How Far Would You Go For Your Pet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter solerina
  • Start date Start date
S

solerina

Guest
Our cat broke her leg last week . It wasn't a simple fracture and she's 14 yrs old so the vet sat us down and gave us the options . We decided to get her fixed if there was a hope that she'd get back to her old self . We have a really good , very expensive vet . Our cat now has a pin in her leg and she's going to have to live in a cage for 4 months until she heals . It's cost about £1000 to save her . Would you do that for your pet ?
 
Sorry to hear about that Sol. The longer they are with you, the more they become a member of the family. We've only had the dog for 3 1/2 years now, but he's like my second shadow, and I can honestly say as with virtually anyone, money would be no object were something to happen to him. Hope she mends quickly for you.
 
Cheers Dave . She's been in the vets for 8 days now and you should see how she is when we visit her . She's so totally chuffed . Loads of nudges and loves from her . Wee pet can't wait to get home .
 
Don't you find it strange not having her about the house. It's strange when the dog isn't around, and with cats being in the background a lot more, I'd think you still notice when they aren't there.
 
She sleeps with me at night and I never go to bed without finding out where she is . She's a total sweetheart . She tries to get as close as she possibly can . I lie on my side when I sleep and the wee cat would cuddle up like spoons . She's gonna be stuck in a cage for the next 4 months god help her though .
 
Oh hell (no Brian, it's not PMT...)..

This is most definitely a subject to start me off...

Without knowing Sol's pet and also that cats can live much longer than dogs, I wouldn't pass comment on her case but last week, Mu's daughter's dog, Lucy - 13yo (nearly 14) Lab was staying with Mu while the daughter was away. The bitch has been in a little discomfort occasionally for the past six months, as she has a tumour growing on her bladder - straining when peeing etc. Other than that, she was eating well and going for ambles around the fields etc.

However, after a few days at Mu's, she went rapidly downhill, to the extent she was passing blood and of course Mu took her stright to their mutual vets. He said well, the tumour was now the size of a grapefruit and he could operate to see how if it could be extracted etc etc. or he could just put her down.

Mu felt this wasn't a decision she could take (well known joke in family that if Lindsay's dog Lucy, her husband and son were all drowning at the same time, the dog would be rescued first....). So Lindsay makes the classic mistake and asks "What would you do?".

No prizes for the answer - dog gets operated on, cancer everyhere - dog put down in surgery. Massive vet's bill.

I know there's no 'right' answer for this one but if she'd been my dog, I know I would have insisted on a home visit and she would have been euthanazed in front of the Aga with the least amount of stress possible.

I think there are many vets out there who do take advantage of such situations purely for financial gain. I know they run a business - believe me I should with my vet account - but there has to be a fine line between making money and taking advantage that gets crossed too many times and clients getting 'done'.

All the very best to your cat, Sols - she sounds like she isn't too worried about being confined and has the right attitude to getting better!
 
About two weeks ago I lost both my Dog and Cat to euthansia within 6 days of each other. I say 'my' dog and cat, but they both lived with my grandmother for the past 8 or 9 years. When my Sister, Mother and I moved out of the house where we lived with the two pets the only option was for them to go and live with my Nan whose house was just 100 yards away. Anyway, the dog of 16 became ill quite quickly and it turns out that she had liver failure so the only option was to have her put to sleep. Then the following week the cat deteriorated and would not eat anything. We spent about £350 on treating the cat at the vets during those 5 days but in the end everyone agreed that the kindest thing was to put her to sleep also. Although the cat had stopped eating before the dog went, it makes you wonder how much the poor cat was pining for her lifelong companion.
 
A subject close to my heart. When I'm not wearing my bookies hat, or parenting hat, I wear my cat rescue hat and have volunteered for Cats Protection for nearly seven years. Some peoples attitudes towards their pets beggars belief, and those people would chose to have their cat PTS rather than spend the necessary money and put in the effort to restore them to full fitness purely because they don't care for them the way they should do. The RSPCA, Cats Protection, Blue Cross etc exist not just to rescue and rehome animals but to help owners of them too. If an owner cannot afford to pay for treatment, their local branch of those aforementioned charities can and will help cover the cost. They don't want to see an otherwise pefectly healthy animal PTS just because nobody will pay for it's leg to be fixed. Vets could be a bit more understanding and compassionate too and allow repayments to be made over a period of time, and I know that my old vets used to do that.

My three dogs are insured, and my Springer Spaniel Lizzie has made the most of that insurance cover in the two years of her life so far. I've had to make three claims, and two of those were for surgery to remove stones she's swallowed from her intestines. Each operation would've cost me £600 :huh: Even if she wasn't insured, I would still have found the money somehow, probably by selling half of my possesions on Ebay :lol: My ten cats are not insured, but I've taken each of them on knowing that they are my responsibility and no matter what they get up to I have to make sure they get the veterinary care that they deserve.

My father-in-law used to have two Westies, and each lived into their teens but because he was so tight he let them suffer rather than having them PTS because that would've cost money :angy: Poor Misty was suffering from bladder cancer and that old girl had zero quality of life towards the end but he wouldn't do anything about it. Another family member saw the state Misty was in one evening and took her straight to the vets for it to be done. After sixteen years of loyalty the very least Misty deserved was forty quid being spent to ensure she didn't suffer anymore but he'd rather the money stayed in his pocket :angry:
 
A few years back, we lost two of the family dogs within a few months of each other - to be fair, they were both about 14, which is a good age for Border Collies, but it was horrible. Mum & Dad had just seperated & those dogs were my Mum's entire world; she was absolutely devastated when Josie, the first one, went. We were kind of expecting it as they were so old, but we thought Boot would go first and they were both still very active - Mum found Josie in her bed, unable to get up, the vets reckoned she had a stroke. The vet came out & put her down - Boot followed about 6 months later after his kidneys failed. It was ridiculous - anyone would have thought there was a death in the family after they went, we were all so upset. Mum was in pieces as she had lost her two companions, but as I moved abroad a short while later she took my dog Molly, which suited everyone as Mum didn't want a puppy & I knew Molly would get a great home with a fairly large garden, lots of walks & loads of attention as Mum works from home. I do miss her a lot, but I know that she is happy - I couldn't have subjected her to the heat over here, she really can't handle it, and she needs lots of space to run in, being a border collie. She certainly wears the trousers in Mum's house - she is spoilt rotten - Mum won't leave her for more than a few hours at a time now & if she will be out longer than that she has friends who babysit her! They have been trying to steal Mols for the past couple of years and have now got themselves a border collie pup who Molly loves. She's a grand little dog; I was quite worried about her when I moved out here, (I rescued her from an uncertain fate as a pup - she was born without a tail, no-one wanted her and the old couple who bred her were going to have her out down as they couldn't cope with an extra pup having kept one of her sisters - her parents were working sheepdogs & they kept her sister to work her) and we had barely been apart since I had got her. When I first got her I was working in racing & she came everywhere (bar the races) with me - even when I went to work in the office she would curl up under my desk & she would get very maudlin if I left her - if I went away for more than a day she would mope & go off her food. When I go back now she's goes loopy - as she has no tail she wags her backside instead - so much so that her head hops off her backside when she's doing it! So, getting back to the question - if she was ill, or injured, I have no doubt that I would get on the first plane back to be with her, regardless of cost or anything else. A couple of years ago my brother's dog was put down (I saw him as mine too though as I shared a house with my brother for a few years - being a lad, I ended up looking after both dogs, naturally!!) on the day after I came back to Gib after my first visit home. Nobody told me he was going to be put down until after he was - Jim had taken him to the vets so he, Mum & Dad and my then boyfriend knew he was going to be put down but they deliberately kept it from me as they didn't think I would get on the plane if I knew how ill Doggan really was. I was very, very upset & pretty angry at the time, but I can see why they did it as they were probably right, I odn't think I would have got on the plane. I can well understand why you've had your cat operated on Sols, & I'm glad that she is responding to treatment - cats are very resilient & their bones heal very quickly so the prognosis sounds very good. Good luck with her.
 
Very confusing Dom. You don't sound like a bloodthirsty goth any more.
icon_eek.gif
 
My nine year old mog, Scully, has had a problem with her digestion for the last 4 years. After numerous stays in vets being 'cleared' out, and much distress to her as she hates not being at home, and having to be anywhere near other animals, she is now on a tablet which costs me £20 a month plus a six month checkup. Before the tablets were tried the alternative was a £1500.00 operation, which would have meant at least a 5 day stay in the vets (she would never have stood it) with no guarantee that the problem would have been resolved. I'd have gladly paid it to try and save her from the constant visits and distress. The thought of her not being around is horrible - she's my baby! :)
 
My image of you leaped from the pink dress with satin bow in your hair to bloodthirsty goth (a female version of Vlad The Impaler) after reading your contributions to the foxhunting debate :lol:
 
But isn't it a tricky subject? I know there are folk out there who would put a pet down rather than spend serious money on it and you wonder why they have them in the first place but there are equally as many who are (she said trying to be tactful but going to fail miserably) maybe a little more objective or realistic about a pet's chances than the next person. We're all different!

I had to make the decision a few years back to put SUTOSKY down, as she was suffering from increasing arthritis in her fetlock joints and wasn't sound. Her career as a broodmare was definitely over and she wasn't a suitable riding horse, as physically not capable. Now, some on here would say I should have pensioned her off to live out her remaining days but she wasn't suitable as a 'nanny' to the youngstock, couldn't keep up with the other broodmares and would have had to live on her own or with the cattle - not a very happy lifestyle for a social herd animal. I felt that for me, the right decision was to euthanase her but that's not to say it would have been 'right' to everyone else. While I am very fond of my broodmares, I don't regard them as 'pets' exactly - they're meant to be commercial after all but that does make for very difficult decisions at times.

I also learnt the hard way a couple of years ago with an 11yo Wei bitch. Graycie suffered her third torsion during her life and (I am a bit if an expert spotting them!!) I got her to the vets within about 20 mins, so they operated on her 'successfully' - again! However, what they didn't tell me was that because her op was complicated and lasted for about 2 1/2 hours, her organs were exposed to a high dose of anaesthetic and she was dead six weeks later from kidney failure..

So should this happen again to any elderly dog I have who might have to be under for several hours, then I would probably not go with the surgery - Graycie had a very painful death that might have been avoided if I'd been better informed by my vets..
 
When our three dogs were put down, they were old & we had already decided that we wouldn't put them through the trauma of operations at their age. The first one, Josie, we could do nothing for, the last two, Boot & Doggan, both died of kidney failure. We knew that their kidneys weren't the best but they were both still happy & active - the vets did say that they could have given them some kind of treatment (something to do with dialysis I think it was) but we decided the best and kindest hting to do was to have them euthanased as soon as they showed signs of being in pain, which was what we did. Dad's springer is now in her teens and I know the inevitable is not far away, she acts like an old dog. She has had a lump on one of her mammaries for the past year or so that the vets said not to worry about - apparently it is now growing so I fear the worst. Unfortunately Dad falls into the category whereby he will let her have surgery - last year she had a hysterectomy as she nearly died of an infection in her uterus which I thought was a lot to put an old dog through. She has certainly changed since then & I personally would sooner see her euthanased than have her operated on for this lump, but Dad is silly over her.
 
I agree with you Songsheet . It's not the money but what you're exposing them to in putting them through major surgery . I'm having to ask myself am I being selfish in putting her through this . She had a 2hr op as well and we've been warned that because the fracture was at the finest end of the femur and was so splintered there's a chance that the procedure will fail hence the 4 months in a cage .
I know what Shadow says is true ,cats bones mend well but it's the combination of her age and the severity of the break that worries me . It transpired during the op that the splinter nicked a blood vessel in her knee too so the vet found a massive haematoma there and was only able to remove part of it for fear of the bleeding starting again . She thinks that she avoided any injury to the peroneal nerve but it's difficult to estimate nerve damage until weeks after the op so there's a small chance of paralysis too . I really did'nt fully comprehend what I was getting her into until I saw her after the op . She can't stand yet and the scar runs from her spine to her knee . I just wouldn't want her to suffer more than anything .
I do have confidence in the vet though . She has a very good reputation here and she has said she's seen cat's recover fully from worse breaks so it comes down to that . If there's a decent chance of recovery I'd rather take it . It is a very tricky subject though . I agree .
 
But there are always other circumstances surrounding the issue, aren't there? You yourself have just suffered a major loss and if the pet is an 'only', then of course it's even worse because your sort of 'doubling' up your miseries, I reckon! You make a decision at the time and, at that time, is't the right one. If your cat starts to go downhill, you'll know what to do and that is all she would ask of you.

I know I insisted on too much vet work on my first and best beloved Weimaraner dog looking back now - he spent too much time at the surgery and not enough at home with me - I've never made the same mistake again, though. Maybe it's made me harder - I don't know - dealing with farmstock certainly can make you that way - but my oldest Wei, Connie, is now 13 and full of lumps and bumps which I just ignore. The day she stops eating and/or wanting to go out for her walk with the others or starts behaving out of character is the day the vet comes to call, I'm afraid.

Looking out of my window across the yard, I've just seen my stable cat lug what was either a rat or baby rabbit - very dead! No doubt in protest at me stopping her tinned meat topping to her dried cat food, which I do at this time every year... that's working, then!!
 
As an animal lover, I consider the dog or cat to be an extension of the family so any costs incurred with medical problems are part of ownership responsibilities.

The benefit with the pet is that we can determine what is best for it when it reaches an advanced age and becomes ill.

We had a Bearded Collie who lived for his daily walks and romps in all weathers and knew when he couldn't make it to the door that it was time..
 
I agree with many of the comments on here about knowing when to say enough is enough BUT I would also point out that some vets I have come across (or heard about) rely on the fact that the owners would pay anything to keep their beloved animals alive -literally, at any cost. It is not a time when you want to be bartering or getting second opinions when your pet is in pain or is suffering, but as in all walks of life their are people who try and make a quick buck at the expense of a certain situation. Sad, but unfortunately true.
 
If you have the money to spare, you have no problem in 'going that far' for the pet/s. If you don't, as Purr says, there are charities, including the excellent PDSA, who can be a terrific help for a mere donation (or not even that).

The problem isn't how far we will go for our pets, but how far we make our pets go for us. People who would selfishly rather have their companion lingering in stages of dementia, anxiety, loss of function, and certainly loss of quality of life, are putting themselves before their pets' welfare. Money isn't the issue, since plenty of healthy and happy dogs belong to Big Issue sellers. What is the issue is letting go when the time is right for the pet - regardless of our own heartbreak.
 
Back
Top