Pets $$$$

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
My friend has a 13yo Jack Russell who all of a sudden lost use of one of his front legs. She took him in and it turned out to be a ruptured disc in his spinal cord. She spent close to $10k getting it repaired.

At what point do you spend the money vs. euthanize the dog?

I love Gretel dearly and she's a young pooch, but I couldn't justify spending $10k on her. That's a lot of money, especially with no guarantees.
 

thurley42

HY;FR
My friend has a 13yo Jack Russell who all of a sudden lost use of one of his front legs. She took him in and it turned out to be a ruptured disc in his spinal cord. She spent close to $10k getting it repaired.

At what point do you spend the money vs. euthanize the dog?

I love Gretel dearly and she's a young pooch, but I couldn't justify spending $10k on her. That's a lot of money, especially with no guarantees.
My bulldog had an aggressive cancer we found last summer. We took him to Annapolis and the Dr. said it wasn't going away, but he could remove what's there to give him a better quality of life for an undetermined amount of time. It was 12k, and we got our puppy back for a few months, but ultimately, he succumbed to the cancer in January...yeah I spent 12k to get another 6 months with my dog..some would think its stupid, but i would do it again in a heartbeat.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
My bulldog had an aggressive cancer we found last summer. We took him to Annapolis and the Dr. said it wasn't going away, but he could remove what's there to give him a better quality of life for an undetermined amount of time. It was 12k, and we got our puppy back for a few months, but ultimately, he succumbed to the cancer in January...yeah I spent 12k to get another 6 months with my dog..some would think its stupid, but i would do it again in a heartbeat.

See, I would have never done that.

But I'm sorry about your pooch :(
 

thurley42

HY;FR
See, I would have never done that.

But I'm sorry about your pooch :(
Thank you! He was one of a kind.
Bogey.png
 

Sneakers

Just sneakin' around....
PREMO Member
I spent less than that on my own back surgery, but I had insurance. There is also pet insurance which would offset most of the costs, but few have it.

I could not, right now, say I would or wouldn't spend that much on a pet. Emotions change everything.
 

Kyle

Beloved Misanthrope
PREMO Member
I can say that I probably spent a lot more than others would to heal or enhance the quality of life for some of my companions. Emma had a couple of surgeries. One of my shepherds had hip surgery.

I’m always kinda looked at it like, is it going to fix what’s wrong or is it just going to extend their misery?

if it’s going to heal them and give them more time, in the case of Emma, the cancer did eventually come back, I was more than willing to plunk it down. She lasted another 2 1/2 years after that and they were pretty good until about the last six months.

I can’t see putting an animal through things like chemo or radiation, bombardments, etc.

There’s no way they can understand what is happening to them is meant to help them, and my personal opinion is it probably only causes them more stress every time they make a trip to the vet for what they probably perceive is torture.
 

stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
I spent less than that on my own back surgery, but I had insurance. There is also pet insurance which would offset most of the costs, but few have it.

I could not, right now, say I would or wouldn't spend that much on a pet. Emotions change everything.
Three Goldens so far. All had insurance. I wouldn't have a dog without pet insurance.
 

luvmygdaughters

Well-Known Member
We were really blessed with our dogs. Our 1st four-legged daughter was very healthy, took her to the vets for her yearly checkups and her flea and tick meds. She was always healthy and happy. Had her for 18 years. Our 2nd four-legged daughter was pretty much the same way; she was four years old when we got her (rescue). We had her for 8-9 years, she developed this lump on the side of her neck, took her to the vet, it was cancer. Wasn't sure of the total cost but somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 thousand. We decided to have her put down, there was no guarantee the surgery would help. She was 12-13 years old, it was a tough decision to make, but we think we gave her a good happy life and was comfortable with our decision.
 

stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
I haven’t looked into that recently but years ago when I first saw it, it was hard to find any place that even took the insurance and I wasn’t willing to change vets.
Most vets don't "take it." You pay for the service, then file the paperwork with the insurance company. I had VPI which was purchased by Nationwide. Usually took about 2 weeks to get reimbursed.
 
Top