vets bills?

Question

friend of mine recently spent over 1500 pounds on vets bills for his dog which sadly still died i said i considered this a waste of money he was quite upset at my attitude and said the money wasnt important so i asked him if the vets bill was 250000 pounds and meant having to sell his home but guaranteed his dogs life would he have done it he coulnt honestly answer he would whats youre opinions

dear kayd no need for abuse i agree no vets bill would be that much i was making the point that the money was important and the fact is it was a waste of money as the dog still died im not for i second saying he shouldnt have tried to save her but there is a limit 2 what he was prepared 2 spend on his dog after all its only a pet

dear jules77 i consider myself to be an animal lover got a 7yr old staff ive had since 12 weeks old and ill be gutted when he dies but do you honestly believe that some people consider there dogs 2 be the same as children i find that idea rather disturbing

dear jules i have insurance you have stated on here you think of your dog the same as your children if that is true which it isnt if you were put in the position of choosing the life of your child or your dog youd chose your child every time i know this wont happen im just makng the point that when people say nonsene like my dogs as important as my children its just isnt true however much you love your dog its only ever gonna b a dog

Answer 1

I think that we are supposed to be stewards of our finances. Reasonable care and cost is reasonable. But outrageous spending on a dog while children go without is wrong. I guess it would just come down to how much money your friend has to spend and how much he does for hurting humanity. Some people have almost nothing, which would make spending that kind of money irresponsible. Some people have enough to care for their families, give to the poor, and also care for pets. We should take good care of our pets. But we should also remember that they are animals not humans.

Answer 2

I don't consider it a waste of money. The only thing your friend did that was stupid was to not get pet insurance. If he had gotten pet insurance, he would not have had to pay so much money. But perhaps he thought it would never come up. And besides that, he actually paid for treatment when it was needed.

I'm sorry, but I think that whatever your personal opinions were, you should not have expressed them to your friend after his dog died.

Some people genuinely see their pets as part of the family or a best friend, and I can understand why. They are living, breathing creatures.

I think challenging him with comments such as "if the vet bill was £250,000...." was highly insensitive and unnecessary.

You should be there for your friend. He must be devastated. If you really do not agree with him, all you had to say was "I'm so sorry, I know how much your dog meant to you."

Just because you would not do for your dog what your friend has done for his, does not make your friend strange or disturbing. I feel very, very sorry for your friend. It is awful when a pet is ill or dies and people around you do not understand.

Answer 3

My year old lab was hit by a car last Janurary. He had a collaped lung, torn acl, broken ribs, and nerve damage in his leg. He had to stay at the vet for about 2 weeks. After that he had to have his leg amputated and 2 different surgerys to replace his acl. A Year later all of our bills racked up to about 3,000 and our vet gave us a huge discount. Oh it has been about a year since this happened and the pup is fine. He doesn't even notice he is missing a leg. I know some people think it is crazy to spend this much on an animal, but it was the least I could do. I am diabetic and I can not tell you how many time he has woken me up in the middle of the night because of low sugars I would otherwise slept through.

Answer 4

I'm a vet and i'd just like to reply to the people on this thread that are saying vets bills are too high, I'm sorry but at the end of the day the money has to come from somewhere, if you had to pay for your healthcare directly (im in the uk) believe me you would think we were dead cheap. I t does really annoy me as people do not understand how much it costs to run a surgery and how much we actually undercharge people especially for big ops, we also do loads of charity work my own practice accepts pdsa clients, we get a few pounds for each client monthly from the pdsa to treat any problems that their clients have. for operations you are paying for nurses, drugs materials and the vets time - I've had people complain that a spay costing £180 was too much, i mean you can easily be operating for an hour on a spay, that's actually operating not including the preperation time and monitoring recovery (all in all can be up to 2 hours on that 1 animal), sounds pretty cheap to me. also you are paying for the 24hour cover availability, if you think you are not getting value for money then go elsewhere, simple as that, we get very few complaints because we try to provide a really good service, btw i get paid a few thousand pounds above the national average so not rolling in it as many people believe ( also have £50000 debt from uni), sorry if this is a bit of a rant, in answer to your question spend 15 quid a monh on insurance then the question won't arrise.

Answer 5

I don't think that people consider their dogs to be exactly the same as children (I have one of each) but I do absolutely adore my 11 year old dog and would pay £1500 on vets bills (luckily I have pet insurance). I think my point would be that you were insensitive telling your friend that him spending that money on his dog was a waste of money.

If I'd just lost my dog and someone told me I'd wasted my money on vets bills I'd be pretty hacked off, to be honest. Of course you're entitled to your opinion and it's your choice completely whether you'd spend the money, but the fact is you were very tactless and insenstitive telling your friend that.

Answer 6

If there's a chance that treatment will prolong the dogs life and it won't be in pain or misery then I don't care what it costs. If I lose the house over it too bad.
We can live anywhere but we can't replace the dog.
If however the quality of the dogs life will not be that great then then by all means put the poor thing down and lets be done with it.

Answer 7

Most people have their limits on how much they can afford to spend on a sick pet. Obviously, people who care deeply for their pets will go to greater lengths financially that other people for whom the animal is not such a high priority.
I guess the 1500 pounds your friend paid was reasonable to him when compared to the possibility of losing his pet. Sadly, it wasn't successful, but if he'd not followed the course of treatment, and the pet died, he would have no doubt felt guilty & remorseful that he'd not done all that he could. For many people, parting with the money is something they can get over much more easily than the lingering regret they'd suffer if they hadn't.
We're all different - what's important to you is not going to be important to everyone.

Answer 8

the obvious question is..why didn't your friend have insurance? then this arguement wouldn't even have come up..i certainly would not sell my house to pay my dogs bills, but i would try and raise the money some how, but most vets are pretty good that if a bill is high they will let you pay in instalments..so it solves the problem really doesn't it?

if he was trying to save his dogs life, then it was not a waste of money...if we didn't have the NHS my daughter would be dead from cancer by now as we wouldn't have been able to afford hospital fees.....a dog is part of the family and should be treated as such, don't make your friend feel crap..you should be consoling him oin the loss of his beloved friend

Answer 9

When you take on a pet, it's your responsibility to pay for treatment when they are ill. For those who can not afford treatment, it is their responsibility to give the pet to some one who can (family,friend, rescue group etc) or have the pet humanely euthanized.

In September, I spent over $2,000 on my cat who was having trouble breathing. I had to take him to a specialist who did a endoscopy to see what was going on. Turns out he had a large mass obstructing his airways. It was initially thought to be cancer, turned out to be cryptococcus, a type of fungus. Treatment is long and he'd already been through so much, so I let him be at peace.

It was well worth it, HE was worth it and I owed it to him to get a proper diagnoses and not just let him suffer for no reason.

I don't think many could lose their home in a effort to save a pet, there would be other options before that would happen, but I see your point. That's something you can not answer, you can only cross that bridge when you get to it.

Be there for your friend, don't tell him spending money on his pet was a waste, that's just rude. To each their own, and that's what he felt was best, than that's his business.

Answer 10

What do you consider 'value for money'? For many of us our dogs are our children, so we would do anything we could if it that may save their life.

Pretty heartless of you to say it was a waste of money ater your friend had just lost his dog and I am not at all surprised he was upset.

I think drinking beer and getting drunk is a waste of money, but hey ho, many thousands of people will be doing nothing else over the christmas festivities.

PS: I find it rather disturbing that you see yourself as an animal lover, but tell your friend it was a waste of money spending money on his pet for it to die. So........if your dog is ill and needs an operation, presumably you wouldnt bother.........although you will be gutted when he dies? What price limit do you put on a life? And yes, I would do anything for my dogs, much as I would for my son, so same difference, they are the same as my children.

Answer 11

It is so sad that your friend's dog died. Maybe instead of saying something callous, like how he wasted his money, you could sympathise with the pain of his loss?
I have lost three dogs in the last year. All of them had vet bills in excess of $2500. I would spend the money again without thought, and more, if I thought it would bring them back.
You must not own a dog.