Vet treatment - Where do you draw the line?

Hamster? Gerbil?

I've just gotten home from our vet feeling all warm and fuzzy inside after taking a chicken worth 50p at best for a £14 treatment. She was just tired, it seems :mark:
But before everyone says I should have just wrung her scraggy little neck, I'll justify my expenditure by saying she came from a battery cage on saturday and has a few good years in her yet. If she'd been old, I'd have asked a local farmer to neck her, but she's only 72 weeks of age.

Many of my shop customers have bought cheap puppies only to have to spend hundreds or even thousands on them within weeks - but they never sue the breeders or consider putting the pet down and getting a healthy one. Personally, I say if you're daft enough to buy an ill-bred type, it's your own fault, but that's just me.

Anyway, at what point would you say no to possibly high vet fees? I've got a strict five hundred quid on the horses and any value at all on the dogs. Hens are about thity quid each. My partner is nothing at all :p :

Hazell - you can sell the horse for glue :)

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Originally Posted by Hazell B

Anyway, at what point would you say no to possibly high vet fees?

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At no point. If you take the step of taking an animal, then you are responsible for its health and well-being. Of course, most vets will offer you 1000 different treatments just to get more money from you, which is quite disgusting.

If you have a pet. But if you are farming for profit there's no point spending money keeping an animal alive if it's not going to give a return. Sounds harsh, but it's economic reality.

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Originally Posted by Mark

If you have a pet. But if you are farming for profit there's no point spending money keeping an animal alive if it's not going to give a return. Sounds harsh, but it's economic reality.

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Yeah, I guess I can agree with that.

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Originally Posted by Mark

If you have a pet. But if you are farming for profit there's no point spending money keeping an animal alive if it's not going to give a return. Sounds harsh, but it's economic reality.

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Also a political reality.

I set the limit at the point where I can't afford paying the vet fees. It is my responsibility to take good care of the animal, so as long as I can afford it, I do it.

This is a big problem for me (and family) although there was a time i did not ever think it would be.
Several years ago, I had a friend who was spending at least 1k or more to have kidney didalysis done on their old dog, every few days or so.
he probably spent $10k or more before the dog up and died.
I was trying not to just say, dude are you Fing stupid?????

Well, we had this cat who showed up as a stray and over time, wormed his way into the family.
The cat had been with us some 18 years (how old he was when he showed up, I know not).
Cat gets sick. None of us had the heart to do what the vet recommended, so we spent probably $$1500 on treatments including IV fluids that we would administer at home. He finally passed on, much to everyone's sorrow.

I still miss that old cat, bless his heart.
Thing is before he showed up, I had no use for cats. Zero. Did not want them around.

I think that if I knew for certain that spending $50k would have kept that cat going for just two or three years, I would have gone out gottten a loan or robbed a few banks, and paid the money with a smile.

when I think with the head, that would be REALLY STUPID
When I think with the heart, well............................


(okay, dunnel, you can tell me once again what an ignorant moron redneck I be for such)

18 is a very good age for a cat :cool:

I have a phobia of fish but I allowed the other half to buy a fish tank about 6 months ago. We just got a new pet bamboo shrimp last week. His name was Sidney the Shrimp. I had a quick look in the tank early this morning and couldn't see him. Then at lunch time I had another look and he was no where to be seen. So bravely decided to lift the lid of the tank when out rolled Sidney who had climbed out of the water. I jumped, screamed and then ran out of the room. I immediately called the other half who told me to put him back in the water if he was still alive. I did ask whether I could just poke it from a distance to see if it was alive but then the other half said he might fly across the living room if I poked him which the thought of scared me even more. I decided that Sidney was definately dead and removed him. I have phobia of fish and I know that helping poor Sidney wouldnt have cost anything but I'm pretty sure I would have faced the fear to help him if he had a chance of survival. Bloody pets, I still think I need a stiff drink to calm my nerves.

Wuss :p

When I lived in England we had a huge slug called Fred who used to live in the downstairs bogroom, much to the disgust of our two female housemates.
I don't know which one of them ended up treading on the poor bloke. We would have gladly paid a vet whatever it would have taken to resurrect him but unfortunately his injuries were too massive :(

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Originally Posted by donKey jote

When I lived in England we had a huge slug called Fred who used to live in the downstairs bogroom, much to the disgust of our two females housemates.
I don't know which one of them ended up treading on the poor bloke. We would have gladly paid a vet whatever it would have taken to resurrect him but unfortunately his injuries were too massive :(

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:rotflmao: :D

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Originally Posted by Garry Walker

At no point. If you take the step of taking an animal, then you are responsible for its health and well-being.

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Which is true, but at some point you are keeping an animal alive only for your own benefit. If they require treatments that would stress them unfairly, I believe you're a rotten animal owner if you go ahead with those treatments.
For example, a horse I owned had laminitis (a very painful hoof/blood condition with no cure, just treatment). She was unhappy with the treatment, so we had her shot at home. No way is keeping a depressed pet alive, just so you don't have the pain of his or her death, fair.
Plus, of course, it's just plain wrong to spend all of your available money on one case when you would perhaps be scrimping on another pet (or family member) as a result. I would never take out loans to cover vet costs. If I can't afford fair and reasonable costs, I don't take on the animal - which I why I turned down a free horse last week and only took on six new hens rather than the 12 I have room for.

My limit when it comes to a chicken is anything that prevents this.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wxz5t_0EbQ...ickenPSHOP.jpg

BTW I grew up around many farm animals including Chickens.

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Originally Posted by Hazell B

Which is true, but at some point you are keeping an animal alive only for your own benefit. If they require treatments that would stress them unfairly, I believe you're a rotten animal owner if you go ahead with those treatments.
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True. very, but for some of us that is a very difficult conclusion to reach. I was not a pet person at all, until that alley cat came along.

Later I had to go to assist in getting some relative out of jail for DWI, whose pet had been seized by animal control as aprt of the arrest, since hte dog was riding in the car. Of course, I got to see all the other dogs and cats where if they do not get claimed with three or four days, they are put down. So sad to see those would-be pets from babies to old adults, locked up and facing death whose only sin was that they did not have someone to love them enough to take care of them....Meanwhile back over at the jail, I saw some scary folks, whose sins were HUGE and nasty, and got to wondering if we were euthanizing the wrong group of animals...

needless to say, all of our pets have come from shelters, except for the first alley cat who just wandered in from somewhere.

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Originally Posted by markabilly

True. very, but for some of us that is a very difficult conclusion to reach. I was not a pet person at all, until that alley cat came along.

Later I had to go to assist in getting some relative out of jail for DWI, whose pet had been seized by animal control as aprt of the arrest, since hte dog was riding in the car. Of course, I got to see all the other dogs and cats where if they do not get claimed with three or four days, they are put down. So sad to see those would-be pets from babies to old adults, locked up and facing death whose only sin was that they did not have someone to love them enough to take care of them....Meanwhile back over at the jail, I saw some scary folks, whose sins were HUGE and nasty, and got to wondering if we were euthanizing the wrong group of animals...

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Good to see we have at least one thing in common :)

My wife and I just had to put our 12 year old cat down. She was incredibly healthy up until about two months ago and her behavior just shifted dramatically. She started fighting with the other cats and became quite lethargic. We thought maybe her old age was just catching up to her.

Unfortunately, she got even worse two weeks ago. She stopped eating one day, and the next got sick all over herself and didn't clean it up. We rushed her to the vet and he found her to be anemic and her abdomen just riddled with cancer.

The vet was very realistic. He said that we could spend thousands and put her through multiple surgeries to remove the tumors, which would still most likely not save her, or we could put her down. We put her down because she was essentially suffocating to death...something we couldn't bear to watch.

If it had been feasible to do the surgeries and it had a very good chance of saving her, we probably would have.

What Mark said about pets vs. farming for profit makes sense. We would've spent the exorbitant amounts of cash for a pet.

Out of interest, how many of those advocating what is in effect euthanasia for pets also advocate euthanasia for humans? If you believe in the notion of one and not the other, why is this the case?

That's not a topic for this thread if you want to discuss that please start a new thread.

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Originally Posted by Mark

That's not a topic for this thread if you want to discuss that please start a new thread.

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Mark, far be it for me to disagree with you on such a matter, but I'm not seeking to start a discussion on euthanasia — rather, to find out why people would make a differentiation between the two.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

Mark, far be it for me to disagree with you on such a matter, but I'm not seeking to start a discussion on euthanasia — rather, to find out why people would make a differentiation between the two.

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I agree with you Ben :)

I think one thing to consider is that when most pets get into their teens, if they were to be treated for something serious like cancer, they're going to live for another couple of years at best. If it was a person they could live for quite a bit longer.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

I agree with you Ben :)

I think one thing to consider is that when most pets get into their teens, if they were to be treated for something serious like cancer, they're going to live for another couple of years at best. If it was a person they could live for quite a bit longer.

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And, to put it at its bluntest, there is a question as to the value we place on the life of a human as compared to that of a pet — quite rightly, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

And, to put it at its bluntest, there is a question as to the value we place on the life of a human as compared to that of a pet — quite rightly, in my opinion.

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Just out of curiosity Ben, have you ever had a pet dog or cat?

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Just out of curiosity Ben, have you ever had a pet dog or cat?

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No.

By the way, I should point out that in no way am I being critical here of anyone's attitudes on this subject, no matter which view they may hold.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

No.
.

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explains everything and why he wants to take the thread off topic-please follow the advice previously given or be quiet

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Originally Posted by markabilly

explains everything and why he wants to take the thread off topic-please follow the advice previously given or be quiet

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Markabilly, why did you have to go and ruin it like that? Of course someone who doesn't own a pet isn't going to be quite as bothered about pets as people like you and I who either have pets or have had pets in the past.....

sorry, i scewed the pooch......

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Markabilly, why did you have to go and ruin it like that? Of course someone who doesn't own a pet isn't going to be quite as bothered about pets as people like you and I who either have pets or have had pets in the past.....

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In fact, I'm far from 'not bothered'.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

In fact, I'm far from 'not bothered'.

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And you've been asked twice to start your own thread about the subject.
:mark:

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Originally Posted by markabilly

sorry, i scewed the pooch......

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you dirty dog you :laugh:

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

Out of interest, how many of those advocating what is in effect euthanasia for pets also advocate euthanasia for humans? If you believe in the notion of one and not the other, why is this the case?

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I think euthanasia should be allowed for sure in case of humans, I have first hand seen the suffering of some people from terminal diseases and that they shouldnt be given the chance to get rid of that pain they must go through in their last few months, well, that is just inhumane.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

And, to put it at its bluntest, there is a question as to the value we place on the life of a human as compared to that of a pet — quite rightly, in my opinion.

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Well, I have 4 cats and 2 dogs (and many fish) and I can easily state they have far more value to me than almost any human. I have taken them, I am responsible for them. I see nothing wrong with that.