My Dog Is Sick: Need Advice

[BadMoon]

Makes perfect sense.

I am grumpy today. Apologies.

 

[BadMoon]

Again thats just silly. how much money in reserve should someone have to own a dog that was just going to be destroyed at the shelter anyway? $10,000? $100,000? If your dog was 12 years old and I told you there is a new heart replacement surgery that can be done and it only costs $100,000 to do. If you declined do I get to tell you that you were a bad pet owner? Thats silly.

Oh come on! LOL! That's the exact situation I just tried to describe using a cancer patient as an example. IF a heart replacement is even possible in a pet the chances are the pet isn't going to survive for very long. Not to mention if you are referring to a dog who is 12 depending on the breed they are likely on their way out. So of course you have a choice to make. For me that would be a situation where the animal would suffer at the expense of the owners on selfishness in wanting the pet to stay around.

 

[ProgMatinee]

exactly. there are varying degrees of helping an animal.

helping an animal get out of a shelter, or even if its not from a shelter, out of those horrible puppy mills, either way most pet owners are already doing the animal a huge benefit. to say that people shouldn't have an animal if they aren't willing to go "x" distance to help it isn't fair to the animals either.

there is a reason shelters don't do a thorough financial background check. they know that just getting the animal out of there is already a huge improvement on its life.

as long as the adopter is not putting the animals into squaller or starvation, I don't think we should be demanding huge financial investment in an animal.

 

[hoodonit00]

Oh come on! LOL! That's the exact situation I just tried to describe using a cancer patient as an example. IF a heart replacement is even possible in a pet the chances are the pet isn't going to survive for very long. Not to mention if you are referring to a dog who is 12 depending on the breed they are likely on their way out. So of course you have a choice to make. For me that would be a situation where the animal would suffer at the expense of the owners on selfishness in wanting the pet to stay around.

I'm sorry but I have to agree with Prog on this. There are a lot of loving pet owners who have to make the hard decision to put a loved pet down because they just can't afford it.

My wife works part time is the Vet field as a technician and we talk about her job a lot. Being an animal lover herself, she understands that sometimes you just can't put that money into an animal that you love and the only choice is to humanely put it down.

Some animals put down are not even on "deaths door" but are suffering pain (hip dysplacia SP.)where the cost to treat is not feasible. I'm sorry, but in these times if it's going to cost over 2 grand to get an old dogs hip replaced or under a hundred bucks to get it humanely put down, most people, including myself will choose the latter.

 

[BadMoon]

Some animals put down are not even on "deaths door" but are suffering pain (hip dysplacia SP.)where the cost to treat is not feasible. I'm sorry, but in these times if it's going to cost over 2 grand to get an old dogs hip replaced or under a hundred bucks to get it humanely put down, most people, including myself will choose the latter.

You have to weigh your options, no doubt. That's not the point of my comments.

My thing is, say you have animal swallow something. They are young and otherwise in good health. They need an operation to remove said item. There is no question in morbitity once the object is removed and the animal will be 100%. However, the owner decides they don't want to pay X. That is the situation I am talking about.

 

[wofford29]

Some animals put down are not even on "deaths door" but are suffering pain (hip dysplacia SP.)where the cost to treat is not feasible. I'm sorry, but in these times if it's going to cost over 2 grand to get an old dogs hip replaced or under a hundred bucks to get it humanely put down, most people, including myself will choose the latter.

The right thing to do would be to find another option before jumping straight to death. Many places and people would be willing to help out and take over the animal and see it through. There's always a better option to death when life can still be enjoyed by the animal. I'm $3000 and running on my parents dog without a job, while going to school, and trying to pay bills. Sure it would have been cheaper to put him down and 4 out of 5 vets told us to, but 3 months, thousands of dollars, and long road ahead still and Kodiak is thriving and as happy as he ever was and that's priceless. I don't regret a dime spent, and have sold off almost my entire collection on here as well as other things around my house to other places around town to help, I've taken on weekend labor jobs when I can find them and some really amazing boardies on here have made donations in one way or another to help out. I understand not everyone wants that responsibility but that's what life is about and when life is still an option it should be exhausted completely instead of jumping right to the easy and affordable way out.

 

[Devil_666]

 

[wofford29]

 

[hoodonit00]

The right thing to do would be to find another option before jumping straight to death. Many places and people would be willing to help out and take over the animal and see it through. There's always a better option to death when life can still be enjoyed by the animal. I'm $3000 and running on my parents dog without a job, while going to school, and trying to pay bills. Sure it would have been cheaper to put him down and 4 out of 5 vets told us to, but 3 months, thousands of dollars, and long road ahead still and Kodiak is thriving and as happy as he ever was and that's priceless. I don't regret a dime spent, and have sold off almost my entire collection on here as well as other things around my house to other places around town to help, I've taken on weekend labor jobs when I can find them and some really amazing boardies on here have made donations in one way or another to help out. I understand not everyone wants that responsibility but that's what life is about and when life is still an option it should be exhausted completely instead of jumping right to the easy and affordable way out.

I agree that if you can get help somewhere or sign the animal over to someone who will treat it to do that. But if it comes down to me having to pay for it and being out a couple thousand dollars or putting a pet down and keeping that money for something else, I know what I would do. Some will think I'm cruel but no matter how close I may feel towards a pet in my mind it is still an animal, sorry.

I will tell you a quick story that my wife told me that I thought was a real ____ thing to do. One weekend at her pt job a guy bought his animal in to be put down. What was wrong with the dog could be fixed and he could go onto live. The Dr. being the softie he is told the guy to sign him over to him and he would treat it on his dime and put it up for adoption when it was healthy. The guy refused and the Dr. had to put his animal down. Now that there is just horrible.

 

[ProgMatinee]

yeah that is horrible. thats like saying "the animal doesn't deserve to live unless I am its owner". WTF?

 

[BadMoon]

I agree that if you can get help somewhere or sign the animal over to someone who will treat it to do that. But if it comes down to me having to pay for it and being out a couple thousand dollars or putting a pet down and keeping that money for something else, I know what I would do. Some will think I'm cruel but no matter how close I may feel towards a pet in my mind it is still an animal, sorry.

I will tell you a quick story that my wife told me that I thought was a real ____ thing to do. One weekend at her pt job a guy bought his animal in to be put down. What was wrong with the dog could be fixed and he could go onto live. The Dr. being the softie he is told the guy to sign him over to him and he would treat it on his dime and put it up for adoption when it was healthy. The guy refused and the Dr. had to put his animal down. Now that there is just horrible.

That's the ____ I was talking about.

 

[RoboDad]

You have to weigh your options, no doubt. That's not the point of my comments.

My thing is, say you have animal swallow something. They are young and otherwise in good health. They need an operation to remove said item. There is no question in morbitity once the object is removed and the animal will be 100%. However, the owner decides they don't want to pay X. That is the situation I am talking about.

That is what you are saying now, and I agree with that, but that isn't what you said earlier. You made the statement earlier that if someone can't afford surgery for their pet, they should never have taken the responsibility for the pet in the first place. That is very different from someone who can afford the surgery, but chooses to put the pet down rather than pay for it, and doesn't even consider the "adoption" route.

 

[BadMoon]

That is what you are saying now, and I agree with that, but that isn't what you said earlier. You made the statement earlier that if someone can't afford surgery for their pet, they should never have taken the responsibility for the pet in the first place. That is very different from someone who can afford the surgery, but chooses to put the pet down rather than pay for it, and doesn't even consider the "adoption" route.

I stand by that. However people were quick to jump to extremes and maybe I wasn't clear. I forget that I'm not having a conversation and typing from my phone. It's like this. When you buy or adopt you should know that these situations are going to come up. It's just a matter of when. You have to get your pet fixed take them to annual vet visits and all of that. If you're not in a position to do this you shouldn't own a pet. Same with kids sir. People have kids all the time that don't get medical attention because their parents would rather spend their tax returns on an Xbox. It's sickening.

 

[pixletwin]

It could be that many pet owners aren't aware of the options available rather than a "no one can own you but me" type mentality. I had no idea that all the groups posted in this thread even existed until now.

 

[BadMoon]

It could be that many pet owners aren't aware of the options available rather than a "no one can own you but me" type mentality. I had no idea that all the groups posted in this thread even existed until now.

This is true too. To be honest I have two dogs and I didn't know those options were out there.

 

[RoboDad]

I stand by that. However people were quick to jump to extremes and maybe I wasn't clear. I forget that I'm not having a conversation and typing from my phone. It's like this. When you buy or adopt you should know that these situations are going to come up. It's just a matter of when. You have to get your pet fixed take them to annual vet visits and all of that. If you're not in a position to do this you shouldn't own a pet. Same with kids sir. People have kids all the time that don't get medical attention because their parents would rather spend their tax returns on an Xbox. It's sickening.

And I profoundly disagree with that attitude with every fiber of my being. I can't imagine going through life with such a callous, cold attitude toward other people. NO ONE can predict what their financial circumstances might be five years from now. But most honestly believe, when they buy a pet, that they will be able to give it proper care. Telling those people they don't deserve a pet, simply because, at some future date, they might not have enough money to afford expensive surgery for that pet is utterly ridiculous. In fact, you are contradicting your own comments to Marc, and are basically saying he had no right to ever acquire his Lab.

And for the record, I have had to have two dogs put down over the years. One was a 15-year-old Black Lab, and there was simply no choice. She had developed several age-related diseases, and there was nothing more that could be done for her.

The other, though, was a fairly young Cairn Terrier (she was around 6, if I remember correctly). She got sick, and the vet believed that what she had was an obstruction. So we paid for the surgery to correct it. Unfortunately, when they opened her up, they found that the problem was actually advanced cancer, and there was nothing they could do. So we ended up with a huge bill for both the surgery and the cost of putting her down, and still ended up with a dead dog.

 

[pixletwin]

Just got a call that my dog is eating and his interest in what is going on around him has increased. He has also had a bowel movement. All great news.

Hopefully he is going to pull through this without surgery.

 

[The Ringer]

Good to hear man!

 

[RoboDad]

That is great news, Marc! It would be great if the vet could pinpoint exactly what caused it, though. If it is some kind of allergy, you could help him avoid it in the future.

 

[pixletwin]

I agree. I would feel more secure knowing how this happened so we could feel like we are empowered to at least try and prevent it. The xray was inconclusive so she is thinking it might have been cloth that he ate. I am just hoping whatever it is passes.