Stupid dog

Theo is a three year old Beagle Bull Mastiff mix. He is 110 pounds of dedicated and lovable stupid. He is a good boy and he is sick.

He is sitting at this moment at the veterinarian waiting for me to authorize an $800 surgical procedure. Understand that this is an $800 procedure on a dog that was dragged home by an adult child and then when she couldn't afford to feed him he ended up on my couch. Not that he's allowed to be on the furniture. He just forgets. Until he sees me. Then he barks at himself and he gets off the couch. (God I wish I was joking)

So what is the most that YOU would pay to keep a fur baby alive?

It depends on the situation. Is it a band aid that will come back, or is it a broken leg that will be fixed after the surgery? What is the life expectancy? How old is he now?

I don't know where the end number is, but I can tell you it's a lot more than $800.

Been there, it sucks. My Lab ate a toy which got stuck in his intestines. I was ~1200 IIRC

We paid about $4500 to correct bloat on our Akita. Most would say that is ridiculous, myself included. But we buried our (at the time) only son a few months before. Neither one of us could take another loss right then. We'd have spend $4500 to save a feeder goldfish at that point.
We are happy we did. She was a young dog, I think we got 9 more years with her after that.

If he's family...

I'm paying $2700 to have a non-cancerous cyst removed on Guinness, my 9 year old pekingese. He is in pain and can't use his front leg at all.

It's absolutely worth it...

Stupid dog

mtn wrote: It depends on the situation. Is it a band aid that will come back, or is it a broken leg that will be fixed after the surgery? What is the life expectancy? How old is he now? I don't know where the end number is, but I can tell you it's a lot more than $800.

Yeah, this.

My dad and step-mom paid 5 figures to save a cat with heart failure. My limit for pets is about a grand.

That said, my sister is a vet. They are a negotiable bunch by and large, ask about knocking off some on the procedure or see if the vet has a need you can help with (paint office, replace brakes, etc.)

We paid about $2500 for surgery to remove a walnut from our Husky's intestines after it got lodged in there. He loved to chew on them but we never realized he swallowed one until he was very ill. Unfortunately 3 days post surgery a blood clot got loose and went to his brain and he was not responsive to the mouth to snout resuscitation. He was such a good boy. This incident just furthered my hate for that black walnut tree.

mtn wrote: It depends on the situation. Is it a band aid that will come back, or is it a broken leg that will be fixed after the surgery? What is the life expectancy? How old is he now? I don't know where the end number is, but I can tell you it's a lot more than $800.

This. We replaced both knees on our Border Collie mix. She, to date, has been our most expensive endeavor. In surgeries alone she put us back close to $4k. she's now 14 and nearing the end. I'd gladly spend that money all over again to have those years with her.

We spent about $300 on our rabbit earlier this year, over a period of several visits & tests, but unfortunately whatever his digestive issue was, we couldn't get it diagnosed or treated in time. That was after paying ~$300 to treat our daughter's geriatric cat(he's still doing well), and another ~$300 diagnosing another ill cat(which ended up being cancer). So, of course after all that I got another rabbit...

We paid a little over $2.5k to have half of our Aussies lower jaw removed when he had developed a growth bad enough it was causing him not to eat.

Mac lived for another 4 years after that with his tongue hanging out all dopily.

The issue is quality of life vs quantity. Will he recover? 800 is a screamingly good deal. Will he not recover very well and only be around to keep you happy?

From your earlyer text messages I think your doing the right thing

For cats, I keep in mind that boxes of free kittens are literally everywhere. Anything more than a co-pay and they are in trouble.

For dogs, I weight the cost against my kids. The day I tell my kid he/she can't have braces because of a pet surgery is the day I jump off a bridge. I love my dogs, but $400 is about the max they would ever get.

I have daughters, and I don't want to have stripper daughters, so I paid $1800 to get their dog treated after it ate a Costco pack of sugar-free gum. When the dog was ok again, I announced a lifetime limit of $2000 and everyone agreed.

I guess I must also add the caveat that the wife and I have no children. So, to us, the dogs ARE our children, but less cost for school, clothes and healthcare.

My limit is substantially less than everyone else so far.

I'll just leave it at that.

When we had Rufus he needed some medical attention but had to be put down before the time came (also a long story).

We inherited our son's cat some time ago, when it came to "exploratory surgery" I suggested bullets are only twenty eight cents. I was told I was a heartless bastard.

With the critter du jour, Stella, I'm pretty sure Trish would rent herself out by the hour, sell cars or maybe the house to keep her happy and healthy. It's a personal choice that I disagree with, but it's her choice.

Dan

We paid almost 5k for surgery on one of our dogs and probably as much or more caring for an elderly cat. I don't know what our limit is, but we haven't found it yet and I hope we're always able to give them the care they need.

We dropped $1400 trying to keep our last lab alive, but unfortunately the vet called us after 3 hrs on the operating table and said she wasn't going to make it. . . . . . . and this was on Christmas Eve.

It was tough telling the kids.

I'm actually going through this with my current dog. At birth, she was a champion yellow lab retriever, champion and certified blood line. She was gifted to my (late) father by family friends who had bred her, and he promptly ruined her. At 4 years old now, and well over 100lbs, she is developing signs of cancer and sickness, and my dad is now gone. So me and my mom are going back and forth at what to do. Frankly, I can't afford to dump thousands of dollars into well, anything, but especially this dog that was essentially dumped into our lap.

What is making decisions more difficult is my 18 month old daughter. I'm thinking if the dog is going to get sick or go away, it should happen sooner rather than later, to spare sad angry child syndrome at age 3 or 5, and just get her a puppy when she's older.

I like that $2000 lifetime limit idea though. I mean, if you can afford to take care of the pet, by all means. I completely understand them being part of the family, and everything that comes with that. But I've also had dogs dumped in my lap for years at a time by owners that just couldn't or wouldn't take care of them, so my days of wanting to be rescue guy are about over.

When my Lab was 12 years old we had to get a growth removed and a couple other procedures done. Wife and I are both very logical when it comes to expenses like that, so before getting the bill we both put a "magic number" at which our spending limit would be to save him. We both came up with $1K as our limit. Luckily for our dog the bill came to $850.

Ended up putting him down 1.5 years later.

Last year we adopted a 5 year old pitbull from the shelter for free (2015 Clear the Shelter Day). That damn thing has captured our hearts so badly we would probably re-fi the house for her.

My friend just spent $6k for back surgery on a Yorkie. The dog is still crippled - it's just not going to die soon.

My dogs might be treated like family... but someone has to be practical when we are talking about college money. I expect that would make me the bad guy if it came to it but there is no "Taking out a loan" for pet medical treatment around here.

Cotton wrote: We paid almost 5k for surgery on one of our dogs and probably as much or more caring for an elderly cat. I don't know what our limit is, but we haven't found it yet and I hope we're always able to give them the care they need.

Agreed, with one addition: as long as we can keep them happy. The 14 year old was diagnosed with spleen cancer and 6 months to go. When we asked what we could do, the vet just said keep her happy. When she starts to decline it'll be noticeable because she'll stop eating and want to be left alone. That was over 3 years ago... and she still runs for food and always wants to be near me. But the instant that stops.... it's time to let her go. I don't want an animal in pain or discomfort.