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Pet owners whom are responsible will generally pay a lot to take care of their pets. My dogs definitely cost as they get older. My last one was a rescue and getting older so she ended up having to have many teeth pulled and we shelled out even more to get our other chi's teeth cleaned and extra work to be sure it isn't an issue later. Couple thousand there. We tried to keep as much aside as possible but actually nothing came close to when we got our guinea pigs! I am on a forum in another country whom absolutely adore their guinea pigs and what they all pay in vet costs are staggering in comparison.
We have shelled out some hundreds so far in our guinea pigs for just basic URI's but I am well aware these guys can easily have dental issues with tumors and kidney problems that can run up to thousands. A lot of our forum members with their guinea pigs aren't really about the cost of the vet care but about the quality of life with the vet care and when to euthanize.
Now two other big questions would be how much your spouse would consider acceptable for medical care and another biggie would be what kind of cost can be put into avoiding some costly medical bills. I know there are ways with both our chis and guinea pigs but it costs more with a bit of extra effort when you know about them.
I think that the pet parent should spend as much as it is needed as long as it stays in the available budget.
That make sense but if what the pet needs exceeds the "available budget" then the owner needs to surrender the pet to a rescue/shelter who will get it the medical care it needs or see if there is a rescue who will help with the vet costs or euthanize it if the condition is severe. What the owner shouldn't do is let the pet suffer because they don't want to spend the money or don't have it. I get not everyone can afford extremely expensive treatments, but the animal shouldn't have to suffer if the money isn't there.
This is going to sound like a cold and logical post, but I wouldn't spend much more than $1000 on a pet, in specific a cat as I'm more a cat person. You can go to the humane society and adopt another one for $100 or less. The pain the one you own will go through with the surgery and recovery would likely be higher than if you simply put them to sleep. They don't know what is happening when you do this generally, and it would actually be more humane to put a sick animal to sleep and adopt another than to spend untold thousands treating many things that can go wrong and then having the pain of the recovery and any other long term problems the surgery might cause.
"Kill shelters" as the term is dubbed here are a necessary evil because animals are hardwired to breed and fight.. it's what they do.. when we have overpopulation what other option is there? Plus cats and dogs themselves are opportunistic killers. I've seen my mother's cats kill untold birds and mice and her black lab swallow a baby rabbit whole. How cruel is that for the rabbit? What I find silly is people who spend $1000-5000 on purebred or "custom" pets and/or people that make a business on selling various breeds like hairless cats and the like, where they refuse to give you an unspayed or unneutered specimen without charging $10K because they have cornered the market for this niche breed and want to keep their cash cow going.. now that's cruel when there's such an overpopulation problem to go and pay extra just to breed some specific mix of pet when you could go to an animal shelter and get a pet for $100.... plus a lot of these purebreds end up with genetic issues and suffer more because of the interbreeding that goes on.
Since there is an overpopulation problem anyways which means at some point some of them that are perfectly healthy could be put to sleep, it seems to me to be much more cost effective to simply adopt another... ultimately most of them have very similar personalities anyways. I usually get slammed by more emotional people over this stand, but I'm a man, I study evolutionary psychology, I see the overpopulation problem, I see how many cats are at the local humane society I can go adopt.. am I going to spend $2000-5000+? Never going to happen.
Bottom line is that mother nature is cruel.. animals (and humans... we are animals you know) have suffered and died on this planet for billions of years.. the fate of one particular sick cat or dog isn't going to make a grand difference in the scheme of things... if you get emotionally attached to your pets you have to decide what you are willing to spend. I have made my decision in the matter. I always think about how many insects I ran over when I just go out and go for a 25 mile bike ride or 4 mile jog. As humans we place different values on different creatures based on how they make us "feel" but ultimately all life from small bacteria to us, the pinnacle of evolution on this planet, is precious in it's own way and we kill things all the time that are a nuisance to us. What makes us so much better than insects or small mammals? What makes a cat or dog better than a squirrel, rabbit, or fox or all the animals we industrial farm to use for food? I tend to look at things from a big picture perspective.
When I mention to my mother this weekend that I can go adopt a cat for $75 versus the money it will cost to spay the stray she found I'm not looking forward to her response.. she can get pretty emotional over animals. Bottom line.. they are not humans... they are not my children... comparing them to a human child and then slamming me for them being "members of the family" won't really change my mind.
This is going to sound like a cold and logical post, but I wouldn't spend much more than $1000 on a pet, in specific a cat as I'm more a cat person. You can go to the humane society and adopt another one for $100 or less. The pain the one you own will go through with the surgery and recovery would likely be higher than if you simply put them to sleep. They don't know what is happening when you do this generally, and it would actually be more humane to put a sick animal to sleep and adopt another than to spend untold thousands treating many things that can go wrong and then having the pain of the recovery and any other long term problems the surgery might cause.
Except that I spent $5K on surgery for my corgi and he went on to live another 10 happy healthy years. I spent another $5K on my GSDs hips and he's had 12 quality years of life. Neither dog had complications with their surgeries and did not have long-term problems. It would have been easier and cheaper to put them to sleep BUT it's not about what's convenient for me. It's about what's best for my dogs.
Let's not sugarcoat it, you don't want the expense or the hassle of putting a pet though surgery, so you kill it. If you tell yourself it's better for them to euthanize them instead of surgery (where surgery will cure the problem and the outcome for the pet is good), you're rationalizing your decision to do what's easiest for you. It's not about the pet at all.
Animals are not people but they're not disposable either. They're not like a dinner plate that you throw out if it's broken.
This is going to sound like a cold and logical post, but I wouldn't spend much more than $1000 on a pet, in specific a cat as I'm more a cat person. You can go to the humane society and adopt another one for $100 or less. The pain the one you own will go through with the surgery and recovery would likely be higher than if you simply put them to sleep. They don't know what is happening when you do this generally, and it would actually be more humane to put a sick animal to sleep and adopt another than to spend untold thousands treating many things that can go wrong and then having the pain of the recovery and any other long term problems the surgery might cause.
"Kill shelters" as the term is dubbed here are a necessary evil because animals are hardwired to breed and fight.. it's what they do.. when we have overpopulation what other option is there? Plus cats and dogs themselves are opportunistic killers. I've seen my mother's cats kill untold birds and mice and her black lab swallow a baby rabbit whole. How cruel is that for the rabbit? What I find silly is people who spend $1000-5000 on purebred or "custom" pets and/or people that make a business on selling various breeds like hairless cats and the like, where they refuse to give you an unspayed or unneutered specimen without charging $10K because they have cornered the market for this niche breed and want to keep their cash cow going.. now that's cruel when there's such an overpopulation problem to go and pay extra just to breed some specific mix of pet when you could go to an animal shelter and get a pet for $100.... plus a lot of these purebreds end up with genetic issues and suffer more because of the interbreeding that goes on.
Since there is an overpopulation problem anyways which means at some point some of them that are perfectly healthy could be put to sleep, it seems to me to be much more cost effective to simply adopt another... ultimately most of them have very similar personalities anyways. I usually get slammed by more emotional people over this stand, but I'm a man, I study evolutionary psychology, I see the overpopulation problem, I see how many cats are at the local humane society I can go adopt.. am I going to spend $2000-5000+? Never going to happen.
Bottom line is that mother nature is cruel.. animals (and humans... we are animals you know) have suffered and died on this planet for billions of years.. the fate of one particular sick cat or dog isn't going to make a grand difference in the scheme of things... if you get emotionally attached to your pets you have to decide what you are willing to spend. I have made my decision in the matter. I always think about how many insects I ran over when I just go out and go for a 25 mile bike ride or 4 mile jog. As humans we place different values on different creatures based on how they make us "feel" but ultimately all life from small bacteria to us, the pinnacle of evolution on this planet, is precious in it's own way and we kill things all the time that are a nuisance to us. What makes us so much better than insects or small mammals? What makes a cat or dog better than a squirrel, rabbit, or fox or all the animals we industrial farm to use for food? I tend to look at things from a big picture perspective.
When I mention to my mother this weekend that I can go adopt a cat for $75 versus the money it will cost to spay the stray she found I'm not looking forward to her response.. she can get pretty emotional over animals. Bottom line.. they are not humans... they are not my children... comparing them to a human child and then slamming me for them being "members of the family" won't really change my mind.
Why bother getting a pet then if you don't have enough emotional attachment to spend a measly $1K on them? They're obviously not adding that much to your life if you consider them to be interchangeable commodities. I spent $1K on a pretty low-cost couch - a pet is certainly worth more than that.
From a clinical view, your approach seems pennywise and pound foolish. I mean, if you're bothering to invest the money and time for appropriate veterinary care and clean their kitty litter and arrange for feeding when you're away, you've got a stake in the animal. What is your time worth? Further, the amount I spend on my cat over its lifetime is going to work out to way more than $1K on just food and kitty litter.
For a cat, a good tooth cleaning could cost $2K and you would maybe end up with a perfectly healthy animal for the next 10 years. Amputating a limb could cost that much and you'd have a full life span remaining in all likelihood, and your reaction would be "Nah, I've got the cash but I'd rather start over with a fresh one"?
Seriously, why bother having a pet at all? Why not just skip right to the euthanasia phase when you get it and save yourself the money and poop scooping? You're not getting that much out of having a pet if you have no emotional attachment to them.
If you can't afford or don't want to afford the cash and time required to invest in your pet, then don't get one.
Getting a pet is simply more than giving it food and water. All species of pets require a degree of research before bringing it home. Research of whether or not your lifestyle would fit with this particular type of pet; the lifetime expenses including but not limited to vet care and enclosure upgrades; is it legal to own such pet in your city or allowed by your landlord/HOA.
Saying to yourself how it makes more sense to rid of a cat with a treatable disease for a healthy one is foolish. No pets is without problems.
At one point in their lifes, a large dog may tear her ACL which is extremely common, which requires an expensive $2500-4000 surgery to fix. A cat may suddenly developed crystals regardless of how good the diet is because it was born with a narrow urethra. Cats with urinary problems are extremely common, can be costly because of the treatment/food, it is not curable and peeing outside the box is the number 1 reason besides moving that cats are being surrendered at shelters. So you can give up your current cat with a visible limp for a shelter cat who may have urinary issues. Which is more costly then? A pet rat requires expensive surgeries in its lifetime because of them being so prone to grow tumors. Fish is not cheap as they eat a lot, poop a lot, some grows to monster sizes, need the proper tank size and pumps, proper PH level, etc. Commonly kept snakes and lizards requires the correct husbandry and tank size as well, and the knowledge about their behavior, diet and illnesses that most dog and cat owners don't even have to learn about because finding an experienced reptile vet for that one particular species you keep is like looking for a needle in the haystack. A exotic vet who is experienced in treating bunnies vs an exotic vet who is experienced in treating ball pythons may advertise themselves as just "exotic vet who treats all."
Pet owners dedicated to care for their pets do not mind the above. Some go further than that by testing the equipment themselves. Why? Because they are worth it.
i know some people will pay anything for a pet's health issues. is it heartless to say at X dollar amount we can do no more? and for you (i know it will vary greatly) what is that X amount?
I had to let my conscious be my guide....
paid more than I'd have liked but after the pet died, was glad I had done it for a bit more time.
I have found topics like this to have an underlying complex issue that I think about more often now. I find it interesting that varying levels of elitism are expressed where animals are concerned that would never be said in polite society if the subject were people.
I regularly hear comments like, "If you can't afford a pet then don't get one.", etc. Yet we tell young couples who want a child but fear the expense (about $250K per child now) the opposite, "If everyone waited until they could afford a child no one would have one". Really strange. I am not talking about the obvious pet related expenses like food and routine care of course. Comments are generally about care going above and beyond $2k per procedure.
This is becoming a new societal dilemma where pets are concerned. I am over 50 so I lived in a time not long ago where you couldn't have spent over $2K if you wanted to. MRI's and complex surgeries offered routinely for pets has changed all of that.
I personally own my home with no payments and have $3K in no or low interest credit I can use. Possibly another $2K more. I think I am fortunate and this puts me in a good position. However, this is where elitism comes in. There are many who could outspend me and would say I don't deserve to own a pet because I don't have $10K free.
Boggling the mind further when examined, we live in a society that routinely kills and eats animals on a mass scale. It complicates the logic used where our pets are concerned as pigs are even smarter than dogs and cats.
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