Vet Bills and Old Dogs...
By Jellen
@Jellen (1852)
United States
February 6, 2009 5:21pm CST
If your dog is old and declining, do you spend on vet bills? My dog is 11 years old and I took her to the vet this week for updated shots, nail clipping, and general check up. It cost close to $250 bucks. The vet said she had cataracts, and her teeth were bad, only $619 bucks to fix the teeth. She had some lumps under her fur, only $60 bucks each to check them out. And the general bloodwork to see if anything's wrong internally is plenty enough. I told the vet that my dog was old and to just give her updated shots, give me flea medication for her, worm her, cut her nails, give me the antiobotic for the infection he found in her ears, and I'll be on my way.
If I were to agree to everything suggested for the health of my dog, I'd be into the thousands. My dog has a heart murmer and would be at risk during surgery anyway. What do you think? Did I call it right or call it wrong? How much would you pay to prolong the life of an elderly dog?
2 people like this
10 responses
@Bohemian77 (277)
• United States
6 Feb 09
You were 100% right. We are going thru the same thing with our 14 yr old dobie mix. She has progressive retinal atrophy (she's blind, +cataracts), her teeth are horrible, she has severe arthritis, and lots of allergies. She's still a happy dog, that enjoys food and attention. Last year we spent over 1000 bucks on her. We just can't afford it this year. We also spend around 60 bucks a month for her pain medication (for the arthritis). We love our pets, and do the best we can, but they are not humans. They don't understand when we drag them down to the vets for all kinds of painful procedures, that we're helping them. They just know that we are alowing them to be hurt. For us, we will just keep her as comfortable as possible until its her time, and then have her put to sleep. The vets will try to guilt you into spending all kinds of money.....so again, I think you did the right thing
When our little old lady gets to the point where she is in pain, and/or won't eat, we will know it's the right time
@Bohemian77 (277)
• United States
6 Feb 09
Your welcome :( I know, ..I hate making a choice between pet or money, it really does hurt
@wonttakelong (3555)
• United States
7 Feb 09
the deciding factor for me is how is their quality of life affected?
I have an 18 year old dog
I take him to the vets for shots
last time they told me that he needed to have a bunch of stuff done and I said no
he is a happy dog who still enjoys life
I am not going to put thousands of dollars on vet bills for a dog that is not suffering and has lived a long happy life
yes he is overweight probably because of thyroid problems and yes he has arthritis (which he gets OTC meds for) and yes he is loosing his hearing
he is OLD!!
If he starts suffering then I will take action (which means I will think about putting him down)
I had a 24 year old cat that developed cancer
I let it go as long as I could until she started suffering
then I had her put down
1 person likes this
@sbeauty (5865)
• United States
7 Feb 09
Recently my 16-year-old kitty slipped into a coma due to kidney failure. I couldn't stand to just see him lying there, so I rushed him to the vet. They took blood tests, determined there was no way to save him, put him to sleep and cremated him for me. The bill was almost $200. I thought that was a lot of money just to help him die quicker. All it netted me was a little plastic urn of ashes that's sitting on my computer desk.
1 person likes this
@ErrollLeVant (4353)
• United States
7 Feb 09
You and I think alike on this, Jellen. I love my dog, but he is a dog.
@lilaclady (28206)
• Australia
6 Feb 09
Oh I have just been through the vet thing for a friend whose 18year old cat needed attention and they didn't have the money and i loved this cat as well and we took it to the vet it cost me about $700 and we ended having to take to the local animal shelter as they were cheaper as the vet quoted $3000 for an operation, the shelter checked her over and said she had kidney failure and he didn't think she would come through an operation, so in all it cost me $1000 and the poor cat had to be put to sleep anyway....but we had to try and give her the chance...pets can cost a lot but they are worth it...
@Jellen (1852)
• United States
6 Feb 09
Wow, you got the raw end of the deal, but you were a friend. And you are right. Pets are worth it. They are worth keeping happy because they keep us happy. But there comes a time in the life of every pet when certain decisions become necessary. In these economic times, I do believe more people will need to decide if they should fix their own teeth or the dogs teeth.
@mermaidivy (15394)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I have a 12 years old dog, there was a problem with her toe a year ago. At the beginning, she kept licking it and it became swollened and very big then we brought her to see the vet and the vet said we should cut off her toe immediately otherwise it could become worser, then the vet charged me lots of money on the sugery fee, the blood test fee(because they need to test if she got other infection that might cause cancer), consulation fee, boarding fee. It was over $700 bucks... I knew she was painful but I couldn't just see her be painful so I made the right decision. Afterwards, she felt a lot lot better and be a happy girl again :-)
Anyway, I hope your dog will be fine and everything will be strightened out!
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
22 Apr 10
I look at it like this...and this is also how I looked at it with my dog Petey...if he had something that could be fixed, by all means I'd fix it. However, if he had something that would never get better and he had to be kept on medications, then I have to consider quality of life. Petey had gotten very old and was getting arthritis to the point that he was in pain and couldn't hardly be touched. The only thing the doctor could suggest was pain pills to ease the pain. I didn't want Petey to suffer like that just so I didn't have to let him go.
[b]**AT PEACE WITHIN** 
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
@zhuuraan (961)
• United States
7 Feb 09
That is a tough call. To me, an animal is like a child and I wouldn't give up a child without a fight. Right now I'm on limited income, but I don't have any pets or kids as much as I want them. I know right now I am not financially stable enough to care for either properly. Still if I had an older dog, or any dog for that matter, I would do what it takes to keep it going and give it a happy, healthy, and good quality of life. I would spend whatever it took. It's like if you have a child and the doctor says there's a lump that could be cancerous, you'd do whatever it takes to find out and fix it, and it costs LOADS more for humans. Well, for a dog it is no different. If there was something that could threaten their life or decrease their quality of life, I would do what it took to remedy the situation. If you are unwilling to properly do what is necessary to ensure that your dog has a long happy and healthy life, I believe you have no business owning a dog.
@Jellen (1852)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I guess if I didn't care about the dog, I wouldn't have taken her to the vet in the first place. I can't change cancer if she has it. I can't change her cataracts, and the vet said to cut out the chew bones and she will most likely live pain free with her teeth as they are. She has all her shots up to date, had professional care for her nails, she's been wormed and antiobiotics in her ears, so the only thing I haven't done is spend to have her teeth operated on and spend to see if her lumps are life-threatening or if she has any other ailments detectable in her blood.
Isn't that enough? Or do I take money from my child to prolong the life of an older dog? Some things come down to choices, and I don't believe in this case that I'm a bad person. Apparently, many others who have responded here have done as I have done. I don't think they are bad people either.
I wonder, if the dog could talk, if she would say, "Don't let that vet cut on me--thank you anyway. Just let me go like my canine buddies in the wild."
@cortypants (604)
• United States
7 Feb 09
Ouch .. such a tough call!! I think sometimes the vets take advantage of you. While what they recommend IS in your pet's best interest, I don't think it's probably more what would make him most comfortable versus what he actually needs to survive. My opinion is that you should do what you can as long as your dog is comfortable and happy, and has a good quality of life, and when the quality of life isn't good anymore, it's time to let go. :(
Have you looked into pet insurance? It's really not a lot to pay monthly and it does help for unexpected vet visits and medications.
@HMSturgeon (63)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I do understand where your coming from, my dog has epileptic seziures. His medication is close to 200 a month. Its alot but he is worth it.
