Don't judge me!!!!

[wolfy-hound]

By pure business aspect, you should not put out more money to maintain a animal than it can reasonably be expected to produce for you.
However.. in real life.. I've run up really LARGE vet bills on a het pied male. Yes, he was an adult.. but honestly? I could easily have replaced him for about $400(at the time), without any effort. I paid well over a grand for vet bills. Was it smart? No, not really. I was lucky that the vet did allow me to pay payments, which I paid EVERY month, early.
So it's whether or not you look at it from a purely business, or purely pet view. You can't really find that viewpoint from most people.
I'd be interested to see how many of the people that say "Whatever it takes" have had to put out a couple grand on a pet, and whether they were supporting themselves and a family on their income at the time.
Sometimes.. no, it's not worth the bill.. even when the animal WOULD recover. If I had a ball python that would cost me $5K to fix up.. I'm afraid I might have to say no. I couldn't come up with that much, and I could not rightfully say I would put myself into that much debt. I'd feel bad, but all in all.. yeah, I'd say no.
Does that mean I shouldn't own any animals? I don't think so. I think it means I'm a realist. I don't have $5K laying around, and there's not a vet that I've seen around me that would allow payments I could afford to pay.