Let's not condemn those that don't have it but praise them for loving their pets whethor they be greyhounds or others  so much and doing what is best in a bad situation.

1635485[/snapback]

Cindy, that is a wonderful answer. I agree 100%. And I don't find this thread offensive.

[Forevermybabies]

I don't know. You can't just throw money at a problem to make it better.

 

I think the most I've ever spent was $1700 for vet care for a cat. She died anyway. I wasn't sorry I spent it though.

[JenniferS]

I'm not financially in a position to spend a lot of money, but if it was for Quiet Man's care, I would find a way, someway, somehow. I would let him eat before I ate, that's how much I love this dog.

As far as the work situation goes, my employer does NOT recognize pets as part of the family! Twice now I have had to call out because of emergencies w/ Quiet Man, and both times I got in "trouble". It just kills me that if I had said I had no child care available, or I was tending to a sick relative, they would've let me off... no questions asked! I am penalized because my closest family member happens to be my dog!

[Guest Gery]

Raineysmom is right everybody had it's limit and there's no right or wrong solution if love is the guiding factor.

 

I think the decision is depending how the Grey can live after treatment and if it's worthwile for your Grey.

 

Tessy our Grey of 7 went very ill last year October and my husband and I never discussed a limit. So driving to the vets for the 3rd time that week I was wondering what to do, but decided to wait and see. At the vets her situation was that worse (spontaneous internally bleeding and the heart beating much much faster than the pulse) the best thing was to take her to the IC of the university hospital for animals Utrecht right right away. The vets warned me it could be very expensive and if I could pay. I made the decision to drive to Utrecht called my husband at work and he came over to drive with me.

Tessy had always been healthy, she is a loving dog, enthousiastic etc. and she was just 6 years old. It was the right decision, although we never found out what caused her problems. She was checked inside out (X-rays, blood, Ultra-sound) but everything seemed all right. She got medicine for the heart for 6 weeks and ECG showed nothing wrong anymore.... Totally it has costed us 1700 euros but when I see Tessy I think it was worth it, but I do not hope to have these cost every year because it really has an impact on your financial status.

 

Now I know you can not say what you will do because you decide at the moment needed and that's depending on a lot of things. You can say limit of 500 at the moment but if it just take a 100 more to keep your dog with you....

[Guest Furrballz]

We all have our limits and what we are comfortable in doing for our animals care. I am personnally still paying off a $3,000 vet bill to save one of my Ragdolls.

I came home from work 18mths ago and discovered our 2yo Ragdoll Show Neuter, Batch, seizuring on the couch and very distressed! I rushed him to an emergency clinic and they stabilised him and took blood samples. The next morning I rang my normal vet and got permission to transfer him to them. I went and picked him up and transferred him myself to my normal vet just before they were due to close for the weekend. A vet nurse spent the best part of the weekend and early the next week, sleeping on the animal bedding on the floor near his cage.

We were called in a couple of times to say goodbye to him as he was crashing...and everytime we walked in there, he would show us that he WASNT ready to give up, so we went by him.

If I didnt have a great relationship with my vet, I wouldnt be able to make this decision to put my family under financial stress...tho all said the same thing..."We dont care WHAT it costs...Save Batch!!"

I dont regret it. And I dont hold it against anyone in the same position that chooses another direction for them.

[PatricksMom]

It so depends. My first guinea pig, Arnold needed surgery that cost around $600--at the time, DH was temping (I'm in graduate school) and the money was really tight. But the surgery, if he made it through, was guaranteed to fix the problem, so we did it and I never regretted it, even though the money we spent had been set aside for some medical testing I needed.

 

Now, I'm facing the loss of another guinea pig, Jake, we could do surgery, probably around the same price, but it wouldn't by any means guarantee a solution to the problem, and I'm not at all sure he's strong enough to make it through. So even though the money isn't an issue (DH now has a real job), we're not going to do it, instead we're keeping him comfortable.

 

So money might be part of the decision, but it's only part, and I don't know that I can say that I would spend X amount, and no more--every situation is so different.

[Guest belloricky]

I understand the question . . . I can't tell you how many people have asked me "Wouldn't it have been cheaper/easier to put Ricky to sleep?" Even though he's obviously happy: no pain, great appetite, wagging tail.

We've kissed our IRA goodbye.

[marion]

For me the question is not how much I would spend but how much I NEED to

spend at the vet.

 

I ONLY go to the vet when it's absolutely necessary. I would spend any amount

if the hound NEEDS the vet treatment, I never take my hounds to the vet

just for check-ups although they are healthy, no dentals (no need), no nail

clipping (no need), no annual vaccines (I don't believe in annual vaccines),

no bathing, no annual blood panels.

[lovemydogs]

Chaos alone is about $8000.00/year (and for the last 5 years)...and worth every cent. With her weekly acupuncture treatments, she is like a new puppy!

 

This year alone, Capone has been over $3000.00 for knee surgeries, collection, acupuncture, etc.

 

There is no amount that is too much unless it is on something that will only give another day, or will prolong suffering of any kind.

[Guest GreyHndGirl]

I wish I could say I would be able to spend any amount that a vet required but unfortunately I can't. I know a lot of people have the opinion that if you can't afford to spend however much needs to be spent then you shouldn't have a dog. I completely disagree with that. Although I am not a millionaeire my pets are taken care of like they are 4 legged children. I love them with everything that I have and I would spend as much as I could possibly afford on vet bills. BUT I would not be able to go over an amount that would have me thrown in the street. Unfortunately I don't have my own house so taking a loan out on it isn't possible and unfortunately my landlords would not want to hear I couldn't pay my rent becasue my dog got sick. I hope and pray that it would never come to making that kind of decision.

[Guest Cindy_Messmore]

I voted $2001 - $3000 because that's where we've been already, I probably should have voted No Limit- Been there done that. I would not 2nd mtg the house. I have a Chihuahua whose knees will outlast us all !! We've had no life threatening illness (yet), thankfully.