How much for vet bill??

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sam.jpg

This is our dog Sam. He is a few years older now. He is the first to greet me when I come home from work. He sits and cuddles on my wife's lap when she is grading papers. He sits patiently outside my workshop till I am finished.

Took him for his morning walk today and he started limping on his front paw about half mile out. Had to carry him home (he's a Bichon, only about 20 pounds). After closer examination it was only a burr, but it got me thinking... "How much would I have been willing to pay in vet bills if it had been more serious?"

I started to talk to my wife about it and her reaction was, "I don't want to talk about it." I think she thinks if we don't discuss it, nothing bad will ever happen.

Which leads to the title.. and a question - how many have medical insurance on your pet?

I will broach the subject with my wife again, but I thought I would try to get an idea from some others.



cross-posted to SMC
 
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I have insurance on China. The shelter where I adopted her had a promo offer where the first year was free. I decided to renew it as the yearly cost isnt all that bad (IIRC something like $115 a year). It doesnt cover the basic stuff but those arent the things that really cost a lot anyway. I dont have insurance on the two cats but maybe I should?? Two previous cats had to eventually be put to sleep due to cancer and I ended up spending around $800 ea on them. Sounds ridiculous but had it not turned out to be cancer but rather something fixable I never would have been able to live with myself for not trying.
 
Mine (schnauzer) is too old to qualify for the insurance. Major vet bills I've paid in the last several years include:

$1200 for a parvo-like virus infection, requiring several days of in-patient care, and much lab work;

$450 for dental work - cleaning and extractions.

$400, plus meds, for bladder stone surgery, plus she's on a lifelong prescription diet that costs about $60 a month more than regular dog food.

All-in-all, I'm not sure what my upper spending limit would be. After all, she is my best friend, and most loyal companion.
 
I went through 5 years of twice a day insulin injections for my now deceased cat, plus an emergency trip late on night, and numerous trips to our regular vet. The bottles of insulin were $30/month. The emergency vet was over $230, and I lost count of the regular trips to the vet.

Both my wife and I agreed with the vet that so long as he was interested in life, he was worth paying for his medical bills. One day he just lost his will, wouldn't eat, and wet at his food dish, something he had never done. It was his time to 'cross over the rainbow bridge.' The vet agreed.

So now we have another Abyssinian, and a Bengal. We have, in the course of 3 months spent nearly $900 on the two of them. We had declawing done on all 4 feet, neutering, and identification chips on the both of them, that was over $600 of the $900s. They are still kittens, even though the Bengal weighs over 7# and the Abby is over 5#, and they are a joy to watch play.

So how long do you spend money on your animal friend? As you might have guessed, until they no longer enjoy life. You will know when it happens because you know your dog/cat.

One last thought for everyone:

Do you a signed medical directive for yourself, for your wife?
Do you have a notarized power of attorney for yourself, for your wife?
Do you have a will, your wife?

If you don't, get your can into an attorney on Monday. You just might need it Monday evening.:eek: On the other hand, you just might want the state to take over the management of your medical care, and your estate. :dunno:
 
... We had declawing done on all 4 feet, neutering, and identification chips on the both of them, that was over $600 of the $900s.
...

Ken
Just curious why you get all 4 feet done. 3 or the 4 cats I've had were front declawed. Two came that way and I had to get one done myself when she destroyed a chair. The other cat has limited his scratching to the scratching post so for the time being, he'll be left alone. But I've never noticed any problem with them scratching with their back feet.
 
I don't know the upper end of ours, although finances are in pretty tough shape these days, and we have two 11.5 year olds. We have in the past spent 2000+ on removing a kidney from the mother of the above 2 when she was a little older than they are now. Got us 2 more years with her, and she was a very special dog to us. As custodians of many rescue Irish over the past 6 years, we have had 2 fosters that needed exra ordinary care. Jerimiah came to us at 2 years old. Had such a severe infection in his left ear that a total ear ablation had to be performed. He lived for another 3 years and was lost to cancer...osteosarcoma. The adoptors talked about amputating the affected leg, but we determinded that realistically, it would only buy him another 6 months at best. Our current one is an 8 month old that is constantly underneath me. She usually lays under my chair as I type, but is playing with a stuffie right now. I fact just bounced in the room, threw the stuffie into the air, caught it, pounced on it, then pounced on a different one, and raced away with it. Such a clown. Her vet bill at Texas A&M right now stands at 1100+. She has an appointment the second week of Feb. to do the surgery to fix a hole in her heart. Total will be around 2600. when we're all through. We're very lucky with the rescue dogs that fund raisers and donations really make this sort of thing possible. We have a couple families that donate 500 or more a year to the fund. The former co-ordinator for our group has said that she will fund this heart surgery. Irish Setter Club of America Rescue is likely to chip in for up to 1000 of it. Texas A&M has a program that we have applied for, that might pitch in for some of the cost.
Now these are extreme situations. Most will never see these kinds of illnesses to deal with. But these are the types of things we need to be prepared for in case one of our four legged family members gets sick. Is the animal insurance worth it? I don't know. Like any insurance, heath, car, home, we buy it, and hope we never have to use it. It is what it is...insurance for the most terrible things that could happen. Sorry for the rambling. Jim.
 
Ken
Just curious why you get all 4 feet done. 3 or the 4 cats I've had were front declawed. Two came that way and I had to get one done myself when she destroyed a chair. The other cat has limited his scratching to the scratching post so for the time being, he'll be left alone. But I've never noticed any problem with them scratching with their back feet.

Good question, Doug. The vet said that they don't do all 4 paws all the time, but had no preference. We have had at least one cat for the 33 years of our marriage, and every cat has had all 4 sets of claws removed. Our cats are 100 percent indoor and we are currently training the new guys to stay away from open doors. (It will take some time with the Abby, he is the nosiest character.) I agree that in most all cases the rear claws are not a problem. Maybe we are just lazy, but with all 4 sets gone, we don't have to trim toe nails or medicate the occasional scratch when they jump up. A few weeks after the operation, they have learned life without claws and in months forget that they ever had them (IMO.)

Some people are strongly against declawing, but we feel it is up to the owner. If we had a cat that was both an indoor and outdoor type, we would have to rethink our choices. Most likely we would go with just the front paws thus allowing the cat to still climb a tree is need be.

There is also the school of thought that want to call us 'caretakers'. The way I see it, I paid good money for the cat, and got a receipt. That makes me the owner. Being an owner also brings responsibilities like medical treatments, food, a good home, grooming, and general affection.

A little story:
When our kids were young, we enjoyed going to cat shows and seeing all the cats. After several years of not going, we went to a show in downtown Dallas. At this show, all the cages had plastic covers in the front and locks on the cage doors. After going up and down the aisles and seeing the same thing, and very little in the way of cats to view, we stopped a member of the show staff. Now here is the sad part: We were told that the cages were protecing the cats from the screwball members of PETA and their ilk that were 1) stealing the cats and turning them loose, or 2) actually poisoning the cats! These PETA people are dangerous and should be placed in a mental institution.:mad:
 
Ken, I wore a PETA button with the red circle around the words, and the red line through the words at dog shows for a long time (NO PETA) There are some real horror stories. One was at a Gordan Setter national specilaity show, and 6 or 8 were turned loose from their crates. Now setters will naturally go "hunt". This was close to a major freeway. I don't remember if there were any injuries or not. I'm sure if the owners could have gotton a hold of those that did it, there would have been!! Jim.
 
To address Charlie's question...I don't know how much I'd be willing to spend. I think a lot depends on the animal's age and prognosis.

Several years ago, my yellow dog (at the age of about 4) stopped eating. After about 2 weeks of the vet trying all sorts of stomach medicines (all the while the dog is literally starving to death), they finally did the barium x-ray and found a blockage in her intestines. That was $4000 to fix. (After having already spent about $500 while the vet tried to figure out what was wrong.) Turns out is was a piece of fuzzy toy she's ingested.

Less than three weeks after she was released from the hospital, she started showing the same symptoms again. This time I insisted on the barium x-ray from the onset, and sure enough she had another blockage. I think I got the repeat customer discount, since that trip was only about $3900. (I suggested to the vet that he install a zipper to make it less expensive in the future.) It was unclear if this blockage was newly ingested, or if it had been missed the first time and had shifted after the first surgery. Regardless, she does not get fuzzy toys anymore.

I think there are a lot of cases where I would not be willing to spend $8000+ on a pet, but in this case I was willing and could afford it at the time.
 
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