How much have you spent on your pet that is sick or injured?

We just recently spent about $600 on Jakes cat trying to get it better.All test came back neg and he just kept goin down hill.The last few days we were having to feed him w a dropper and he was barely keeping it down.It was’nt about the money,we would have spent another $600 if there was some kind of diagnosis.Finally had it put down.If there is a diagnosis I will spend the money to keep an animal alive but when your just pokin and hopin you gotta cut the money off somewhere.Our 15yo Golden hasn’t cost us as much his entire life as the cat did the last month he was alive.


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VortecJeep said:
Bad breath, yes. Sluggish and lethargic, yes. He stays inside most of the time, but lately when he does go out, he goes off on his own like he doesn’t want you to know where he is. We have a large fenced-in yard that is wooded, so he can hide. I’ve heard that dogs go off when they are about to die, wonder if that is why he’s doing that.
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A broken or rotten tooth can absolutely cause a lack of appetite which will directly lead to weight loss. If the tooth becomes rotten of the root and blood vessels around it and the jaw bone (marrow cavity) can become septic causing blood issues, infections, fever, lack of energy due to anemia etc.
 
Dad spent a $1000 on my 15 year old black lab 7 years ago on Fathers Day to spend the night in ICU and be put down the next day....we were ensured he didn’t feel any pain and went peacefully.
 
Spent about 3k on our first dog Savanna that my wife got in college. She thought she was Superman jumping off the porch steps all the time. It finally caught up to her and she blew her knee out. More recently, Cody, my old border collie beagle mix had several expensive trips. $350 to get his ear sowed back on when the bitch got him. He grew a tumor between his rear toes that we had removed for about $700. Started him on some experimental cancer meds that cost $125 a month for almost a year. Then my bitch dog tore the old boy up while we were at the beach. Spent $1200 to get his jaw sowed back on. We should have put him down then, he only made it about 6 months after that. His tumor came back and wasn't worth making him suffer. Miss the guy every day.

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1. You need a better vet.
2. Answer to the question is: Whatever it takes.

But it's a sliding scale. I wouldn't spend thousands on a very old animal that wasn't going to live much longer and wouldn't have a good quality of life. But if the quality of life is there? Whatever it takes.
 
I’ve got a few bucks in all mine. My canine army.
Got alot in this one. My Sadie Sue.

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Love our animals both at home and back at the farm and would do just about anything for them but struggle if the quality of life is not there.

We did lose Alex’s 12 year old Chihuahua, Tater Tot, last fall and it was really rough on both of us. The months leading up to his passing was in and out of the vet, better, worse, better, worse and we spent a good bit because he kept showing major signs of improvement. Finally he passed in her arms one night while I was out of town of course. Just lost one of the farm dogs, Ruger, a few weeks back without warning. He was an older Great Dane, never showed signs of sickness, but Alex’s mom came home and he passed in his sleep while she was gone. Much rather that happen than the dog suffer.
 
We've had not 1, but 2 expensive cats. Got a pair of kittens that were from an abandoned litter, Marco and Polo. Polo chewed on everything. I knew something would get him. Chewed up the tongues of a pair of Crocs. Ate through the wire to the sensor bar on the Wii. We'd find pieces of ribbon IN his litter. One day he stopped eating, took to vet. Xray showed... dumbass ate a penny. Yep that's right. Wife paid to have it extracted, cut right into belly to get it. Cat still chewed on everything. 6 months later, stopped eating again. Guess what? Another fucking penny. He didn't come home that time. Bet that cat cost of $1200+ all told.
His sister Marco liked to play w/ string. Just play w/ it. One day she got all wound up in a spool she pulled off the sewing machine, had it everywhere.. apparently tried to eat her way out... had string all lodged in her mouth & belly. Another $900? to get that removed. 2 years later... stopped eating, apparently had ingested something, likely string again. Due to prior damage, nothing to be done. She didn't come home either. Kids devastated.
Our replacement cats are named Penny and Coats Clark ;-) and have been no problem. Personally cats aren't worth that much to me, I'd cut them off at a few hundred bucks but what matters is how much the kids love them.

The dog Chief, a mutt rescue, has been w/ us 2 years, and no problems aside from an allergy to a shot. I'm sure we'd all pay just abut anything for him, he's definitely the 3rd child of the family.

Brings up a question - does anybody bother with pet insurance? From what little research I've done it doesn't seem worth it, better to just set $$ aside continuously to prepare (self-insure)
 
Just spent $750 on my pup this weekend because I got a new grill :shaking: Since I got a new grill, the old one was going to my parents house and so I disassembled it and cleaned it up really well. I dumped all the grease dripping covered food remnants and rust scale in the trash so the dog wouldn't get into it. Then I washed the whole thing down with purple power and super hot water, and any scale that came off of it was from the outside and had been washed with purple power and hot water, so there should be no flavor on it, right? The next day the dog had an accident in the house (which is unheard of, she is 7 years old and it has never happened) and as I was cleaning it up, I found rust scale in her poop. Like, 75% of her poop was rusty metal scale. X-rays showed metal fragments all throughout her system. We left her overnight so she could be on an IV and observation, which was a waste of $350 because she didn't even eat or poop. Oh well. She's doing better. In fact, had she not pooped in the house, we would have never known. Oh well.
 
Update: we just returned from the vet. We had to put Caesar down. He had suffered enough.

Habits are a funny thing. When I walked in the front door, I looked over to my right to see if Caesar was laying on the couch. Then when I went into the living room, I looked out the back door to see if he wanted to come inside.

I appreciate everyone’s response. Animals were put on this planet for many reasons, one of which is to bring us a little joy. Caesar did that.
 
Currently have a 9 Y/O Golden, so far we have spent maybe $1K on her in extra expenses which included a visit to the emergency vet for what turned out to be hot spots.

Just had to put down our 7 Y/O Pit mix a week ago that came into the house as my son's dog but ended up with us when his new apartment didn't allow Pit Bulls. Spunky was a sweetheart who contracted an intestinal disease that masked itself as IBS. I spent thousands on her trying to figure out what she had. For a while it was just runny poop that would get somewhat better on meds but then it hit full force, drastic weight loss, needing to rest frequently. She would eat but wasn't absorbing the nourishment and her body was burning any and all reserves to stay alive. It was incurable so we made the decision to put her down to end her suffering.
 
Hate to hear you had to put down a pup.
 
About two years ago, our English Mastiff swallowed two corn dogs whole.. with the sticks still in them.

Rushed him to Asheville 'REACH' hospital and after four hours they managed to pull both sticks out of his stomach. (fully intact without a single tooth mark). I believe that cost us around $1400.

Luckily I had AKC Insurance. Strange story, but after we registered him they kept offering us 30 days free insurance. I finally took them up on it with intent to help pay for his neutering. We decided to wait until he was older and I let it lapse. Then they started pestering me about 'we continued your insurance for two more weeks, please consider buying it.'.. the extended two weeks was supposed to expire the day he swallowed the corn dogs. I called from the REACH waiting room and renewed it for $33 a month. They reimbursed us about $850.

I seriously recommend it. As your dog gets older, and as you can see in the stories in here, it will be worthwhile.

We may get 10 years out of our Mastiff. That's $3,960 spent for his coverage during that time. It's already saved us the $850, and we expect as he gets older he will have typical giant breed medical issues.
 
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I'm so sorry for your loss :(

We've been fortunate, especially considering we have 2 giant breed dogs & their routine preventative care is significantly higher than a standard size dog.

Our most expensive trip ran about $500 for our little mutt "Chunkers" (dachshund/beagle mom with a pitbull dad o_O). Chunkers has a gypsy soul & loves exploring the country - we tried everything to keep her contained to no avail. She came home from an adventure one day with a bloody nub. She was missing about 1/3 of her front leg. Joe took her to the vet expecting the worst...surprisingly it was clean & no infection so they amputated the remainder of the leg, kept her for a night, & sent her home with meds & the collar of shame. Years later the little shit is still scaling fences!
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Sorry about Caesar.

It's been a few weeks since we lost Blaze. The first few days were the worst. Then it gets better. Little things would hit me out of the blue...finding a treat in a jacket pocket, hearing a noise that sounded like his tags jingling, etc. And that damn Chewy.com doorbell on their TV commercial. Blaze never barked, except when that danged doorbell rang on the commercial.
 
Sarge has been good so far (normal yearly stuff) aside from maybe when he was a puppy and a couple other minor issues. He will be 8 this December.

@jeepinmatt you mention the dog eating the rust scale, Sarge once ate a whole bag of Hershey's kisses. The only thing he didn't eat want the plastic bag itself. I was finding "Hershey's Kisses" around the yard for awhile after that, if it bothered him he never showed any signs.

Our blue heeler has cost me some wiring on vehicles, and a few shoes.
 
Tacoma747 said:
Sarge has been good so far (normal yearly stuff) aside from maybe when he was a puppy and a couple other minor issues. He will be 8 this December.

@jeepinmatt you mention the dog eating the rust scale, Sarge once ate a whole bag of Hershey's kisses. The only thing he didn't eat want the plastic bag itself. I was finding "Hershey's Kisses" around the yard for awhile after that, if it bothered him he never showed any signs.

Our blue heeler has cost me some wiring on vehicles, and a few shoes.
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Lots of pretty colored foil mixed in like some kind of poop jewels? Hahaha
 
I've got a blue tick and a short legged beagle. Both full blooded and both were free. They're currently cuddled up with me because they know I don't feel good. They can piss me off from time to time, but I'd pay a king's ransom to keep them alive!

I make them watch an ASPCA commercial every now and again so they can see how good they have it....
 
The white specks and flakes scattered throughout are rust scale. I'm changing her name to rusty.
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Had a cat name sam, short for Sampson. 3 times as big as the other kittens in the litter. We found homes for all except Sam, we kept him. He was big and got bigger. Was around 26 pounds and not fat just,....big!
He was having issues took him multiple times to the vet. he got meds. None of them worked, finally they said surgery. Seemed to do well for a few months, then he started acting the same. So they went in removed a lot of of his urinary tract, and basically made him an artificial twat. did well for a while, then again screaming in pain. I said enough is enough, and we had him put down. All total, about $3800 for all of the above. I am not a cat person, but I did love that damn cat. He was raised with out lab Semi and he thought he was a dog. More dog like than cat. he has his special resting place out back, along with Semi, Sophie, and Chelsea.
 
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