Limit to Veterinary Care?

How many of you have a cap off on your veterinary bills and expenses? How much is it before you let the animal "go"?

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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I agree completely with this. My cap is pretty high, however. Last year one of my favorite geckos had the skin removed from a 3.5 cm x 2 cm area on her side by a male - the afternoon before we were leaving for a couple of weeks. She has healed up nicely and is breeding this year, but since I had to board her at the vet for the whole vacation while she healed it was quite a large bill. This puts me somewhere between the last two choices on the poll.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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x 2

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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Same here pretty much. If there is a good chance of recovery & quality life, I'll spend whatever it takes.

if there was a chance of full recovery with out any thing that would affect quaklity of life i would spend as much as it takes.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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Me too. Also, although it sounds bad, there is definitely consideration of which animal needs the care, and the individual circumstances of that animal. For the feeder mice, I would never take one to the vet for an individual problem. If I can't diagnose & treat it myself, I'll humanely dispatch it. Something that would threaten the entire colony is a different story. For the snakes, even the normal that I got for free, I'd go quite a bit further.

Another example: my dog is quite old, and knowing that no matter what we do, she won't live much longer, would make me lean more in the direction of spending less. I did spend over $1000 on a surgery for her back in '05, but the situation was different with her being a lot younger.

Such a decision is a very personal one since it means losing an animal for which you probably have deep feelings. However, most pet owners will have to occasionally make such very hard decisions since we're not made of endless money. I had to make a decision as to whether to spend $2500 for a risky surgery on a much loved old dog I had. After many tears, I decided not to spend the money since the potential for success was low. My dog died before I could even pick him up that afternoon which justified the decision since it would have been several days before he could have had the operation. Making the decision was incredibly painful. Good luck with your decision and do not feel guilty if you cannot reasonably afford the vet costs. However, if necessary, do seek vet care for humane euthanasia.

I have a cap for anything.. usually it's a $500 cap, becuase that's all I can spare. If I can run a bill, and pay it in payments, I'll go higher, if I feel it's a justified expense. I'm not going to pay $1K for a surgery for a snake that will heal on it's own, given a bit more time and care. I don't spend more on a morph than I do a normal though, becuase to me it's more about the animal is my responsibility, and I will do what I can to have it healthy.

But.. can't get blood from a turnip. If I don't HAVE the money, I don't have the money, period.

I have a very high cap when it come to my animals. even the baby normals are treated the same as the baby spider or other morphs.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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This is a great way to look at it, I too would follow this same way. Luckily for me I haven't been put into a position that I have had to make that kind of decision. I'm crossing my fingers that I never have to either.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I have a cap. But it would be determined by medical problem x cost x likely hood of recovery x likely quality of life after recovery = decision.

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This pretty much sums up my ideals.

When it comes to vet bills I've had to walk a fine line sometimes. I've had to decide whether the high costs incurred would really extend the life of a pet in a positive way, not just in a count of days. I've had to balance that against the needs of 4 growing children in a one income family because in the end I must be responsible first to the humans of this household. With that of course is the understanding that if the animal is their beloved pet, how they feel about giving up some things so we can afford a massive vet bill.

I guess I've been lucky over the years though in having great relationships with our vets so that if something came up the clinic worked with me in both keeping costs reasonable and allowing me to pay over time.

It's never an easy choice though.

Our snakes are pets, so the limit is until we go bankrupt. Goodness knows we've spent tons of money on our fur balls. The creepy crawlies wouldn't be any different.

If it was a business, then it would be whatever amount to maintain profitability. But, I have no intention of getting into that side of bp ownership.

I pretty much agree with Dale. I have spent $2000 on two cats once. My senior dog (14) just had surgery, and I did opt out of the pathology report since it wouldn't matter if the growth was benign or not. Not because of expense, but I'm not going to put my dog through chemo at 14 years of age. I will treat her symptoms and quality of life as my priorities. Although I did put off the surgery because I feared she wouldn't make it. To my surprise she is even more spunky now! It was well worth the vet bill for sure.

50 dollars:gj:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

When it comes to vet bills I've had to walk a fine line sometimes. I've had to decide whether the high costs incurred would really extend the life of a pet in a positive way, not just in a count of days. I've had to balance that against the needs of 4 growing children in a one income family because in the end I must be responsible first to the humans of this household. With that of course is the understanding that if the animal is their beloved pet, how they feel about giving up some things so we can afford a massive vet bill.

I guess I've been lucky over the years though in having great relationships with our vets so that if something came up the clinic worked with me in both keeping costs reasonable and allowing me to pay over time.

It's never an easy choice though.

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I have to agree.. I have spent a a few hundred at a time.. Depending on issue and how its going to resolve it.. Although I have spend a few thousand on my beagle. She was poisoned though and only 5 months old, so it was worth it for her. I just spent last summer 200 on a free snake with an absess from a rat bite that I got because the owner didnt want to take care of it. and 300 to have a dragon checked out because hes paralized partially. You do what you have to do to take care of what you care about. Did I have the 500 this summer.. no I was just about to get married. But I did it.

i know the vet near house only charges 40 bucks for a exam

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Originally Posted by zombie&lemons

i know the vet near house only charges 40 bucks for a exam

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So does mine. But then you add in x-rays.. Or draining an absess.. Maybe a shot.. youd be amazed at the jump that price does:O

I'm grateful I have a wonderful herp vet nearby who I've done enough chatting with that quite a bit of the services she does, she does for free or at a reduced rate. We've got an interest-earning savings account for all our pets' emergency vet care, plus a credit card with a high limit on it as backup if we need it. If it is something that the animal at least has a good chance at recovering from and can live out the rest of its life pain free then the sky's the limit.

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I pretty much agree with Dale. I have spent $2000 on two cats once. My senior dog (14) just had surgery, and I did opt out of the pathology report since it wouldn't matter if the growth was benign or not. Not because of expense, but I'm not going to put my dog through chemo at 14 years of age. I will treat her symptoms and quality of life as my priorities. Although I did put off the surgery because I feared she wouldn't make it. To my surprise she is even more spunky now! It was well worth the vet bill for sure.

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A year ago my now 8 year old Doberman had a tumor on her gum line that the Vet found when he was cleaning her teeth that the vet thought looked cancerous. I told him to remove it (another appointment) and 3 golf ball size fatty tumors that she had, one on her ankle where it was always getting bumped. He put her under anesthesia and found that her mouth tumor was into the bone and took much more time and work than was expected to remove in it's entirety. It proved to be benign in the lab analysis. When he was removing the fatty tumors he discovered a cancerous tumor in her armpit area (for lack of a better word). That was another big and unexpected procedure. The Vet made a lot of money that day. I had another dog once break a rear leg and had a vet install a titanium rod in her leg. Over the years I have spent a lot of money for veterinary care, but I would never give a Vet carte blanche authority to go wild in my pocket.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

A year ago my now 8 year old Doberman had a tumor on her gum line that the Vet found when he was cleaning her teeth that the vet thought looked cancerous. I told him to remove it (another appointment) and 3 golf ball size fatty tumors that she had, one on her ankle where it was always getting bumped. He put her under anesthesia and found that her mouth tumor was into the bone and took much more time and work than was expected to remove in it's entirety. It proved to be benign in the lab analysis. When he was removing the fatty tumors he discovered a cancerous tumor in her armpit area (for lack of a better word). That was another big and unexpected procedure. The Vet made a lot of money that day. I had another dog once break a rear leg and had a vet install a titanium rod in her leg. Over the years I have spent a lot of money for veterinary care, but I would never give a Vet carte blanche authority to go wild in my pocket.

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This was a tumor in her mouth as well, but luckily strickly in the cheek area although she did end up with several teeth being pulled and the few remaining cleaned as well. It ended up being a teeny bit more than the upper end of his estimate, but all in all I was pleased.

I do feel some vets do tests and procedures simply for the knowledge and the ability to charge you some money, which is why it's so important to have a bit of basic medical knowledge, budget and a good vet. :yes:

One of the things that some people look at when going to the vet is how much is the animal worth and how much will the bill cost. If the animal is a $10 garter snake and the vet bill will be $100 for a check up then most people would look at that person as crazy for bringing that garter in.

Me, I spent more $$ for the vet on a $40 normal house snake then my pastel 60% ghost BP which was valued at about $600 at the time I purchased it.

I definitely will spend the money if I have it for a "pet".

I was once reading a trade magazine for Veterinarians and there was an article in it that discussed that fact that the average American will routinely have his pet put down rather than spending a significant amount of money on it. This article said that the average pet owner in England paid monthly for a health insurance policy for pets and therefore the average pet in England received better medical treatment than the average pet in the US. Perhaps members in the UK and elsewhere could comment on this.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I was once reading a trade magazine for Veterinarians and there was an article in it that discussed that fact that the average American will routinely have his pet put down rather than spending a significant amount of money on it. This article said that the average pet owner in England paid monthly for a health insurance policy for pets and therefore the average pet in England received better medical treatment than the average pet in the US. Perhaps members in the UK and elsewhere could comment on this.

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I am sure if there was such a feasible pet health insurance policy here U.S. may do the same. But I am not aware of one. Also, there aren't too many good herp vets out there. Even the expeienced one I go to does the "google" in the back office. How sad huh... Then I got charged $50+ for neosporin. Get that!

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Originally Posted by Hyper Joe

I am sure if there was such a feasible pet health insurance policy here U.S. may do the same. But I am not aware of one. Also, there aren't too many good herp vets out there. Even the expeienced one I go to does the "google" in the back office. How sad huh... Then I got charged $50+ for neosporin. Get that!

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There is.

canada has pet insurance too. i have also seen commercials for it in the US.

During the months of Feb and March I have spent over $2500 on my dog. She is a 2 year old Red Dobie. She was hit by a car on Feb 5th. The trip to the emergency clinic was 900 that night and the rest has accumulated through the 2 suguries. She was well worth it and she will have a great quality of life and luckily I just happened to get my refund from school 2 days before she was hit.

I am very fortunate to have some vet tech experience and I am able to do alot of the smaller things here at my house. That saves on the normal expenses like worming, bandage changes, splints, post surgury care, injections ect. If I have it I will spend it on my animals if need be.

My brother has a health insurance policy for their lab retriever. I think he got it from PetSmart. I could be wrong.

we have vpi pet insurance on our dog and cat. http://www.petinsurance.com/

they do offer it for exotics including reptiles but they are wierd about some of the reptile coverage.