Do you spend this much on your dog??

[sisukid1975]

Our Great Dane has health insurance... for $25 a month, we get up to $15,000 per year in medical expenses. Even covers specialist, cancer treatment, specialized surgeries.... Odd thing is, my dog has better health insurence than I do.

Fred

 

[OneMoreTime]

You might want to look into getting some health insurance for your dog. Unfortunately, many pure breed dogs come with health issues. My sister has a Chihuahua that is about a year and a half old and has seizers, some sort of respiratory problem, and just came back from the vet with some intestinal virus. Luckily my sister has doggy insurance so it helps financially.

My dog found me and has probably saved me about 2K so far. She had claimed my yard as her home and lived under my porch stairs for 2 weeks before I took her in as a pup. She helped stop some jerk from stealing my truck even after being kicked repeatedly. After that I patched her up and she's been with me ever since. 4 years later, she is still with me. She is great with my boys and is a great watch dog. At 20lbs. she is the best, smartest, bravest, most loyal dog I have ever owned..

 

[sisukid1975]

You might want to look into getting some health insurance for your dog. Unfortunately, many pure breed dogs come with health issues. My sister has a Chihuahua that is about a year and a half old and has seizers, some sort of respiratory problem, and just came back from the vet with some intestinal virus. Luckily my sister has doggy insurance so it helps financially.

My dog found me and has probably saved me about 2K so far. She had claimed my yard as her home and lived under my porch stairs for 2 weeks before I took her in as a pup. She helped stop some jerk from stealing my truck even after being kicked repeatedly. After that I patched her up and she's been with me ever since. 4 years later, she is still with me. She is great with my boys and is a great watch dog. At 20lbs. she is the best, smartest, bravest, most loyal dog I have ever owned..

Looks like a purebred Jack Russell? You lucked out to get one of them for free... Friend of mine breeds them, paid like $3000 for one with champion bloodlines from Australia.

Fred

 

[wesintl]

Lol, that bernard going thru the cat door is hysterical...

What I want to know is how long it took for him to wiggle his head out

 

[MaddMatt]

Yeah, you don't think you'll spend that much, but you do. Here's how 2004 went for me, both dogs were "free". First pic is Frannie. Frannie had cancer, two surgeries, the last one pretty invasive. She's wearing her recovery gear here - found that T-shirts kept her off the stitches better than the collar. One year later she's cancer free.



Second pic is Wiley. Had Wiley his entire life, but last December at the age of 15 he took a turn for the worse while we were on vacation and he was in one of those doggie spas. Not only did I have to spend the entire week knowing I would have to put my dog of 15 years down as soon as I got home, I got to pay upwards of $1200 for the 24hr per day vet care keeping him pain free while we were gone. Just didn't have the heart to have him put down while I wasn't there. He went with his head on my lap.

Total bill for the year was well over $5k, but yeah I would do it again.
-Matt

 

[OneMoreTime]

Looks like a purebred Jack Russell? You lucked out to get one of them for free... Friend of mine breeds them, paid like $3000 for one with champion bloodlines from Australia.

Fred

I guess I will never know for sure, but I have been told that she is to "lanky" or not "stocky" enough to be a Jack Russell. At the same time she is to big to be a Rat Terrier by breed standards.

 

[cruiserman]

Dang! Find a neighbor who will keep an eye on your pups for you.

 

[72FJ40LandCruiser]

Dang! Find a neighbor who will keep an eye on your pups for you.

No joke, I used to have a lawyer neighbor (extremely nice guy, no wise cracks) who would go on vacation with his family a couple times a year. Once he paid me $100 to feed and check on his golden labrador retreiver for about a week. I told him that was too much money for spending time with a dog that I liked playing with. He said it was about half of what he'd pay at a kennel, and insisted. I used to watch their cat and their old dog before it died and they'd usually leave me $10 or $20 on the counter with the food for the week when I was a kid. The $100 made me feel rich!

 

[TJDIV]

I wouldn't spend that kind of money on an animal. Don't know why, but especially knowing it had an on-going problem, I would probably have it put down.

Sometimes we can care too much I guess.

That being said, I will never speak a foul word of a man who does spend the money. I can understand the reasoning.

A lot of people don't realize how long animals are going to be around for. We got a cat when I was a kid....like 8 years old at the time........that fxxxing cat is still running around the house back home.

Odd.

 

[4dmalamute]

So we went to visit our Saint Bernard down at the vet....but after seeing his "room" I should say he is staying in a spa! He is in the plush kennel since he is soo big has been pushing open the latch on the normal kennels. I guess his size and strength pay off for him in this instance. Anyway, he has a huge room, tv (yes a fricking tv to watch animal planet on) and a nice thick cushy bed to sleep on. Damn dog is going to be pissed when he comes home in a few days and has to sleep on the hard wood floor or tile!!

As for some who say that spending this much or more on a relatively new pet isnt the best choice, I say, he is part of our family and just because he hasnt been around for more than two years does not make him less of a family pet, or member of that family that is.

Well I guess I better get to fixing my other problem that is, that damn birfield that is half hanging out of my cruiser just asking to be finished up!

 

[NorCalDoug]

...

As for some who say that spending this much or more on a relatively new pet isnt the best choice, I say, he is part of our family and just because he hasnt been around for more than two years does not make him less of a family pet, or member of that family that is.
...

That was me.

Hey, they're your emotions and it's your money -- do with them however you will. I was just stating my opinion -- I hope you didn't take offense, none was intended.

Best of luck with you pooch.

 

[White Shark]

I like dogs and my father in law is a vet which = free vet care. With that in mind, I'd sure miss any dog that cost me over $500. Cheap? No. Just sensible. I see animals as working creatures. If I had sled dogs or hunting dogs, I could see spending money as they earn their keep. If you want a companion or buddy, I could see spending big bucks like many of you have done. I just can't see spending big bucks to fix and prolong the life of a short lived animal with a terminal condition when there are zillions of other dogs out there that need a good home too. I don't want to spend the money, so I refrain from dog ownership.

Currently, the only dog I would own would be a pitbull. The only problem though, is that the county kennel would start to question why I needed another dog every week. Hey Eric, I'd like to adopt a pitbull every week. I'll provide a safe place for them. Safe for children and grass to grow...

 

[bad_religion_au]

WHAT DO YOU FEED THESE THINGS?????

200+ for food? that's insane

my pooches (as much as i love em) make do with a couple of bucks of tinned food, some bones and meat, and leftovers... they live to rip old ages, except for the one with bone cancer... considering he lived predominantly on my leftovers.... what's in store for me

 

[Fly Rod]

Try mortgaging your house for your dog! my wife sure would.

I look at it this way, My labs are worth 7-10k on the open market. Are they worth the vet bills? You bet!

Fly Rod

 

[PHAT MAX]

we spend 32 dollars on my dog 12 years ago. Yellow lab-golden retriever mix. he was the runt of the litter and nobody wanted him...he was the only one left on christmas day. at 120lbs he dwarfs his brothers/sisters/mother/father. anyways only thing we paid for him is regular shots and one broken leg. happiest old dog you've ever seen...more loyal than any of my human friends. should prolly add up the 50 lbs of food every 3 weeks for the last 12 years....yikes!

 

[4dmalamute]

That was me.

Hey, their your emotions and it's your money -- do with them however you will. I was just stating my opinion -- I hope you didn't take offense, none was intended.

Best of luck with you pooch.

Hey NorCalDoug....no offense taken here. I was actually just making a general statement as I have heard from family and friends the same thing as you stated. Its all good, no worries man.

 

[rabid]

no wiggling. Tore a big ol hole out of the crappy hollow core door.

 

[LC_Hamma]

I just paid off a loan I HAD to get in order to try & save my fawn female Dobies life. It was $4,500. 3 doses of plasma at $1,200 each plus all the other emergency care. Damn, I thought I was over this...........

 

[hank14]

From all of the veterinarians in the world, we thank you. No, seriously, our cost of living is much lower in the southwest, so in 7 years of practice, I have never had a patient bill over $1,400, including blood transfusions, svere trauma, fracture repairs, and others.

There is some information on the aspca, the humane society of the US, and others like this one:

http://petplace.compuserve.com/Articles/artPrinterFriendly.asp?conID=23956

That show the true cost of pet ownership. It's way more than most people ever consider. The pet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and for what it's worth, only a small portion of that goes to veterinary related expenses.

There's also a very good website that shows breed specific genetic predispositions, which people should consider when selecting a certain dog:

http://www.upei.ca/~cidd/intro.htm

 

[89s rule]

wow thats tons of cash for a dog especially when he isnt too old. i would be considering the insurance if i was you. I thought it was bad enough when we had to treat our oldest pitbull for red mange. i think it aded up to close to 2 or 300