Friend of mine just told me she's looking at $1,500 in vet bills AT LEAST for her two cats who are 17 1/2 years old. One is losing weight rapidly and the other has two massive tumors.


What would you do? Is that just too much for that old of a cat or is it just fine?

I'm not a cat person so I'll refrain from commenting on how little $$ I would say was too much for a cat ;-)

My girls have a cat, so I would do what I could, I suppose.... I have a gf who had an 18 yr old cat. Cat was a walking skeleton. Had to give her IV fluids every day, etc., but she was a part of their family and they did what they had to do.

I had 2 labs that cost a pretty penny in terms of medical bills.... but as long as I could maintain their quality of life with medical treatment, that's what I did. It's part of one's responsibility as a pet owner, IMHO.

My daughter's horse broke a non-weight bearing bone in his leg last year.... I drove to where we board our horses every day (30 miles each way) to medicate him and wrap his leg, before and after his surgery. About 12 weeks total. Talk about $$. But he's as good as new and my daughter did very well with him in one of the local horse show circuits last year....

Jen

At any given time $30 is my max. if it costs more than that

I think it depends on the situation. If you're talking about an older cat, and you are just prolonging it's life or it's suffering in doing so... then I would say that it's more humane just to put them down. On the other hand, if it's a young animal, and once the problem is fixed, they would be perfectly healthy... I don't see why not.

In my own situation, I spent about $1200.00 on my male cat. He had a urinary blockage, which required him to be catheterized for it to clear up. He was only two years old at the time, and otherwise perfectly healthy. We caught it early and he had no other health problems, so I had no real problem in spending that much to save his life. Almost two years later, he's happy, healthy, on a special diet, and hasn't had any re-occuring problems.

Seriously, if you're not going to at least take responsibility for your animal's yearly vet visits, then you shouldn't own an animal. In my area, yearly check-ups and shots are about $65 per animal, and that's at a discount clinic.

No idea. We spent almost 800 to bring him to the States, he better not die on me Now seriously, it's like Arazia said, it depends on the situation, my cat is almost 2 years olds, he's young, I would be devastated if something happened to him in an early age. But if he was in an old age I don't know.

My sister has already spent at least $2100 on two of her dogs this year. $800 was to extract something her puppy swallowed, and $1300 to remove a tumor from her older aussie. And I'm sure there will be more vet bills this year for her, especially for her blind dog.

For me, I have no money to spend on pets. My cats are lucky I manage to feed them.

17 1/2 yrs old is quite old, but i guess if she feels its worth it, then she should spend the money for them. Only she can determine this. When my dog was in the last months of his life, i spent over $1,500 on his care. I probably would have spent anything to be honest. I loved him so much and still a year later i still miss him loads

I would spend any amount if it was likely the cat would recover and be able to have a happy, healthy, normal life afterwards. I have a co-worker who has a 23-year-old cat in perfect health except for being deaf in one ear, so 17½ doesn't seem like an unreasonable age to be providing medical treatment. Certainly I'd be willing to spend a few thousand, just like I'd spend it if our furnace broke or Gareth needed surgery or whatever.

Then again, my husband always says I love the cat more than him ... and while I don't know if that's true or not, I *can* tell you that if they hadn't gotten along, the cat would have stayed and he would have gone. (Luckily she adored him from the moment she saw him—a reaction she's never had to *anyone* she's meeting for the first time, including me.)

Well I have never taken a pet to the vet, so I am not sure... but I think max $500.

I also agree that it depends on the age of the pet and the probabilities of recovery in case of a disease. I wouldn't keep him much longer if I knew that there was no remedy and make the suffering longer

I have been lucky that all my cats have been healthy *knocks on wood*

As much as it would take unless it was prolonging the suffering of the cat for your own benefit. I don't think that's right. Animals aren't made to die like that.

I'm another one that thinks it depends on the age of the pet and the expected quality of life after the whatever it is. The dog I have presently just cost me $130 in vet bills and there's nothing wrong with her other than age. Was actually informed she's getting a little senile(greaaaaaat). I doubt I would go up to 500 in her case, she's between 12 and 15 and is getting old dog problems fairly quickly, arthritis, going a bit deaf, eyesight clouding etc.

I think that at 17 and a half both cats have lived a long and happy life. To operate on them, at that great age, is probably more cruel than anything else.

For my cats? It would depend on the illness, the possible outcomes, ages and many other contributing factors. So, I can't really say until something like that happens.

In the UK I had pet insurance for my two cats. I paid 10 quid a month and that covered everything.

I think it's funny.

People are whining that it might cost $1000 in fees in the future to bring their wife or husband to the U.S., but they don't blink an eye over larger amounts to save a rodent.

Kinda puts the values of some people in perspective for me.

I see no comparison. I would pay what it would take to save my dog. I would also pay what it would take to save my fiance. We're not talking about our SO's lives with immigration. That's not the value we put on our SO (unless you've in fact purchased your SO). People get upset when the government puts a larger burden on us for bureaucracy. That's all.

I think people should consider the possible cost of a pet before getting one. I believe if you choose to have one then you have a responsibility to give it a decent quality of life. You can't just bail because you need to spend some money.

I do think that if its very expensive treatment for an animal that is going to die eventually or will suffer, it should be let go. I also dont agree with keeping animals around for our own emotional needs.

My childhood cat was put to sleep at nearly 20, as with my childhood horse, when he got arthritis. But I footed the bills for all the stuff in between, I owed them that.

Now we have 4 dogs, his, mine that came with and 2 of their offspring. Definitely looking into pet insurance!

My sister's family dog just went to doggie heaven when she started having seizures...after they put her to sleep, the vet sent back this in a card....sniff.

PETS PRAYER


If it should be, that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle, can't be won.

You will be sad, I understand.
Don't let your grief then stay your hand,
For this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship stand the test.

We've had so many happy years
What is to come can hold no fears.
You'd not want me to suffer, so,
When the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend only,
Stay with me to the end,
And hold me firm and speak to me,
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you will see
It is a kindness you do to me
Although my tail its last has waved
From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Don't grieve it should be you,
Who decides this thing to do,
We've been so close, we two, these years
Don't let your heart hold any tears.
Smile - for we walked together,
For a little while.

I used to work in a kennel for a vets office. We had a couple that would bring their four labs in quite often, two that suffered with cancer. Out of curiousity we ran through their visit history and I think they had spent around $8 k in seven months. This does not include the premium food they purchased separately, no less than $50 every 2 weeks, vitamin supplements purchased elsewhere and then add on all of the bedding and toys this lot traveled with ...........yeeeesh.

The cat was free for crying out loud. She's a pain in the rear anyways.

It would depend on the age of the pet, and the quality of life of the pet after spending the money.

I would spend any amount of money my animals. I adopted my dog last year and she has turned out to have chronic urinary issues. I have had to take her to multiple vets and lately to an internal medicine specialist at a university hospital. I have no idea what I have spent on her medical care. She is my responsibility and I accepted that when I accepted her. I can't put a monetary value on life. I can make more money but I have only one dog. And if I didn't spend the money on her it would be spent on consumer goods and entertainment or other such foolish things that can never give me the happiness she gives me.

Our Great Dane just died yesterday morning. We had him since he was a puppy. He died at 8 years old in a painful fall down the stairs. Apparatly twisted his neck and stomach to the point where we could do nothing but put him sleep.

You cannot replace one dog with another, but we now have this little Husky here (pick him up in 3 weeks)
Puppy

i have no max. but unfortunately it all depends on how much i could afford it with my bank account. if i have a lot, i'd spend a lot. if my kitty was 21 years old, then i'd try to make it more comfortable for him with various medicines, foods, whatever was needed... but i don't know if i'd put him through major surgeries at that point.
there is no price on a precious life if i can help it.

Well it always epends on the situation (as in how old and how sick the animal is) but in general I have to say that my pets (we have a red cat named Corey and a female black lap named Maggie) are my kids and I'd be willing to spend all it takes to save them as long as they CAN be saved and can live a happy and joyfull life after he sikness,acident,surgery or whatever.
My sister just spent hundreds of Euros on her dog after she got poisened,my one of my cats needed a life saving surgery in 2001 which I paid 500 $ for and my fiance and I just spent about 500$ on bringing our black lap to Germany since my man became a Truck Driver and the only way to keep the dog was to fly her to Germany with me and keep her here until my son and I go to the US later on this year and bring her back to the US with us.
To cut it short-
pets should be like a kid (sort of) to their "owners" and no human being can give you as much love as an animal does.
Nat

We would do whatever we could afford. Our pets are like our children.

Precisely.

When I had pets I had vetinary insurance for them so only had to pay the first £35 of any claim.
One of my cats was so clumsy that he got me my premiums back every year thanks to his accidents. Even the vet said his normal colour was black, white and red.
Even with insurace I had limits on what I would put animals through. One cat could have been tube fed but I didn't think that was a good enough standard of life for him so I said goodbye.

I hate animals.

HA. When I saw that Gupt was the last person to post on this thread I thought "I bet he said something like 'I hate animals'" but I didn't think it would be exactly that!