Comments on: How Much Would You Pay to Save Your Pet’s Life?

By: Libby

Libby — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:31:25 +0000

I love having pets but I gave away my three little dogs this past year because I could not afford to keep up with routine medical bills (vaccinations, etc.) for them. I just couldn’t rationalize keeping them unless I could afford to keep them healthy. So many people who are strapped for money have animals and it is a sad situation for them when their family pet gets sick or injured. More people should take this into account BEFORE they get the animal so that they are not faced with this dilemma.

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Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

[...] How Much Would You Pay to Save Your Pet’s Life? lenpenzo.com/blog/id698-how-much-would-you-pay-to-save-your-pets-life.html – view page – cached I’d like to think that money would be no object, but the reality is there’s a point where the cost of saving my dog would not be in my financial best interest. — From the page [...]

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Yikes! This is a really tough question to answer if you are not actually “in the moment”. Although I want to think I would pay anything to save my beagle (Champ), I know that would become unrealistic if the vet said treatment was going to be $10,000. I just don’t know, but if I was forced to pick a point I guess it would have to be close to your friend’s limit of $4000.

Great question!

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

This is actually a tougher dilemma than if a close relative needed treatment. In that case, obviously, the money question doesn’t even come into play. For me, probably $5000.

By: Craig Ford

Craig Ford — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

Len, Great post. Not a big pet person so probably wouldn’t pay much into a three digit number. When the kids get bigger and more attached I suspect that number might increase.

By: Marcie

Marcie — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

I have three cats and I already cringe every time I have to take them to the vet for routine stuff. Even though I love all my babies I don’t think I would spend much over $1000! Sad but true.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

I just wanted to thank you for asking this question the way you did. I’m a veterinarian, and usually these posts are about why the veterinarian had to charge so much. We realize that this situation is tough for everyone, and believe it or not we sometimes find ourselves in the same situation when one of our pets requires specialty care for things we cannot treat ourselves. Given the current state of the economy, and my personal financial situation, my number would be closer to $2000.
Thanks again for not attacking us vets.

By: Len Penzo

Len Penzo — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

@Kaitlyn, Bill, Craig, and Marcie: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think the wide range of numbers reinforces the fact that everybody is obviously different.
@ Teresa: Thanks for taking the time to give a vet’s perspective! I think vets have a very difficult job to begin with. After all, unlike a medical doctor, vets can’t ask their patients where it hurts! That is just one reason why you will never hear me criticize them for their fees. Based upon your input, I hope many people will be comforted to know that even vets have financial limits when it comes to saving their pets. Thanks again, Teresa, for a veterinarians perspective!

By: Carnival of Money Stories - The Dough Roller

Carnival of Money Stories - The Dough Roller — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

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By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:56 +0000

I wonder how common it is to be presented with the option of a very large bill, all at once, and giving the choice of ponying up thousands in cash or letting your pet die.

My experience has repeatedly been that the costs come in steady, just barely affordable increments: a hundred bucks here, two hundred bucks there, three hundred bucks the next place; the requirement that you come in for an expensive test every six months to get permission to buy another six months’ worth of expensive medication. It’s enough to be a little hard to afford, but not so much that you wouldn’t feel just hideous for putting the animal down.

And no offense to Dr. Teresa, but I do believe my vet knew that the German shepherd on which, near the end of her life, I spent around $4,000 could not really be helped. I’m dead certain that all he was doing was spinning out her misery while he drained my pocketbook. More recently, as the result of several research studies I’ve come across, I’ve begun to think the dog was hugely overmedicated throughout her life, also to my great expense and her great discomfort. When you have a population of humans who conflate small animals with small children, the opportunity to profit is just too great to ignore.

When I finally took the shepherd to another veterinarian — not so much because of him but because his office was too far away to drag a sick 80-pound animal once every two or three weeks — she advised me that there really was nothing anyone could do for her, and that I needed to think about my own welfare as well as the dog’s.