My million dollar Beagle

[Tech7]

My wife and I have 4 dogs, and one very brave 17 year old cat. All of my dogs came from rescues. The only way to go, I hate puppy mills. Since we can't have kids, these are our babies. I am farely sure they are going to name a wing, in our name, at our local vet with all of our "donations". Just last Saturday dropped 200 bucks for a dog on dog bite. Shave, inspect, pain meds and antiboitic. Happens all the time. Here's a pic of the crew. Yet still, wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Travis]

Gordon's Fat Cat

 

[jamesgs4]

My old obese beagle has doggie health insurance, and it has been used a couple of times already saving us thousands of dollars so far. Well worth it.

 

[xjwmx]

Insurance companies are out to make pet care unaffordable, like I watched them in my lifetime do with auto body work and medicine. Better not to have a pet than be played. Maybe the shelters will fight the fight if they quit seeing "adoption fees."

 

[retiredgentleman]

Yeah, pets are expensive. About 6 years ago, our cat needed an operation for a blockage in the intestines (hair ball). That cost $1000.00 . We've had our cat about 11 years now, so that works out to about $90.00 per year. Maybe that's not much when you think of it

 

[Travis]

I have a friend who has a little blind dog. It was already blind but needed its eyes removed due to infection or something. The surgeries cost him and his wife $900 for each eye! They must really love that little dog!

 

[jamesgs4]

Insurance companies are out to make pet care unaffordable, like I watched them in my lifetime do with auto body work and medicine. Better not to have a pet than be played. Maybe the shelters will fight the fight if they quit seeing "adoption fees."

Do you make your own tinfoil hats or does your group supply them for you lol

 

[xjwmx]

What part of that sounds crazy to you? If you're a pet owner you have only two choices, be a victim of extortion or let the pet die when it gets sick. That's what's crazy. You can only avoid that, and I'm sure you want to, by not having a pet - "Better not to have a pet than be played."

I see from the avatar you're riding a young bike. When your grandfather was born your great-grandfather reached in his pocket and handed about a weeks worth of his wages to the doc. No that's not an insult to your grandfather

But back on the subject of pets, what kind of puppies does everyone like?

 

[jamesgs4]

The insurance on my old dog has saved us thousands of dollars, modern medicine is just going to cost more. My great great grandfather had no idea my dog would ever need an MRI and chemical lab work to properly diagnose his specific condition. Do I have insurance on my 2 year old pup? No, but the 12 year old beagle? Of course. Extortion? lol no. The cost of insurance so far is less than 1/10th of the recent hospital bills.

 

[xjwmx]

As for MRI, leading edge treatment is as old as treatment itself. It isn't intrinsically more expensive. It may be more expensive in some version of a marketplace, until it's no longer leading edge. In the future when we have new treatments they won't be X times as expensive as current treatments because they're X times better. By the same token treatment in the past wasn't cheap because it might have been less effective or less technological.

Extortion, of course it is. You have no choice but to have it if you want a pet and are a responsible person. It doesn't matter that what's extorted is affordable or a small fraction of a crazy price that forced you to buy it in the first place. It wouldn't matter if it was a penny, it's still extortion. A professional accountant will get fired for stealing a penny; not because the boss is that bad of a money grubber, but because the accountant is a thief.

 

[Teebs]

Extortion, of course it is. You have no choice but to have it if you want a pet and are a responsible person.

I wonder if coming from a farming background gives a person a far more pragmatic approach to this situation? I can't imagine spending thousands of dollars on a pet's medical expenses. I don't know how it makes you an irresponsible person not to have it. I pay for regular shots and feed my dog better than most people eat. No chemicals or shitty dog food. She eats a natural high protein diet. But if she gets cancer or some other fucked up condition, I'll put her down when it looks like she's ready to go.

I've watched people extend their pet's lives to save themselves the misery they're only prolonging at the animal's expense. It usually really sucks for the poor pet.

 

[xjwmx]

I wonder if coming from a farming background gives a person a far more pragmatic approach to this situation?

I would think it's more a matter of individuals. My Father grew up farming and mining, and when I was around ten, I saw him cry when our English setter died. A man who spent WWII as a Marine in the South Pacific. He would have done whatever he could to bring her back. Conversely I saw a city boy pick up a baby bird and squeeze it until it was dead. My personal experience is that living close to nature gives respect for animals, including hunted ones. They're comedians, singers, good friends, and sustenance. Might even make good role models

 

[xjwmx]

But from literally down on the farm, I know a woman who raises miniature horses and one was real late delivering and died several days after giving birth and the colt died too. For a week they were both up and around, then plop. And the vet was practically living there. It had happened before and she was super traumatized by it. But of course it might have been different if she was raising them for slaughter

 

[Teebs]

I've killed a lot of animals over the years whether it's chickens, pigs and beef cattle, or rabbits, deer and elk, and I probably have more respect and even reverence for animals than most people who haven't ever killed one. Far more than I have for the average human.
I never take what they give me for granted, whether it be companionship or meat for the table. I think it's a lot easier to dissociate from the fact that it's an actual animal when you only ever see meat in a foam tray neatly wrapped in plastic. That's not to say that everyone who hunts or grows up on a farm gets it either. I've seen guys that could snuff the life out of an animal with their bare hands and not even give it a moment's thought, like it was only their due. Never liked a single one of them either.
But I've shot more than one dog in the head. It's harsh, ugly reality right in your face. Don't think it didn't make me cry either, and get shitfaced falling down drunk afterward. But they were my dogs, and I owed them that. I don't know if I can explain it. I'm not going to let someone else take that burden from me. That friggin injection isn't any more humane than a bullet in the brain, it's just less messy for the pet-owner.
It's so much easier for the person to let someone else do it where they don't have to see it. Screw that. My dogs give me everything they have. That final act always reminds me of the real weight and responsibility I take on whenever I decide to take on another dog.
As far as the vet thing... you're only prolonging the inevitable, and usually not for the pet's sake. Mourning is a selfish act; a normal healthy act, but nonetheless. It is our loss that makes us mourn, and it's our fear of loss that tries to drag out the natural course of things whether it be with our animals or humans.
If I thought that surgery or whatever would actually bring my dog back to a normal, healthy life, then I'd consider doing it, but the fact is that the majority of the time ailments aren't diagnosed until it's too late... or you're trying to save your pet long past it's natural life cycle.

 

[Teebs]

And that's TOTALLY enough of that conversation for me... Didn't mean for it to take such a morbid turn.

 

[gggGary]

yup the vet for smaller fixable stuff. If the pet is going to see it as torture that it endures for the love of it's owner, not so much.
Gary
Dog
Cat died this year
5 horses.
In the past ten years we have put down (killed) 2 dogs and a horse that were suffering more than living.
Bawled my eyes out every time.
Cat seemed healthy, woke up in the morning it was laying on the floor by the bed dead. I want to go that way

 

[xjwmx]

Probably the main thing is the purpose of the animal. The English setter was out pet, but also was used to hunt birds with. Or you might kill a chicken, but not a pet chicken The purpose of the former was food.

When Dad was a little kid he would set up traps on the creek, mainly for mink I think. I believe I remember hearing Sears & Roebuck bought pelts by mail; the early 20th century version of taking hides back to Va. and N.C. from the frontier. That's old time stuff. Shortly thereafter industrial mining turned it into a wasteland and put the inhabitants on the clock.

 

[Yamakazi]

My dog, Lucy (different from Lucy above), a 5 year old mixed something, came to us as a pound-puppy...is at the vet's right now...in recovery from surgery for a torn ACL! Did the torn left knee ACL about 5 months ago, right knee yesterday.

Told my daughter she was gonna have to come home from college for a semester because we couldn't afford to pay tuition for the Spring semester...

 

[Capt_Zoom]

I was supposed to be going to California on 12/26 but my dog was acting weird, and right as I was bringing her to the car that morning to drop her off at the kennel she started puking. OK, guess we aren't going. Brought her to the vet and they ran a bunch of tests, re-hydrated her, and gave us a few prescriptions. Her liver enzymes are high, and her T-cells and platelets are low indicating an infection in her liver. Total bill that day $200. The next day we had to bring her back for a bile acid test to see if there is something wrong with her liver. We should get the results today or tomorrow. Total bill for that day $100. The next day she was really lethargic, unresponsive, no appetite, etc. Called the vet they said to come back and pickup another prescription and special food. Total bill $100. Today she won't eat, and is lethargic so we might be going back to the vet this afternoon.

This is nothing new, a few months ago she got bitten by another dog and had to get 4 stitches. Before that she accidentally ripped out one of her dew claws on the day we were moving etc...

Dogs can really nickle and dime you to death. You might want to look at the Banfield vets insurance plan that is run through petsmart. the one in scottsdale and the one in chandler are pretty good. Visits are free and you get a certain number of tests per year depending on the plan you get. On our two dogs it has saved us rediculous amounts of money.

Liver stuff is really scary. I lost a basset to liver cancer. Keep vigilent with the tests cause it can escalate pretty quickly. I hope that's not what you have going on.