How valuable is your pet?

[diverrick]

Last night my wife noticed her favorite cat was acting quite weird, and was favoring one front paw. It appeared to be swollen as well. Being as it was Friday night, we had no choice but to take the cat into a local emergency vet clinic for a check up. Turns out the cat was bitten by a rattlesnake somehow, but the Doc didn't come to that conclusion until we had run up a bill of over 1000.00! now what way do you go with that? Keep going, or put the animal down. My wife chose to fix it. so as of this morning, the cat is still in there, and the bill is still growing. I made the mistake of mentioning that it "was only a cat after all" and that we should consider pulling the plug. Now I am not only in debt, but in the doghouse as well. I was wondering what other think is a reasonable amount of money to spend on a family pet when it has an emergency. I am seriously considering pet insurance for the future.

 

[Kim]

Ouch!!! I'd get the insurance!

 

[Snowbear]

For those of us whose pets are our best and truest friends, they're priceless.

If you don't wanna put out the cash for a potential big bet bill, consider insurance. Just do your research - some companies are severely restrictive on what they'll cover!

 

[Spectre]

I was wondering what other think is a reasonable amount of money to spend on a family pet when it has an emergency.

In medication and emergency room bills, I spent about $2500 for the last 12 weeks of my cats life... between the two clots he threw due to Cardiopulminary Myopathy.

Seeing him trying to crouch down and stealthfully crawl through the grass with 3 legs as he hunted a porcupine twice his size... made it 100% worth it.

Like snowbear, my pets are my kids; simple as that.

 

[MikeC]

My thoughts are that the vets bills will be cheaper then a divorce...

I figure maybe two weeks on the couch for you.

 

[Snowbear]

... made it 100% worth it.

Yep - I tell people that my animals earn their keep (paid forward for always) in entertainment value

 

[asmith5]

Our animals are our only children. We would spend as much as we could afford to keep them healthy and alive. We would not bankrupt ourselves over a pet, but we would do everything we could to save them.

Andrew

 

[fairybasslet]

This is such a hard question to answer. How old the pet? What is the quality of life? I spent over $3,000 on a year old cat that developed feline leukemia. He had chemo and lived an extra 6 months, with good quality. When he started to go downhill again, they wanted to do a blood transfusion. I said no because it would just be prolonging the inevitable. He was going to die, no 2 ways about it. I also had another cat with recurring breast cancer. She had so many surgeries, I started going out with my vet. At least he didn't charge me for some of the surgeries. LOL! But that was before I was married and had a kid, and also before I was a single mom. Now, I really have other responsibilities. College for my kid to pay for for one BIG one. I don't think I would ever spend that kind of money again on a pet. Even though I love them to death (poor choice of words I guess) I think about all the cats and kittens who need homes and are euthanized because there's no one to adopt them. I'd rather give another animal a shot at decent life then go through heroic efforts and use up a lot of my savings. The trouble is, these costs kind of just sneak up on you. The vet does tests to find out whats wrong, and does more tests, and more tests plus the treatment. You almost spend it before you know what happened.

 

[nauifins73]

Our 6 mo old Lab was hit by a car her 1st time out snooping. We took her to the Vet and he said there was nothing he could do BUT there is a speciality clinic at K-State or one in Kansas City. "Speciality" should have told me something!! Took her anyway. Lots of x-rays and surgery on one hip - price was liveable $2,500.00. Then I get a call the next morning - the other hip needs the same type of surgery. The Vet didn't know that the day before?? How do you do one and then not the other? OK go ahead and do the 2nd one. Brought her home on antibiotics and she lasted 2 weeks. $5,000 +. Next one (he is already here) I need to get insurance on.

 

[MissyP]

For those of us whose pets are our best and truest friends, they're priceless.

I agree.... Didn't think twice about the bill when one of my horses contracted a neurological disease that cost $2500 to treat... When you take in a pet, you take on the responsibility for giving them the best quality of life & care. They didn't ask you to adopt them, and no doubt they weren't really given the choice since they can't speak for themselves.