Am I Practical or Mean?

[baymule]

I read about people spending major $$$$$$$$$$$ on their animals because of injury or sickness. While I do take my animals to the vet and I do give them the best care I can, where is the line drawn on the amount of money spent? Example: I had a horse that had an abcessed tooth. The vet wanted me to spend $2000.00 to get it operated on. I told the vet it was a $400.00 horse and spending $2000.00 was out of the question. I found another vet and got antibiotics for about $2 a pill for 2 months. The horse recovered. I later sold the horse for..............$400

I read about people spending hundreds on a chicken, probable value $20, and sometimes they are on disability or have other financial difficulties. Myself, I would have to put the chicken down if it looked like it would not recover. I have to weigh up what it is worth versus what it would cost for treatment. While I would spend money on medicines and such, carrying a sick chicken or duck to the vet where walking in the door is automatically going to cost more than the worth of the animal doesn't make sense.

I understand taking a beloved pet to the vet and doing whatever is possible to save it's life, set a broken bone, etc. I have done that myself. But even that can be carried to extremes. I see obviously very ill dogs and cats at the vet's office that look miserable and their owners drag out their lives with shots and medications. I feel sorry for some of them, they have no quality of life. I have had to make the decision to euthanize a pet and grieved as they quit breathing.

I love my animals and want them to have as good of a life as possible. My husband says if there is reincarnation, he wants to come back as one of my animals. But I guess he should not come back as a $20 chicken

 

[snapshot]

I agree and understand. At our vets office, one of the vets wants us to always leave the dog in the hospital and so lots of tests. The other vet will just talk to us and try to come up with an inexpensive treatment. We lean towards the inexpensive treatment but there are plenty of folks who just love the other vet!

 

[deb4o]

I agree with you Baymule.

On our little farm all the animals have a job, which pays thier way, if and when they can no longer pay for thier way, then they have to go. So if an animal has an injury we have to weigh the cost of vet treatments vs the value of what the animal will give to us.

So a sick chicken or other small animal would more than likely be put down. Where one of the larger animals would get some medical treatment if it wasn't more than the animal was worth.

Don't get me wrong we love our animals,but we don't have the lifestyle that would allow us to spend mounds of money just to keep an animal alive at all cost.

 

[mrscoyote]

I agree,
I have however been on the other side with a pet cat. Emotions can overrule common sense some times.
Nancy

 

[ORChick]

I agree,
I have however been on the other side with a pet cat. Emotions can overrule common sense some times.
Nancy

As have I. A 16 year old cat with lung cancer and thyroid issues. A no brainer, right? But we bit the bullet, had him treated (I won't say how much ; actually, I don't remember, blocked it out of my mind), and he lived another 3 years - and a good 3 years, good for him, and valuable to us. But yes, a farm animal, with prospective vet bills over its worth - yes, I would have to think twice, or more.

 

[k15n1]

Name or number? That's the question.

I'm a number person. I want to know which animal is which, but I don't get too attached.

My sister names her rabbits, but eats them anyway. That's unusual. Well, a ziplock bag with "Fluffy" written on it is unusual.

 

[pinkfox]

see for me it depends on the animal...
my rule is do everything within my means...

all my animals pets or otherwise get the best care (medical and otherwise) that i can given...

livestock has a use and purpose...when its outlived that use and purpose ill make its final days comfortable but im not going to go out of my way to prolong it (ie a hen with cancer) and if theres pain involved ill end it...


pets are a different matter, their purpose is companionship and a bond there is formed a little stronger...
pets i will put every dime i have (but not more than that)
il finanice what i can ect ut i wont go so far as putting my house on the line...
and i always weight th echances, im not going to spend $10,000 to treat a 13 yr old dog with a 10% of survival, but a 2yr old dog with a 98% chance of full recoveriry ill do everything i can...

i dunno, for me its less about being practical and mean and more about the actual emotional bonds involved...i couldnt simply "say no" to treatment of my dog..
but im also not going to take a vets word as god either, give me a diagnosis ill do my reaserch and we'll go from there.

 

[Beekissed]

You are practical...as am I. And I even name the ones I eat as the only real pets I have are dogs and cats~ everything else is food on the hoof or claw. I've laid down some bucks for dogs in emergency situations and it was more than I ever thought I would, but if the event would have been a chronic illness that required a good bit of money and lengthy treatment, I would choose to put it down. For this very reason....

I see obviously very ill dogs and cats at the vet's office that look miserable and their owners drag out their lives with shots and medications. I feel sorry for some of them, they have no quality of life.

In a natural setting, that animal would have crawled off to die long ago and rightly so. To keep them in a state of ill health or sustained chronic illness is more for our benefit than from any real thought about the animal's welfare. Animals aren't celebrating birthdays nor making out bucket lists of things to do before they die. They live in the moment.

I regularly choose practicality and mercy when deciding over the necessity for medical treatments and procedures.

 

[FarmerChick]

practical. heck people can not afford real human health care sometimes, let alone take the medical limits needed to save an animal.

I have a good vet. down home country. if I called him out for my horse he would tell me the options, recommended cheapest but smart route to start and go from there.

pets get vet reasonable treatment if needed as with livestock but in the end price does rule for me especially when it comes to what illness we are talking about.

 

[BarredBuff]

Practical for me as well. When we have any of the small animals get sick, I usually treat them the best way I can. And if it gets worse they are culled, because I cant do anymore with them or the suffering is way to much. Now when we add our Cow, I will treat how I can. But we will be using the vet on her for sure

Now for pets, we usually have a limit there. But they get vet treatment, of course. But knock on wood we've never had any bad pet problems. We did have a cat put down a few years ago she was badddd sick.