I'm not going through this personally btw.
Answer
Dooney:
I suggest you take a good look at the hypothetical vet's operating room and determine if he is competent. Vets standards are about 1860 medical standards. My guess is that he has few pieces of equipment for a major surgery (like oxygen) and recovery (like staff who will watch the dog overnight). So, it is not only a question of cost, but the chance for survival and the return of the dog to a sustainable life.
For example, what happens if your dog cannot walk even if the dog survives? So, you need to find a competent vet hospital before you discuss cost. The second thing is the hypothetical remaining years of the dog, the possible reoccurrence of the problem, and what will happen if nothing is done. It could be that the dog will live 3 years with the problem and only 4 years with the surgery. So you need to give more data for your hypothetical problem.
But, if you spend a couple of thousand on a dog and you get most of its life without anymore problems, it is well worth it. Another thing you should ask the hypothetical competent vet is how do they establish the fee and costs for treating an animal.
Generally, when someone asks a hypothetical question like this , it leads to a follow-up of "why don't you give me the money" instead of spending it on a dog.
Bourke:
Let's make the question wider; how much is it reasonable to spend on some medical procedure when you take other factors into consideration?
Take the dog; how much will the operation lengthen its life? What will the LIFE QUALITY be for that dog?
To spend money you really don't have to save the dog .... means something or someone else pays the price. And it might not actually really be in the dog's best interest (yup, quality of life).
Sure, the dog dies, sad. Sad dog owner, sad owners'partner, sad kids. But HEY, it's a one time sadness. If the dog comes home and isn't the same fun pet anymore, that's more sadness really.
Missy:
Thousands of dollars?
Probably not. Not only is that a lot of money to spend on a dog, but also the dog will not understand everything he/she is going through. IMO, it would not be fair to a dog to put him/her through so much stress and suffering just to appease your own emotions.
ADD: Maybe $500 if the dog is young and has a good chance of recovery, and the procedure isn't too invasive. I have to get my dog spayed due to pseudopregnancies and I'm really struggling with the fact that she's going to be in a lot of pain afterwards. But, she's only 3 years old and I know she'll recover just fine.
Lucky:
It depends on the dog's age. My puppy was found to have a birth defect when she was 4 months old. We weren't sure if it was covered by her insurance, so we laid out roughly £7,000 to cover the operation, because like we said, she hadn't really had a chance to live yet, and we had only just adopted her from a rescue- it didn't feel right to adopt her only to have her put to sleep just a week later. Our plan was to cancel Christmas and not go out for a while so we could afford it. Luckily it was covered by the insurance and we got all but £1,000 back. Still, we did spend that £1,000 on her.
On the other hand, my old dog was around 15-16 when we found she had a fatal illness. There was an expensive treatment... but at that age, we decided euthanasia was the best option. If she had been younger, maybe we would've tried. But it wasn't fair on her at that age. She would have been to stressed and the treatment probably wouldn't have worked anyway.
Land:
Around $500 I'd always give it a shot, $1,000 if it was a simple surgery or limb issue, $5,000 not for a dog over 8 unless insurance was covering it. and even then only if the chance of recovering a normal life was good. No matter what happens I urge all dog owners to ring-fence euthanasia money.
Lakelady:
The top price I paid for a dog's treatment was $7,000.00 and change and I was glad to do it. At the time though, my 16 years old son (at the emergency vets carrying the dog) tearfully told me he'd sell his car. (it was his dog) Now there's a person who loves his dog. A teen age boy willing to give up his car! (I didn't make him sell his car)
You can get that credit care everybody here talks about. I have never done it but it sounds simple. You owe the dog everything you can do for him or sign him over to a no kill that will get the treatment for him.
John:
funny thing happened to me my sis and bro in law spent 5000 getting their dashound operated for back surgery but she wont lend me a dime yes she had the money then the dog still wasnt fixed afterwards if the dog was sufffering i would have it put down especially if it was getting up there toward the end of its life expectancy i would pay my bills instead of spending thousands on a dog
Verulam:
That would totally depend on the age of the dog, prognosis and whether I felt the dog could tolerate the recovery period. In other words, probably, but not necessarily.
