Question for pet owners who earn under 70K a year:

[brainshrub]

Your pet is sick and the vet says that she can cure your beloved companion, but the bill is going to be high. How much are you willing to spend to cure your beloved furry friend?

For the purposes of this poll, lets say that if the medical procedure isn't done quickly your pet will die a slow and painful death unless the vet puts it to sleep.

I ask this question for those of us with middle-class incomes. Wealthy pet-owners can certainly afford to spend a lot more, so they don't have to make the same gut-wrenching choices that the rest of us do.

To answer my own question: $300.

[Padraig18]

1. I would go as high as $3000.

I would go more (say, $5000), if I could finance the amount, rather than come up with it immediately.

[Kamika]

2. under 70k is middle class??

damn.. I thought I made alot :P

[7th_Sephiroth]

15. come work with me babe

lotsa monies in my job

[DS1]

3. ask about payment plans and take a third job

:shrug:

[bratcatinok]

4. I spent 1200.00

putting my puppy back together again after he had been hit by a car. He snuck out of the house because he saw a dogfriend of his. The lady walking the dog tried to kick Rufus (my dog) to get him to leave her dog alone. Rufus darted away and into the path of a car.

He broke his hip and had to have 6 pins put in to hold his rear end together. The Doctor wasn't sure if it was going to work or not. If it hadn't worked they would have had to amputate his right back leg. Thankfully it worked but only after 5 weeks of Rufus living in a playpen and being waited on hand and foot. I even was blessed with the distinct pleasure of learning how to give an enema to a small dog.

The things we do for love!

[VOX]

5. My vet is very cool, and would arrange for long-term payments...

w/no interest, but I'd go well into four digits to save my boy Dobbs. Maybe more, if I was assured that he could indeed be saved, and his quality of life wouldn't be compromised.

My vet already saved Dobbs once (gratis, for a rescue group who found him near death, his gangrenous left rear leg nearly bitten off). His bad leg had to be removed, and the vet said that this little guy had to meet him halfway, which he did.

[Faygo Kid]

6. I went $6,000. Not sure I would do it again.

Best dog in the world, ever, though. She died four years ago of cancer after just turning 11; only bought her about four months. You do have to factor in the realities, sadly. It did make her passing easier to take, knowing I did everything, so $6,000 bought peace of mind. Had another dog (rescued) after that who died after being hit by a car at 2. She was half pit bull/half lab and a real sweetie who had been horribly mistreated when young. Her disposition was such that I called her Bunny, the Rabbit (don't tell the guys!) I was destroyed for months, and still feel that pain. Such a personal decision. No one size fits all answer.

[NJCher]

8. I'd feel the same way

There was no way you could know $6 grand would have bought you only four more months. I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't do all that I could.


Cher

[amazona]

7. My income is more like $7,500 but...

...I don't have a vet who is charging me thousands of dollars like I hear about on the internet. What's with that? Clearly I couldn't afford to do it.

I've spent a couple hundred dollars before, and the pet is recovered and I still have her today.

I do not spend on treatment which only prolongs the suffering of the pet. I would not want this done to me, so why do it to a helpless pet.

It's getting to a place where poor people are going to be denied the comfort of their traditional companions, the animals, because of the huge expenses involved.

[Another Bill C.]

9. I didn't know people actually made that much.

$70K is mansion money. I make about $12k a year but I just spent $300 on Ms Kitty. Unfortunately part of that was to have her put to sleep.

[MrSandman]

10. I got too many kids(five) to go voer a

Hundred and a half.

[Ysabel]

11. we spent about $3000...

a few years back to save our cat, arthur (we paid over time) a few years earlier though we never would have been able to afford it - as it was we hardly could but i'm glad that we did - he's 13 years old now - he was 6 yrs. old when he contracted cryptocauccus (sp?)...

[Deja Q]

12. Try under $50k

My psychologist told me he makes $66k. And what does he do? Sit there and listen to people whine and then tells them not to whine and that they're nuts. This is what they do. (this is also a reason why the medical system is out of touch with reality in terms of costs.)

And while my ex-psych also said that a reason why the industry is not socialized is because doctors wouldn't like to see the pay cut. Well, if every other industry can hemmorage jobs overseas and devalue what can't be shipped, I think ALL industries should have the same happen to them. Period.

As for my pets:

Fish: From $1.99 to $4 each, as much as I dig them, there's little that could be done in the first place apart from putting chemical medicine in the water that might kill 'em all anyway. But I have done the chemical route and have been lucky, so far... Cost of medicine: $15 total. (seems on par with human health care. Little to buy, expensive to maintain...)

Bird: Zoe is highly intelligent and is a lovely bird, even if she nips at times. I'd spend a little, but my budget isn't in the greatest of shape right now. I hope she doesn't get ill.

[kimchi]

13. I spent over 3K, said and done.

My cat was hit by a car (we think) and is now paralyzed in her rear legs. I don't regret one dime of it. I actually feel guilty for not being able to afford a physical therapist for her.

She won't ever walk again, but she manages to get around by scooting and climbs carpeted stairs with her claws. There is no way I could "put her down" when she spent 3 days dragging herself back home. I also spent over a thousand on my mom's 20 year old cat, which bought him 2 more years.

AT the time, I was making 34K, and the money aspect just didn't concern me. I would probably have paid twice that.

And, just so you know, where I live, just shots and a teeth cleaning is over $300.

[SOteric]

14. It depends. My 19 year old cat is enduring kidney failure

and is not likely to survive more than a few months. Which breaks my heart. I have already spent more than $300 in vet visits and a special diet to help improve the quality of what's left of his life.

But what I would spend in treatments for, or in euthanising him is limited by the fact that 19 years is a helluva stretch for a cat. In the best possible circumstance, he would still not live much more than another year; probably less.

Now, my younger cat, - I would break the bank for.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. As long as they would let me make payments I'd pay anything

[Kat45]

17. I spent several hundred on a sick parakeet, and he died anyway,

then I spent a couple of hundred more on a necropsy to find out the cause of death (it was kidney cancer). It was important to find out the cause of death because I had other birds and I wanted to make sure he didn't have anything contagious. At the time, I didn't even make enough money to cover my regular bills, but I put it on plastic and my ex (the bird's "dad") helped pay for it. BTW, I still don't make enough money to cover my bills (fucking bush economy).

[Onlooker]

18. I love my cat, but ...

It's an animal. It doesn't fear death. It doesn't fear being put to sleep. It doesn't look forward to future. It doesn't wonder about eternity. I would spend up to $500, maybe a little more if the animal is young.

[nuxvomica]

19. It's hard to say until the time comes

So I've basically set no limit. In cases of cancers or systemic disease, the more you spend the more suffering is delivered on the animal without a good prognosis. I wouldn't want to spend a lot to treat an ultimately fatal disease. Trauma is different because thousands can be spent to heal a mechanical injury from which the animal may fully recover and live for years afterwards.
I recently spent over $800 on my cat's surgery but that's not my limit.

[bubblesby2002]

20. I voted to mortgage my house

The vet would let me pay installments I know this. But my cats are really important to me because they are part of the life I had made with my husband. He died two years ago from cancer. And so the cats helped me get through the rough times and they remind me of the good times. I would do anything I could for them.

[Skittles]

21. well, it depends on the quality of life issue

but $300 is way, way too low for me.