View Full Version : What have you spent on vet bills?
There are lots of schools of thought about spending money on pets. If you want to, tell us where your ideas fall.
1. Nothing much. When they get sick they die.
2. A bit if I absolutely have to, but not much.
3. If they are young and healthy enough, probably.
4. I will go into debt for my critters.
5. The vet has the credit card number, do whatever.
And any reasons why.
We spend about $200 per year for the dog's annual checkup which includes bloodwork, nail trimming and annual meds for ticks and heartworm+ other problems prevention.
Quite frankly, I would have a hard making a decision re cost for expenses beyond this as I rarely spend any more for myself. Let me think. DH and I have decided that we have a Do Not Resuscitate for ourselves so would not do this for our dog. We would not have extensive tests or major surgery that may not help for our pet. We would do an expensive medication route for the short term like a year or less but longterm, no.
Probably we would choose #2 above as our conservative and compassionate vet has and would indicate the probable outcome of the options and the quality of life thereafter.
It is really tough at times but we have usually had a very clear direction to decide with our pets like severe sudden incapacity due to old age.
Blackdog Lin
2-23-12, 8:12pm
We love her. She is the light of the household, the adored baby, and the only one in the household who is every day GENUINELY DELIGHTED when I walk in the door from work. Would 'twere that DH acted half as happy to see me. We are both ridiculous middle-aged empty-nester pet lovers. And she is becoming elderly, and we can't stand the thought that she may be gone from us some year soon.
That said, I fall somewhere between #'s 3 and 4. I would spend considerable sums of money to preserve her life (if she wasn't in pain), but not to the point of going into debt.
ETA: I looked it up on my Quicken: we spent $371.95 on her last year, even with her allergies; and she is certainly worth that.
And she was a free stray, but her third year in the household got hit by a car and we spent over $900.00 to save her. So we call her our "$900.00 dog".
And she has ended up being worth every penny.....
We have had a number of cats over the years and have had the same vet for over 30 years. We fall between 3 and 4. We will not do extreme measures but will do whatever is necessary to provide pain free last days to a pet, with cancer for example. We pay attention to diet, body condition, activity, and try to get issues taken care of early. I have given SubQ fluids, daily medicine, shots, etc.
When they start talking exploratory surgery or chemotherapy, I give the talk about my personal beliefs to my vet. He knows what I will say but still gives me the options, just in case. Note that I have not mentioned cost since we truly could pay for anything the vet could suggest without going into debt. It is not a matter of cost but of quality of life and personal belief.
I have been able to live with our decisions so it is right for us.
Number 3. I was brought up with LOTS of animals none of whom received any treatment, so it was all quite rough and ready - we were a bit if an unofficial animal shelter without financial support :). So we fed them and loved them and if they got sick enough, they died. Having said that, though, most of them lived out a natural length of life.
Now I only have 2 animals (and when they die, I don't plan on any more) and when they needed something, they got it especially as they are both rescue animals which often seem to come with special needs (eg feline aids). But, like Sweetana, it would stop before chemotherapy etc. Meantime, they get really good food.
I will fess up to being #2.
We don't go to the Dr much for people or animals.
I do seriously need to get the dog and cat into a rabies clinic soon. They've seen an increase in rabies in AR and it'll make it's way up here. Skunks mostly right now.
No pets now, but as a kid growing up on a farm, cats got #1 and dogs got #2. Horses #3.
Since I put my foot down and our cats are inside only critters, we've spent very little. When our boy was young, he had a couple of urethra blockages, which can be fatal in 24 hours, and those were expensive; close to $600 each. Came out of savings, and we replenished with economies elsewhere. I'll never again have an outdoor cat, no matter where I live.
iris lily
2-24-12, 12:07am
We've done nothing but run to veterinary offices for the past 5 weeks. I will not total it up. Money for vet bills isn't a problem for us at this time with both of us working. But I would not go into debt for it. I haven't had debt in 25 years and I'm not going to start now.
It is very hard when you've got a very youthful animal and money is tight.
Tonight at the vets there was a family of 3 children and a mom and dad. They were putting their big black lab to sleep. She was having trouble walking, but she wasn't all that old (10 years) and she was bright eyed and happy. She was a huge lab, 130 lbs, so the family was having trouble managing her. I felt so sad for them.
Our Frenchies have had a variety of ailments lately. Our eldest one had a severe case of pneumonia last week. I didn't think she was going to pull out of it, but she did. She's had at least 3 respiratory events in the past 9 months, and each time, they hit her harder. She is clearly a senior citizen dog, but she enjoys life.
Her daughter, the bratty one who bites me, was x-rayed for kidney stones and fortunately, she is clear of the stones. She would have had to have surgery and at 10 years, I would have taken her to a specialist. Glad I don't have to do that.
crunchycon
2-24-12, 5:35am
Probably between 3 and 4. We have 4-one an elderly Lab who gets thyroid and supplements to help (I hope) with our quality of life. We're a couple who have no kids -- these gals are the center of our lives.
Oh this is something that has really changed in the life time of sharing my life with Dogs. (Horse ownership was different)
Years ago it was a rabies shot every three years and a license, a few toys and food. What happened to those days??????
NOW, heartworm tests, preventative, flea and tick preventative, every vaccine they offer (out of guilt I give these), suppliments along with food.
I love my dogs, but with the last few years have been over the top for me. I had my two senior chihuahuas put down at new years :( This left me with my best jogging buddy. Then two weeks ago the adoption of my new buddy. The shelter asked how much I thought a dog would cost me per year....gasping I said $600-$800. That week with adoption price and both girls to the vet for checkups and spring heartworm/tick/flea and blood tests and some goodies... $550.
My saying is there is no such thing as a free kitten or puppy.
#3. Definitely would not go into debt. We've had to make difficult decisions with two cats in the past couple of years. One was very young but had some kind of mental problem that caused her to eat non-food items that caused a blockage. We, very sadly and with great difficulty and lasting trauma for me, the one who took her to the vet, had her euthanized. The second was only 5 but suddenly became very ill. Vets thought she would pull through and we spent more than I've ever spent on a cat before. She did not. Also very traumatic because I knew she was in pain and I knew that she loved and trusted me to take care of her. She was one of the most loving cats I've ever had.
goldensmom
2-24-12, 9:34am
#6--Cash, do whatever. I chose to have pets so I chose to take the responsibility to keep them healthy. Thus far the biggest one time bill for one dog was >$1700.00 (specialist plus a panel of tests). Growing up we had farm cats at no cost, no vet, no shots, they lived in the barn and ate mice, grain, eggs they stole from the chickens and milk my brothers gave them while milking the cows.
I won't let my pets suffer at all so if there is infection or sickness I will go to the vet. However, I probably wouldn't do chemotherapy or major surgeries. I've only had cats and only one at a time so I've never had huge bills (probably the biggest was for x-rays, once an ultra-sound). My cats are always inside and I think that helps a lot.
Another household in the #6 -- cash, do whatever category. We've got personal relationships with more than a half-dozen veterinary specialists in the northeast. The most extreme spending, to date, was back surgery for our 16 y.o. three-legged cattle dog, which was followed by two rounds of chemotherapy when an MRI revealed that he had lymphoma. Let's just say the total bill was chunky, but it was worth every penny. We've already priced out the cost of a kidney transplant for our cat who has mid-stage renal failure, just in case we decide to go that route later this year. Which reminds me, he needs to go see the kitty cardiologist next month. :|(
HumboldtGurl
2-24-12, 10:26am
Ah, a topic I'm intimately acquainted with.
I love my dogs more than anything. Would I go into debt to care for their medical needs? Ugh. Tough questions.
We went into debt when our Jerry was fighting cancer, and he was uninsured. The costs ran into the thousands and although we managed to pay off the debt within a year of his amputation and treatments, I vowed to never be in medical debt again.
When Wyatt Ray, our newest pup, came along, we got him insured. He has a high deductible policy (like we do, only his deductible is $250 and not $12,000!) that will cover him for catastrophes and cancer but not hereditary conditions. Should he need care for the hip displaysia that will eventually affect him, I will need to ask some hard questions and hopefully I will have enough $$ saved to cover his needs.
At Tripawds, the canine amputee community I run, I tell people: Your dogs do NOT want you to be miserable, especially if they are facing terminal cancer, when every day is a gift and all they want is to make the most of it. If being in debt will make you worried and stressed out, your dogs will know and they will mirror your emotions. This gives cancer the upper hand. Money worries are not the way to spend those last remaining days with your dog.
I know many, many people who have paid $10,000 and more to fight cancer, that sometimes bought them a couple of years, sometimes just a couple of months. I know why they do it, but I also know that to an animal, every day is now. They do not know what a calendar is, or a prognosis, nor have a concept of death. All they want is to make the most of each and every day.
If someone has limited funds to pay for treatment, one of the best things they can do for their animal is to live as they do, taking each day as it comes and making the most of it. Debt worries will definitely interfere with the beauty of living in the Now.
Routine maintenance, of course (annual shots, exam, etc.). Special food IF (and only if) necessary, and treatments for injuries (cat got his butt kicked in a fight, dog got hit by a car once and lived to tell the tale). No extreme measures, though, like dialysis or radiation/chemotherapy. If the cat or dog is that sick, he or she will be put down. There's no way I would have been able to afford those treatments, credit card or no credit card. However, we are soon to be getting two new cats this week (!) but will keep them indoors, so they probably will be healthier and live longer than my wild-thing former cat, Man Ray.
HumboldtGurl
2-24-12, 10:31am
Oh this is something that has really changed in the life time of sharing my life with Dogs. (Horse ownership was different)
Years ago it was a rabies shot every three years and a license, a few toys and food. What happened to those days??????
NOW, heartworm tests, preventative, flea and tick preventative, every vaccine they offer (out of guilt I give these), suppliments along with food.
I love my dogs, but with the last few years have been over the top for me
Now, we have the technical ability to give animals a quality of life they've never had before. Unfortunately there's a price tag attached to it. Look at it this way: many of the medical therapies, like cancer treatments, that were developed for humans were first perfected on dogs who were also suffering from the disease. Together we all benefit from advanced veterinary care.
One of the ways we can lower our vet bills and reduce the needs for flea & tick treatments & expensive supplements is to start with the healthiest diet we can afford to give. For me, a balance of raw and home cooked foods along with premium kibble has kept our Wyatt healthy, flea free (we've never given him flea meds!) and away from the vet other than a yearly physical. He's a German Shepherd, so that's no small feat!
jennipurrr
2-24-12, 10:50am
I fall around number 3. I had a beloved lab who at age 6 got ill very quickly. They weren't sure what it was...looked like an issue with the spleen. We did surgery to remove it. Then he didn't get better and the spleen came back cancerous. We discussed chemotherapy, but he was already gravely ill and the vet said chemo would give him a couple more months, and not at a great quality of life either. All in all we spent about $1000 on that and I don't regret it. I would not spend much more than that however. I am not really interested in costly, life prolonging treatments for myself either.
Other than that our animals get routine care. The vet said once every 3 years is fine for the cats, and I usually drag out the dogs at about 1.5 years per visit. The dogs get hw meds year round since we live in the South, lots of mosquito. With both my kitties getting to be up there in age, I am thinking about bringing them in more often for a check up. We feed them Chicken Soup for the Dogs Soul kibble which seems to be a good balance of quality and price. I spend a lot on pet care...last year we spent $2,037.31 for 3 dogs and 2 cats.
Probably a 2 or 3 here. I'm used to taking on a little more animal health care duty than some people would be comfortable with because I was raised on a ranch in the middle of nowhere and that's just how we did it. DW would flush ears and put drops in eyes, but not much past that. Anyway, our sweet old lab pound puppy is about 12. Youngest DD is 16 and a sophomore in HS. Simple math and a law of averages put them both leaving the house at around the same time. That's not said to be morbid, it just is what it is. While we won't replace Lucky because we want to be a little footloose for a while we will do what it takes to make sure she has a good quality of life and no pain as she goes through her twilight years. I work from home so her and I are rarely separated by more than a few feet. I figure I owe her the same love and loyalty that she's shown me for so long.
We are willing to spend what it takes to keep our two dogs healthy, but are unlikely to go into debt for heroic life-extension efforts, which oftentimes are for the owner more than the pet. I'm unwilling to spend hundreds or thousands on invasive procedures just to have them around me longer (with the pain, confusion, suffering, and degraded quality of life for THEM) If a dog is young and has lots of life ahead, and its prognosis for a normal, pain-free life is good, that's one thing. Putting an aging pet through the trauma of surgery just to extend their life by a few months? Nope. Mine have earned more respect than that...not on our agenda.
When we were going through our cat's illness last year, DH pointed out that she was receiving better medical care than many people in the U.S.
That was a reminder of how lucky we are.
Being a holistic-minded person, my dog was fed a homemade raw diet, minimally vaccinated, and I used homeopathic remedies and all kinds of supplements. It was only later when she had malignant mammary tumors (thanks to the former owners who waited to have her spayed) that the bills piled up. In the later years I used chiropractic and acupuncture, which were expensive. She did live to 15 yrs. old. I wouldn't change a thing. If something would save and extend a quality life, I might go into debt.
As a horse owner, you have to learn how to do quite a few things on your own, like wound or injury care. My horse will be 27 next month so every little thing worries me to death. With the internet, educating yourself on your pet's care is easy and there are many things I wouldn't use a vet to treat, but some things I would.
The best food you can afford is one of the best preventatives for your pet's health.
I am 2-3, depending on the specifics. Last year, He Who Must Be Obeyed (feline, 13yo) was prescribed arthritis medication. It got him back to jumping up on furniture and licking his entire anatomy in front of company, and it goes in his food so he barely notices he's taking it.
A previous vet, several years back, said HWMBO might need back surgery someday. I can't see inflicting back surgery on a cat, who may never recover fully and will definitely never understand the point of it. But I will happily spend the same amount of money on food additives and/or cortisone. I mostly worry about HWMBO getting something slow or chronic where there is no obvious decision point, only a slowly worsening quality of life.
I also think I am lucky to have enough disposable income that I can choose to make quality of life my main concern re: pet expenses. Plenty of people choose differently (and there's nothing wrong with that) or don't have the option at all.
Depends on the age of the animal, its projected quality of life, the prospects of success, and half a dozen other things.
The budget isn't the issue so much, it's the situation. I spent a small fortune once on a Newfoundland with a heart condition, but it was a research project, and the results helped many other dogs. Including several of my later dogs.
I have a Basset with some serious problems right now, she's 10 years old, we're just dealing with keeping her quality of life high, but not doing anything especially heroic, it'd be cruel almost to subject her to that.
I had a 2 two old Portuguese Water Dog, one of the most promising dogs I've ever had, develop serious liver problems, we spent a lot on the diagnosis, not much on treatment, nothing really to be done. My current PWD is his sister, she's 9 now.
Depends on the age of the animal, its projected quality of life, the prospects of success, and half a dozen other things.
Agreed.
I spent thousands on chemo for a cat just to keep him comfortable when he had lymphoma. The chemo reduced swelling so he could eat, drink, and breathe normally. I'm very fortunate. Even though Arthur eventually succumbed, he received better care than many Americans, and the vet treated him like a celebrity.
On the other hand, I have an 18 year old cat that has many chronic diseases that we are managing, and that has probably cost thousands as well. If she were diagnosed with something terminal, I wouldn't spend much on heroic measures. She has had a long happy life and every day I have had with her in the last seven years has been a gift.
Wildflower
2-26-12, 4:47am
I have spent quite a bit on vet bills over the years, considering that we've had several cats and dogs over the past 30 years or more. It always comes down to quality of life for me. If they are still enjoying life than it is all worth it to me. Once we see them begin to suffer in any way then we have them humanely euthanized. My pets are members of my family and for as much joy as they bring me I feel great responsibility in giving them good health care when they need it.
Blackdog Lin
2-26-12, 7:42pm
You know.....I don't mean to be politically incorrect or start a polarized discussion here or anything.....but it hit me reading this thread that we all seem to agree that our beloved pets deserve to be put out of their pain when their quality of life declines beyond helping. I myself would hope for the same, for me, and for my loved ones.
Maybe a topic for another thread?
When my dog was euthanized, it was so peaceful. I thought it would be a lovely thing to be able to do that to a sick/dying person.
Anything it takes to get them well....they are my kids.
iris lily
2-27-12, 10:27am
You know.....I don't mean to be politically incorrect or start a polarized discussion here or anything.....but it hit me reading this thread that we all seem to agree that our beloved pets deserve to be put out of their pain when their quality of life declines beyond helping. I myself would hope for the same, for me, and for my loved ones.
Maybe a topic for another thread?
Playing devil's advocate, if you withhold all of the high end treatment that modern medicine offers, very ill people don't last long. You (the generic you) don't have to pull a plug, Mother Nature takes over. But sure, if someone is conscious and lucid and it's been determined by objective sources that the ill person will not get better, society should respect the wish of the sick person to not continue life. Those instances are few, most people near death aren't lucid and clear thinking.
The best dog death we've had here was also for the best dog ever. She was elderly, had something neurological going on, and she sank into a deep sleep in the afternoon and died at home in the early evening. We didn't have the last minute trip to the vet which is always stressful for a sick animal.
HumboldtGurl
2-27-12, 11:38am
We didn't have the last minute trip to the vet which is always stressful for a sick animal.
Oh yeah. Thank Dog for new animal hospice services that will come to your home. Lots of progressive work being done there to minimize the stress for everyone involved. The key to being able to take advantage of it, however, is to pull oneself out of denial and be prepared for the inevitable. Knowing what to expect and having things in order like this can result in a peaceful death, which is what we all want and deserve.
Sorry, OT I know!
When I had hedgehogs, we spent several hundred dollars paying for Invermectin (sp?) treatments because they had fur mites. Ugh.
My friend Rosie, on the other hand, just lost her cat to a myriad of illnesses. They had an animal hospice service at the end, and before that, many meds (I think cat was diabetic). And last year their dog was attacked by a bigger dog and required thousands of dollars in surgery. Yikes!
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