Pets

[Kacie_bride]

How much are you willing to spend on your pets in an veterinary emergency situation?

[jeni740]

LOL so funny you ask this, I spent 1600.00 on my black cat a few years ago, and it was the best choice I have made, he is 7 now, and not too friendly and very fat, but every once in awhile he comes up and gives me a nose rub I think just to tell me he loves me. I have had him since he was a baby. Now the white cat, I just got him 5 months ago he is 3 and deaf, he also has asthma, which sometimes is costly he goes for chest xrays alot just to make sure everything is clear.He gives me kisses all day and all night to the point where it is a little much, I had to have him, he was 2 hours away at a shelter, but no one wanted my sweetie because he is deaf, I love my babies and would spend whatever I had to too keep them, oh and when I had to spend 1600.00 for bears surgery I was driving a 500.00 car LOL, I think they can use me in a you might be a redneck joke for that one.

[Kacie_bride]

I have 3 pets that live with me. I have Sadie (my dog) Blaze and Tiger Lilly (cats). I would spend every dime that I could get a hold of to save their lives. I would break myelf over it. I have been considering purchasing pet insurance. Has anyone ever had insurance on a pet? How good are the policies that you know of?

[ladymelissa]

It would really depend on the chances that she (our cat) had to recover and live a somewhat normal life. Sometimes the most humane choice is to put them to sleep. Money is not part of the equation.

[rainbowtreat]

I love my cats and I just had to put out almost $200 to get them both fixed. They have had their shots and all that stuff. They are in great health, no fleas etc. This is important as they are inside cats and we have kids. Now that we have kids and the cats were for them it is more important to keep them healthy. The kids would just die if soemthign happened to them. I wont break myself though. I have enoguh debt. I can't spend thousands of dollars on a cat when I cant even do that for myself. Not that I wouldnt want to. They are part of the family.

[SerendipityCrafts]

I really don't like cats but I would pay for medical care to save Hugh's cat because I care for Hugh.

The cat came to us because his ex told him that she would have the cat put down if we didn't take her. She told us that the cat bit her. I wasn't about to see an innocent animal put down so I told him to go get her. BTW - his ex got another cat a month later. :censored:

I wish my ex had told me beforehand that he was about to have our dogs put down. I would have saved them too.

[JennF]

We lost our cat to cancer last year. We spent quite a bit of money on treatments and changed a lot of our plans last year due to the expense. But we were always clear with the vet that we wanted there to be a reasonable chance that we'd be extending the happy portion of her life by a significant amount. When we reached the point where we were only going to buy weeks of time and even then it was stop gap we made the decision to let her go. We knew that we'd done everything that we could.

We got a certain amount of flack from friends around the time we started cancelling travel plans due to our tightened budget. But she was important to us.

And I agree...that's a decision everyone has to make deep down. Treating a pet with cancer required a lot of investment...financial and emotional. I'd do it again, but I hope I never have to.

[lea m]

Last year my staff got ill, there was something wrong with his nose, he was losing a lot of blood, the vet said it might be a tumour and prepare forthe worst! The bill can in at 800 pounds (roughly $1600) and it was only thrush in his nose! they treated it with caniston! I could of done it myself! But i didn't mind, as long as he were ok!

[Jenn060306]

I would spend as much as i could if it ment they would continue to have a good quality of life. When we had our black cat Sara, she was peeing everywhere and she got ring worm and nothing i did could make it better. We were told that getting her fixed may help the problem. But there was no garauntees. We couldn't afford to have her fixed so we were forced to give her to the humane society in hopes that they would be able to fix her up and find her a new home with a family who could afford to take care of her. She was very tiny and sweet so i'm sure she was able to find a good home.
My family dog passed out one afternoon after she came in from being outside. My mom and i rushed her to the clinic where she was given oxygen and everything. My mom was going to spend all the money possible to have her be ok. We really weren't expecting her to get sick. They found that her heart was enlarged and it was beginning to crush her lungs. They gave her meds and she went home with us that night. She lived another 9 months before she had a heart attack at home one night. My mom will fully admit that she should have let her go that day. But she wasn't ready too. Snowball was a huge part of our family. To this day we all get a little teary eyed about her not being with us anymore. There is talk of getting a new puppy soon. Maybe this Christmas since my mom is retired and home alot. The company would be nice for her.

[WebLady]

I have pet insurance so I don't have to worry as much, however I still have to come up with the money upfront and file a claim for reimbursement of a certain percentage of the cost.

My dog Roxy broke her leg not too long ago (she was 4 1/2 mos old at the time) and she had to have a plate and screws put in to fix the leg. Between the emergency visit, the surgery and follow up care, it cost us a little over $3,000! It wasn't fun emotionally or financially, but she is young and will heal and be back to normal. There were a few people that we know (not really friends) that said things like "She is just a dog" :bbrolleyes:

Now if she was senior age or the vets told us it would never heal right or something then I may have just set the leg and let her have a crooked leg for whatever life she had left.

I will do whatever I can to care for my dogs, they are like my kids and I love them. But like Lacey said, if it was something really bad and the vets couldn't give me good odds on the treatment giving them back a normal life then I would have to consider what was best for their quality of life as well as my finances.

I had a Rottweiler puppy when I was about 18 and he fell off the back porch and broke his hip (my mothers fault because she was suppose to be watching him and not letting him play with her big dog) the vet said he'd never walk again with a $3,000 surgery that I couldn't afford at the time ... so I had to put him down. So when DH and I decided to get our dogs, we knew we would have to be prepared for accidents.

I think being a responsible pet owner is sort of like being a parent in alot of ways ... but in alot of ways it is easier which is why I prefer being a pet parent ;)

[racecargirl]

My pets are my children. I would spend whatever was necessary to keep them healthy.

[cowboysbride]

We would do whatever needed to be done, our horses are our babies and the cows and dogs and cat get whatever needed!

[WebLady]

I have 3 pets that live with me. I have Sadie (my dog) Blaze and Tiger Lilly (cats). I would spend every dime that I could get a hold of to save their lives. I would break myelf over it. I have been considering purchasing pet insurance. Has anyone ever had insurance on a pet? How good are the policies that you know of?
I have VPI Pet Insurance (http://www.petinsurance.com/) for both my dogs. It runs us about $30 a month, but I'm sure the fee varies by breed and age and such.

You still have to pay upfront and file a claim for reimbursement, but it helps. We are looking at getting about half back from Roxy's leg break (about $1500) and it should cover almost all of her spay.

We haven't had to use it for Enzo (hope we never do) but we are sure glad we had it for Roxy.

[Kacie_bride]

I have VPI Pet Insurance (http://www.petinsurance.com/) for both my dogs. It runs us about $30 a month, but I'm sure the fee varies by breed and age and such.

You still have to pay upfront and file a claim for reimbursement, but it helps. We are looking at getting about half back from Roxy's leg break (about $1500) and it should cover almost all of her spay.

We haven't had to use it for Enzo (hope we never do) but we are sure glad we had it for Roxy.

Thanks. Is it for only emergency care or can you use it for routine procedures like shots and flea mediciation?

[WebLady]

Thanks. Is it for only emergency care or can you use it for routine procedures like shots and flea mediciation?
I think they have plans for both ... check out the website for more info ;)

[Orgirl1969]

It would really depend on the chances that she (our cat) had to recover and live a somewhat normal life. Sometimes the most humane choice is to put them to sleep. Money is not part of the equation.

I love my girls (cats, Chloe and Zoey) but I wouldn't put a financial strain on my family for them. And I agree, sometimes the most humane thing is to put them out of their misery and let them rest.

[Kacie_bride]

I think they have plans for both ... check out the website for more info ;)

Thank you. I have been checking it out.

[WebLady]

Thank you. I have been checking it out.
Funny, you reminded me to look at our policies again. I haven't been sending in claims for all the flea and heart-worm preventive stuff when I should have been ;)

[MOB Karen]

I love them, but I would not spend more that $500 to save their lives. :laugh:

Ok, I'm losing Tyson anyway. I'm going to be moving in with my sister, Jody, and she doesn't want me to bring a pit bull with me. Now Tyson has sentimental ties to me. He's the son of my baby girl, Diva, who I had to put down because she was having non-stop seizures (Valley Fever), that the phenobarbital wasn't even controlling anymore. And he is the brother of Amber's dog, Sassy. He is also the son of my son's dog, Haze. So, I don't want to lose him from the family. He will be going with Crystal, who is my grandbaby's Mother, and she was one of Amber's BM. That's a relief!!! :sweatdrop:

I will never get rid of Snoop because he was my Dad's dog, and he gave him to us because Snoop was killing his baby rabbits. My Daddy used to raise lop-eared rabbits before he died. Snoop is going to be 13 years old in January, so that's like 91 in dog years. So he probably doesn't have much longer to live anyway. :sob:

As for Dora, she's my cat and she's coming with me. Even though Jody doesn't like cats, she doesn't have a problem with me having her.

The reason I'm going to be moving in with Jody is first and foremost, she asked me to. But Jody doesn't have a mortgage payment and we will be sharing only the utility bills. I will have plenty of money and have the companionship of my sister who needs me. Also, this means that in June 2012, I can retire at age 56 and not ever have to work again!!! Yay!!! :lafhard:

[Kacie_bride]

I said I would spend every penny I could to save them, but I also want to say that I would not pay money when there was no or little chance for them to be saved. I do believe that sometimes the best thing to do is to put them to sleep. But if there was a good chance, even for a large sum of money, I would do it.

[Kacie_bride]

http://myspace-178.vo.llnwd.net/01111/87/17/1111817178_l.jpg

Here is Sadie. She is the black dog. The other dog is my parent's dog, Sam. They love to play!

[mariaandmanish]

I would spend as much as I needed to in order to help my pet, just as I would for a child. I plan on getting pet insurance by I haven't done that yet. Hopefully I will get it soon. Pets are really expensive!! lol.

[mariaandmanish]

And thanks, Brandi for the link to that site. I am definitely going to look into it!