And my dog just ate up a big chunk of my budget yesterday. My dog has been chewing on her feet for about a year now and one of her little toes had gotten red and a little swollen, so I decided to bring her in to see the vet. Admittedly she was overdue on getting all her shots and her heartworm medication. Essentially, aside from the foot chewing, she wasn’t going to pass inspection. So she got all her shots and her medication before Dr. Do Little addressed the foot chewing. He said it was probably a skin allergy. I asked about the treatment options and the consequences of not treating it. He outlined all the options, all the way up to “skin and blood tests that could run $700-$800.” Needless to say, I was not going to spend four times the original cost of the dog just because she her feet itched. If my car needs $800 worth of repairs I’d get a new car. I was tempted to do the same here, but I didn’t want to train a new dog not to pee in my house. The house I’m still trying to sell. The first option, however, was to try an allergy medication similar to benadryl. When I asked the consequences of not treating the allergy at all, Dr. Do Little said “She will continue to itch.” That didn’t seem so bad to me, but not wanting him to call the SPCA on me, I agreed to take two weeks of allergy medication for her and call him and tell him if it worked. Dr. Do Little is likely to grow old waiting for that call. As I was checking out I braced myself for what was likely to be an astronomical sum for what I consider an optional member of my family. The bill was $243.15. I think I may have to win the lottery with those motel ticket stub numbers if I want to afford to keep my dog. Actually, if I win the lottery I’ll just hire someone to chew her feet for her. That has got to be cheaper than the treatment. At the checkout desk as I was signing a mortgage to pay for my dog’s bill I noticed that they had stickers you could put in your window to remind the fire dept. to rescue your pets in the event of a fire. I thought to myself, “If I ever have to pay this much for my dog again, I may just set her on fire myself.”
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vets rip you off. just cos they access to the drugs. my friend got charged $700 for the vet to squeeze an abcess on her dog’s arse!word verification: nbedpris (like the nobel pize, but for Nobs.)
My mother-in-law spends enormous amounts of money on her obese asthmatic diabetic dog. She is the only person I know who has a shelf in her medicine cabinet dedicated to her dog’s medication.
I agree…vet prices are outrageous! Your poor dog though..you can’t let her be miserable. Think how sad your kids would be.
You obviously love your dog very much. I think I’ll suggest that my son become a Vet so he can get rich and support me when I get old.Don’t even ask how much I paid for a pet rat once.
My cat has been fairly low maintenance but that’s because he’s been healthy -knock on wood. But I am sure we all eventually spend some money on them for health reasons.Sorry the doggie is having issues.-N
I think pet owners can find a balance between not going broke and not letting an animal suffer when it can be helped. I knew a family who’s dog was already well past the expected age for its breed. They installed <>an elevator<> in their home when the dog’s legs got weak and kept the pet for two years after it went blind. At some point you need to put the poor animal out of its misery. It was running into walls!
I once witnessed 4 young guys carry a huge Doberman into a vets surgery ( i Had to hide my pussy) the vet x rayed the dogs leg, then proceeded to tell the owner it was going to cost over 1,000. The poor guy burst into tears knowing there was no way he could afford it……the vet put the dog down 🙁
i work at a vets office, and the amount of money the people spend on their pets is ridiculous. helpful hint: you can give a dog benadryl if it’s plain diphenhydromine. none of that non decongestive crap. give it the liquid kind and a dropper comes with it. call your vet and find out how much you should give because it depends on weight. wow, so i’ve done my good deed for the day! (p.s. look at the meds your bet gave you and i bet it’s either diphenhydromine or clavamox. maybe hivite drops, but the benedryl would probalby work just as well)
Thanks Lollie. I knew that and that was my next plan after the real vet meds ran out.
I spend so much money at the Vet (Had 5 dogs now we have 4) that the vet actually came to our house with gifts. I thought they were casing the place just to make sure we had enough money to pay their bills. I’m not making this up either. 🙂Oh, and when we got the call that they were just gonna stop by in 5 minutes, well, I’ve never seen my wife and daughther do so much house work in such a short period of time. Lesson learned? When I want the house cleaned, I’ll just call the vet to pay us a visit, on last minute notice of course.
What about pet health insurance? Is there such a thing? If so, sign my cat up.