Just curious how much you would spend on your dog if he or she were sick? Do you put any limits on the price?

No, I don't have a limit in mind if, heaven forbid, that ever happens to one of mine. I can't see the reasoning behind putting a, say $10,000 limit, on veterinary care. So what? Now you've spent $10,000 and you just say "That's enough, put him/her down?" As long as I can get credit for the amount I don't have in my bank account, my dogs would receive whatever care they needed. But that's me, I know a lot of people would disagree.

dollars aren't my limiting factor ( most places have care credit, or i'll just load up a visa card).

happiness of the dog involved, quality of life are my hot buttons. If i can go 5k 10k and have the animal have a good quality of life, i'm there, but no matter what it costs, if the resulting life is one that that particular animal wouldn't like.. we're done...

having gone the distance and then some for an animal with lymphoma, i don't know that i would run the end stage scenario the same way.. but never say never

barb

I agree with Barb...I'd sell my soul to save one of my dogs or cats "IF" I could be sure they would have a good quality of life. I do not believe in prolonging suffering at any cost......

After some rather expensive vet visits I chose to sign up with a pet ins policy for all my pets...yup, even the cranky kitty:)
I must say that some are really not all they claim to be so be careful! I really did my research on them. The one I chose was pet care and I feel comfortable knowing that they will pay 70-90% of my bill even for hereditary issues up to between 3 and 5000$ You still have to pay it out upfront,but I feel like it gives me just that much more ability to go as far as possible to provide the best for my pets.

I dropped $3,000 on bilateral FCP surgery and rehab. I would never back away from a C-section because of price. So, I guess my upper limit has not been tested. Thank God....

Okay - don't everyone flame me - but I am going to say, YES, I do have limits. However, my limits are much higher than they used to be when I still had three sons at home, a mortgage, braces to put on teeth, little league - you know all the stuff that comes with rasing kids.

What is your limit? It is all relative, to the dog, the problem/disease/surgery, benefits of treatment, prognosis, your income, other issues (ie: # number of kids still @ home, work & income, etc., etc., etc.,)

My dogs have the best care that I can afford to give them, as do all of yours I am sure. With 7 labs at home - I am in perma-debt to the vet - LOL. Someone is always needing something. That said, we have to remember that many readers of this forum are in the same place I was 10 years ago, someties they just can't afford to spend thousands. Does that make them bad or uncaring? Of course not.

Everyone has to decide their limit - I firmly believe that a person should not "Bankrupt" the family just to save the dog at any cost.

And to make sure that I don't sound too callous, let me tell you about my bitch "Bib" who died of aplastic anemia. I know I socked a good $3,000.00 into her before I finally decided, enough was enough and put her down. Another lab had an $800,00 rock removed he had swallowed, another had a $500.00 ear surgery, one - $1,200.00 elbow repair, & the list goes on and on. Fortunately, I can afford to do that. For many it wouldn't even be an option - but certainly do the best you can by them.

JMO
Valerie - Bibsmom

I also took out an insurance policy on my boy, specifically to prevent being put in the position of having to say, no, I can't afford it.
Annie is right, though, when she says look at the insurance options very carefully. I also have pet care. I can handle the routine and even unexpected vet bills. The ones in the thousands are what scares me. My friend's lab tore his ACL and she hasn't had it repaired due to cost. Another person I work with had something happen to his lab's knee. Wouldn't pay to have it fixed. He just "pops it back in when it pops out." I feel bad for the dogs.

I do not set limits either. Please no bashing... I made a very bad mistake years ago, learned a valuable lesson. I had not done a puppy count x ray (was not doing them regularly at the time) 3 pups were left, believe it or not I could not feel them, did not show and I had not done an after birth x ray. 72 hours later my girl was getting sick. Long story short 8K later she was saved. I would do it again in a heart beat. This is the reason I have said over and over that although puppy count x rays are never 100% it gives us an idea and also helps when we have the opposite of large litters, but singletons etc... JMHO

No limit, my doggies are my kids and I would never set a limit. I would also listen to my vet however if tragically I was told "no more money, it's time"...

Annie, would you mind posting the company you decided to use for insurance after all of your research? Will they cover any emergency whelping costs?

TIA

There is always CARE CREDIT. I know of a couple of people who have used it. Interest free.

I'd appreciate the pet health insurance information too.

I'm at my wits end here. I have my boy who my Vet says has an irritable colon and thus far have spent $2500.00 on the first 3-day hospitalization, which included IV, 2 antibiotics, blood work and a barium series or the digestive tract.

He got sick again one week after his release and I paid $3500.00 for an internal Vet specialist to investigate the problem another 1 night hospital stay and IV, Ultrasound, more blood work and an endoscope study which revealed nothing significant. He’s on 3 different antibiotics now and home with me and I’m terrified it’s just a matter of days until we go through this again.

I’m told he will probably relapse and I’ll be looking at another 2-4 grand for another hospital stay.

I am very fortunate that I have the money but I also have a home, kids, car payments etc. I love him dearly more than any one will know but I could start to really get in to serious financial problems and husbands flip when they see Vet bills like this.

I’ll keep staying the course but I just had to wonder how other breeder deal with these types of bills? I would never put my boy to sleep but have to figure out a way to cork these outrageous fees I’m being charged.

Also my boy has never been sick a day in his life and this just came out of the blue and the Vets have tried to track down all possible causes.

I hate to think this but it seems that the Vets where I live (San Francisco) are really ripping people off with the high prices at an extremely emotional time and they know you really don’t have a choice to pay because you love your pet.

I doubt he would even be a candidate for health insurance now that he has a preexisting condition.

Any ideas or thoughts?

Sorry you are going through this with your boy. Have you found a specialty vet that really can help with a 2nd opinion? Sounds like you may need one. I dont have experience with what you are describing but certainly I have gone for 2nd opinions when I thought it would help. Good Luck

you might also call USC Davis and see if they can refer you to someone in your area.

I had a similar experience with one of my dogs. Was vomiting and had watery diarrhea of pure blood. He spent 10 days in ICU with every known IV treatment hanging. IVF, IV abx, IV antiemetics, IV Reglan and IV pain meds. After an EGD it was found that he has IBS and he pulled through after going thru a lengthy regimen of prednisone. Now I have prednisone on hand and when he's even looks at me cross-eyed, he gets put on it for a few days. This all happened when he was 9, and 4 years later, he's still going strong.
The bill....$2300. Would I do it again??? Absolutely!

Because you live in the Bay area by all means, head straight to UC Davis. I once took one of my labs to a specialist vet in the Bay area. I had to fill out the new patient form. There were questions asking me, in essence, how much did I love my animals and how much was I willing to fork over. Fortunately, we needed specific services and got out of there before they owned me. UC Davis provides the very best in diagnosis, care and treatment. And you won't leave there feeling like you just made the down payment on the new surgical wing! Best wishes for your dog's speedy recovery.

Depends on the dog and depends on the problem.

If it's something that isn't risky and is likely to produce good results, I'll spend quite a bit. If it's high risk as to whether it will work, and the animal will probably die on the table anyways, I'll euthanize.

I always try to find the most economical solution to a problem that gives good results. My vets wanted Bridget (before we lost her) on some drug that was $1 a day for bone spurs. That's not a huge amount, and we did it for awhile (this was before I moved home.) But when we went back in for it a few months later for something else, I asked the vet if there was a more cost effective solution, and she (different vet at the same clinic) suggested aspirin, and it produced BETTER results, at $8 for a two year's supply.

I don't have a problem buying a new x-ray machine if my dog's going to benefit from it. I *DO* have a problem buying a new x-ray machine when a bottle of aspirin and glass of water would get me the same results!

Hi all....please trust me when I say that i really did exhaustive research when choosing not only the companies but the plans. I had a very sad situation where I lost a young dog and in the process of trying to save her ran up some crazy ER vet bills. I then started thinking about my responsibility to all my dogs and what I would do if God forbid I was hit with something else immediately before I could regroup. This is what prompted me to get the ins...I figure worst case scenario If something really big happened I could rearrange things for the 30 days they say it takes to pay the claims. ( although I see many testimonials on the site saying they got paid in a week)
I DO have a young little boy at home so I do have to be realistic about things and this was my solution.



Here is the link to the plan I chose.
I picked 70% coverage after doing the math and figuring out how much the extra monthly was vs how much the bill would have to be to recoup the additional 20% and it made more financial sense to go with 70%....
Look at all the plans though as there are many options



https://www.petcareinsurance.com/us/dog-insurance-gold.asp

The ins for indoor cats is VERY reasonable at around 10$ a month.
It does NOT cover routine care but like many have said, that is not the worry for any of us, and the policies that include it are charging you a huge amount of money for not alot as most only offer a "discount" on REAL health issues.
It does not include breeding related expenses, but all heraditary illness, accident, infectious, etc....(even cancer treatment and that was a big thing I saw excluded on many policies or at the least a big additional fee) Even ACL and HD are covered.
yes we could all be suprised with a c-section, but we would still usually be able to plan for it to some extent.

you can pay the monthly (the gold is 24.95) or you can get a little discount by paying yearly. I pay 299$ for the year plus I get a 10% discount for mult pets.
My TOTAL bill for a year of coverage is $ 1480.22
For FIVE dogs and my cranky kitty :)
So less than the average fee for two pups is how I look at it.

One last thing, they also offer free microchip registration, and an emergency med deal for 3,000 in guaranteed med treatment if your pet is lost and turns up at a vet needing emergent care when you are not around.(19.99 a year) Hopefully never used, but a small amount of money for the benefit in my opinion.

Annie

Annie, this is SO appreciated by me..many many thank yous!

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Replying to:

Hi all....please trust me when I say that i really did exhaustive research when choosing not only the companies but the plans. I had a very sad situation where I lost a young dog and in the process of trying to save her ran up some crazy ER vet bills. I then started thinking about my responsibility to all my dogs and what I would do if God forbid I was hit with something else immediately before I could regroup. This is what prompted me to get the ins...I figure worst case scenario If something really big happened I could rearrange things for the 30 days they say it takes to pay the claims. ( although I see many testimonials on the site saying they got paid in a week)
I DO have a young little boy at home so I do have to be realistic about things and this was my solution.



Here is the link to the plan I chose.
I picked 70% coverage after doing the math and figuring out how much the extra monthly was vs how much the bill would have to be to recoup the additional 20% and it made more financial sense to go with 70%....
Look at all the plans though as there are many options



https://www.petcareinsurance.com/us/dog-insurance-gold.asp

The ins for indoor cats is VERY reasonable at around 10$ a month.
It does NOT cover routine care but like many have said, that is not the worry for any of us, and the policies that include it are charging you a huge amount of money for not alot as most only offer a "discount" on REAL health issues.
It does not include breeding related expenses, but all heraditary illness, accident, infectious, etc....(even cancer treatment and that was a big thing I saw excluded on many policies or at the least a big additional fee) Even ACL and HD are covered.
yes we could all be suprised with a c-section, but we would still usually be able to plan for it to some extent.

you can pay the monthly (the gold is 24.95) or you can get a little discount by paying yearly. I pay 299$ for the year plus I get a 10% discount for mult pets.
My TOTAL bill for a year of coverage is $ 1480.22
For FIVE dogs and my cranky kitty
So less than the average fee for two pups is how I look at it.

One last thing, they also offer free microchip registration, and an emergency med deal for 3,000 in guaranteed med treatment if your pet is lost and turns up at a vet needing emergent care when you are not around.(19.99 a year) Hopefully never used, but a small amount of money for the benefit in my opinion.

Annie

If it where me I'd contact UVDavis and get a consult if you can..let them know what you've already spent.. gather his records and everything thats been done..sometimes they have grants to help with this kind of thing..I just went through a similiar thing with my 10 old bitch..they thought panceatitis,then IBS..I spent 1000's of dollars on tests..endiscope,colonoscopy,you name it i did it..3 blood transfusions..she kept losing blood but they couldn't find it..finally as a last resort I let them do exploretory surgery..they ended up removing 17 inches of her small intestine..they never would have found it had they not did the surgery..My girls a bleeder so I did not want them doing surgery unless we had to..when all was said and done it cost me 8000.00..would I do it again..In a heartbeat..I have yet to hit my line on what I would do for my dogs..Raven went through a lot after surgery,but never once did she stop fighting and tell me she was ready..so as long as they are willing to fight..I'll fight with them and for them..Just my nature..Raven is happy,and full of herself once again..

Curious, if you will email me privately I will tell you exactly where you should take your dog for your second opinion and which Vet to see since we used to live in the same area and have had a couple of weird scenarios of disease with our dogs that we've had to have treated. Also I can tell you which Vet to see at Davis if you opt to go there.
As far as limits- yes we have them and each case is decided on individually. Mostly it depends on the outcome for the dog, and the pain the dog is in... less on the money. When Travis got spinal meningitis there was no limit, he was a young dog, there was hope in the prognosis, and we told the Vets to go for it. If anyone out there is of the opinion that we have lots of money, well all I can say about that is Ha Ha!!That's a big laugh. WE just did what we had to do. But if we know there is no good outcome we will not put a dog through mo. and mo. of torturous procedures and illness when there is no good end in site. We just feel that we brought these dogs into this world and it is our responsiblilty to do as much for them as we can while at the same time not exposing them to a painful non productive future. Each person has to make these decision for themselves but I feel that if you are not in a position to pay huge vet bills if they come, either through insurance or credit cards, then rethink the number of dogs you own because the more you own the more chances of having one that will give you that big vet bill.
Judy