...with spending on pets?
Last night we had to put down our beloved 12 yr old Border Collie Rebel after a short but devastating illness and we are both grieving . We spent over $2,000 in two weeks including a $450 euthanasia fee. Rebel was a fine dog who never gave us any problems whatsoever and gave us (especially my wife) many hours of happiness but he did have health issues including two CCL surgeries in the past few years at $4,000@, which wife was happy to pay for out of her own funds. I felt this was over the top even for a beloved pet.
Wife is now on a guilt trip because she didn't pop for a $5,000 surgery which, if successful, may have prolonged Rebel's life for one more year. Once again I felt this was emotions overriding common sense and told her so. She counters with "I don't tell you how much you spend on your cars so you can't tell me how much to spend on my dog." I can't think of a good argument against what seems to me flawed reasoning. What do you think?
We are not wealthy, we are retired middle class and living on a modest fixed income.

Sorry to hear of your loss. Most all have lost family pets and can empathize. Firstly I would say it depends a lot on one's financial position, which you have stated as retired middle class. When spending, regardless of the cause, starts to impact your accustomed way of life you may be over the top. Your biggest problem is you're trying to argue logic against emotion. You're not going to impact a senior female that has lived her life through emotions with logic. I think the most logical approach is fight the battles you have a chance of winning and let the others go.

Oh boy... tough one! My wife will spend big but then she see's the other side too. Quality of life after issues?? I’m like you but there has to be a point. These vets will drain you, well some will.. I love my dogs and sometimes unfortunately we are more humaine with them then we are family.. There have been times that race money went to the pups and I’m ok with that.

Quality of life for sure.
But, one needs to keep perspective as well.
Should you spend $5000, or would that money be better spend going into the kids' tuition account?
They are part of the family for sure. But they only live so long regardless of the extreme measures we go through.

Spent 4400 on my then 1500 later on knee surgeries had to really part of the family till he dies... He has since passed ,but it was worth it..

One of our dogs had lung cancer. how, who knows! Never smoked a day in his life!

But seriously, it was 6500 dollars to remove part of the one lung. He recovered well and had four more good years before finally succumbing at 17 to old age

How would you feel if your motor broke and took $5000 to fix it and it was already ten years old so on it’s last leg? Bet you would have it fixed as soon as you could no matter what the wife said.
Our pup was only ten months old when he got ran over in the driveway and survived, st didn’t have to tell me or my wife how much it was gonna cost to reattach his hips to his spine it was just get it done. Probably have over $8000 into him and only a little 12 pound dog but would do it all over again, he our boy and we treat him like a son.

I agree Green...
I would start selling race parts to fix one of my hounds...without a second thought !!

Since you have already done it then do not look back and assume you made best decision. They did not suffer any longer. Even if surgery was successful recovering from a surgery like that is hard and still may not extend his life much.

For me I would do everything possible to save them as long as they have a really good chance of long healthy pain free life after it. If not then let them go.

Dogs dont die , they just run ahead of us and wait ......

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Cmar:
Dogs dont die , they just run ahead of us and wait ......

for sure, they wait for us at the Rainbow Bridge

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Cmar:
Dogs dont die , they just run ahead of us and wait ......

They certainly do!

Having been around dogs, cats, horses, etc... all my life, they are like children to me, to a point. I only have a certain amount of money. Racing is last on my list, my pets come first, but, I won't spend a lot of money to try to "help" them.

I have rescued many cats and dogs during my life. If I am faced with spending $1k to try to help a pet survive, or use that money towards saving a few others, well, heartless as it may seem, one gets buried, and several others will get saved.

None of my dogs didn't die before they were at least 6, most lasted 12+ years. I let one go too far, he had cancer, but so did I. I survived because I had insurance that spent about $1 million over 4 years. I had no insurance for my pet, and certainly let him go too long, the decision to put him to rest sucked, but I finally did it. That was the best dog I ever had, and probably ever will. Vet said there was nothing that could have been done, I hope he was right. My buddy was 15 years old and two of his siblings died of cancer before he did.

So, you have to decide for yourself when enough is enough. We can treat our pets more humanely than we can treat our relatives.....

I would sure spend a lot of money to have my buddy I buried 6 months ago, just one more weekend. I find myself, 6 months later, just looking at old videos and photos, remembering the third of my life he was part of..

But the kidney failure hurt his eyesight. Even a kidney transplant wouldn’t have restored his quality of life.

We don’t have any children. He was ours. He was part of us. It’s tough.

But if he can’t run, jump, play, and chew, he wasn’t happy. And I would rather hurt, than see him unhappy.

When you love your pet there isn't much you won't do for them. We have had Collies for over 45 years and the Cost of Care has risen significantly with each generation of Dog we have had. We have always tried to have the best Vet Doc care for them as well. Each generation of Vet has become more sophisticated in their approach to caring for our Pets. I'm not sure that the this sophistication has extended the quality of life for our beloved Pets. I see many people including my own Kids struggling with the decision to have a Dog because of the high cost of Vet Care for their critter. The unconditional love from your Dog compels you to provide for them at nearly any cost...and those costs are high.. Not being able to own a Dog because you can't afford the care is really a shame for young Families..Both Parents work, Kids in school all day no one home with the Dog and wow can they be expensive! Not sure what the answer is...We haven't brought a new Dog home yet!! been just over 2 years since we put our last one down..Heart is still tender... For Us it's not the cost. But what is really hard; is the thought of having to see another young Pup grow old with us.......and losing him too.

Very sorry to hear about your loss. I understand how hard it is.

I would like to suggest pet insurance. I use a company called healthy paws. My monthly premium is 35 dollars and I have a 500 dollar deductible. Once my deductible is met then they cover 90 percent of costs. My dog had to have an emergency surgery in which the bill was nearly 6,000 dollars by the time it was said and done. Thanks to the insurance my total cost was 1,100 out of pocket....a lot easier to swallow.

Maybe growing up in the country is different, but I have learned from a very young age that even though you can get very close to an animal (it's not love), you will always have to realize that they are going to die before you do (unless you have a turtle). I will pay to keep them healthy, but when it comes to $1,000s of dollars, it's time to cut your loss. Nothing worse than spending a couple grand on an animal only to have them live a few more months. Humanity is about humans. Dogs don't understand death, and will not hold it against you if you make a financial decision to let them go. I have animals now that I would cry if something happened to them, and some that I've already dug the grave. Both will have the same care and consideration in their time of need.

Haters chime in.

I just recently saw a 'quote' on facebook somewhere ... about dogs (pets) and their owners ... that made good sense. It went something like this: "Dogs (pets) are 'part' of your life ... You (owners) are their 'whole' life.

I would just say to be grateful that you and your wife gave your dog the best life, and enjoyed it the whole time.

....... p.s. .... we had to put our 'little sophie' down, last April. It's hard .. but, I still enjoy thinking about her ..... she's worth it.

Dave

I'd like to thank all of you for your thoughtful and sensitive replies to this dilemma.
Over the years I've had to put down several of my dogs and horses and it's always hard but this time was particularly bad when I wake in the middle of the night and hear my dear wife trying to muffle her weeping to keep from disturbing me and I wonder if I was too hasty in putting the old dog down.
Time will heal this also.
Thanks again, guys.

This from hardcore dog lover. Don't let it come down to your ;Life or my dog,bad day for you. Just making point.

IMO you draw the line when dog suffers. I don't mean something like stiff hip I mean any pain that cause dog to have less quality of life.
My Eskimo Spitz got cancer and I tried everything to get her better.Once we knew she was hurting and suffering I made decision. My wife talked me into waiting one more day and taking it with her. We went for most of day riding around to the place we had spent good amount of time like the park across from where we had lived,out to neighborhood where she had lived after being tossed out and where I got here. Next Morning I had to carry her out because she had not been able to walk for little while and had to hold her up with hands around stomach to make her pee. Thats was too much. Hated it more than anything but letting her suffer I hated more. She is out back buried next to her sister Molly and brother Mugzy. 4 yers now and I still talk to them when out there and clean their graves few times a year. They gave me their all when a live and deserve to be taken care of when gone.

As one member here said They are small part of our life(span wise) we are all of theirs.

Is hard but its what's best for them not you that counts.

I have had to put several pets down in the last 5 yrs . When a pet looses the ability to have a good life then it is time to let them go . I think nothing is worse than looking into a Pets eyes and seeing the pain . The Pet doesnt understand why it cann't run or that you have to carry it out to use the bathroom . We as humans are selfish to make them hurt instead of doing the right thing and making the pain go away . The money you spend to extend your Pets life for a few months only extends the pain they feel .