Vet Bills- How much have you spent?

[chameleon]

Our dog had to have surgery recently and a long stay in hospital and DH was quite shocked at the price. I expected something like that and know lots of people who have spent a similar amount, if not more. I am trying to convince him that it is normal and just part of being dog owners. He is convinced it is over-the-top and constantly talks about other ways we could've spent the money!

So just wondering what kind of amounts have spent on your beloved pooches for accidents/illness?:D I'm sure some people here can make him feel much better!

[talia11]

I spent $700 on getting my dog's tooth removed - I couldn't believe it cost that much - not even that expensive for a human!! BUt vets are always so pricey which is why I have Insurance - we have had her insured since 8 weeks - and in that $700 I got back what I had spent on premiums so was not overly concerned. I pay for a top cover which is about $38 a month, but you can get them alot cheaper (medibank Private just introduced it for as little as $20 a month) - I figure I spent so much to get her (she is a pure bred Labrador) and I love her like a child so would hate to think if something happened to her we couldn't do anything because of the cost alone.

[~Candy~]

I have many pets and have spent thousands of $$....It's all a part of owning a pet!!! :yes:

[Nex]

Particularly with the working dogs we alway ask up front how much the treatment is likely to cost.

We have agreed that if it is up to $500 we will pay it. If It's going to cost more than that then we will opt to put the dog down.

Sounds callous? It is. But we simply don't have the kind of money to spend on an animal that is essentially a tool, and an easily replaced tool at that.

For a pet? I might spend a bit more, but $1000 is probably the max I would go there.

Sometimes if the injury or problem is severe it is less cruel to euthanise anyway. A Dog doesn't understand why it's going through alot of pain and treatments.

[LeeJ]

hmmm, LOTS!

we spend about $1000+ on vet billsa year, at the very least, our dog has a very agressive skin cancer, that continues to grow back, we will continue to treat him as long as it is treatable.
(and the little so and so often gets himself into trouble, another vet visit, lol)

he is our first baby:bee:

[XavysMummy]

I've spent $300 on a pet chook recently, she had only just started laying and got a uterine infection due to a broken soft shelled egg getting stuck....up there....

Chickens are pets too :o

[bebop]

I spent $6500 on one, and am currently up to $3500 on my other dog. She has a thyroid problem.

I own dogs with the thought that they are part of the family, so I don't have a limit on the amount I will spend. As long as the quality of life isn't compromised, I will pay as much as it takes.

[XavysMummy]

I own dogs with the thought that they are part of the family, so I don't have a limit on the amount I will spend. As long as the quality of life isn't compromised, I will pay as much as it takes.
:iagree:

[Looshkin]

Thousands.

Really need to get pet insurance but keep forgetting..

We have 2 dogs, 1 cat.

Although they are incredibly healthy and over 8 years we have done really well with only a few big problems. Of course little things also add up..

my little dog was yelping out when she tried to jump up and not eating and sitting in her bed not moving looking miserable - we took her to the vet, they kept her overnight to tell us she had pulled a muscle in her back and gave us some pain killlers for her - $400

Cat stops eating has slightly swollen face, take him to the vet. . tests, more blood tests, x rays, look at his nose can't see why it's swolen and why he isn't acting like it's hurting..
Turns out his tooth is totally infected in the root in the gums but looks completely healthy, and the infection has caused a liver infection.
2 days vet working it out , tests, antibiotics, tests, tooth removal, extra day etc - $1300

House is broken into and theifs leave door open - big dog gets out and run over by a car - but not the wheels just knocked over and under the car and leg ripped open.
$300 for first vet (closest) who gave her a shot of methadone and said we're about to close, come back tomorrow we'll do the operation:eek:
Next vet - surgery to fix leg, 2 days hospital care $900
They were good though..
The thing is, vets are a bit like dentists.. there is a schedule (sorta) of costs but what may cost $100 at one vet may cost $300 at another.

We go to ours because they are really good, she was my tute at uni when I was a vet student.. but had been to maybe 6 others throughout the years for little things and yuk some of them were terrible.

[Pax]

my little fox terrier is the $2000 dollar dog..:laughing:

she developed a dermoid cyst on her eyeball that cost over $1000 for the eye ball surgery.

she speared herself on a root sticking out of the ground.. that was a few hundred dollars.

and not to mention all the other general visits in between..

[Joju]

The most I've spent is $ 1200 in one vet visit, which was for surgery and an overnight stay. My last dog had a stone in her bladder which blocked the urethra and she couldn't wee. She was 12 yrs old at the time, but a very fit and active 12 and went on to live until she was 17.5 yrs.

I don't have as much money now, but I would arrange a payment plan with my vet if my dog or cat needed urgent treatment that was going to cost more than say $ 300. I committed to giving them a healthy, happy home when I brought them home, so vet care comes with the territory.

[3blue&1pink]

We spent $1500 on our pup when we had only just got her! She had been with us for 1 week when she became very ill.

[BazzasMum]

We spent $2500 on our dog's broken leg.... he's the bionic pup! He was only 18mths old at the time and had he been older he probably would have been put down. Even removing the leg would have shortened his life span but DH didn't want a 3-legged dog :confused:. I think it was more guilt that it was his fault, but the vet was AWESOME!!!! We took a chance on him, and he repaid us by not charging us the full cost. If we'd had to see a specialist it would have been $8000 and we'd be pooch-less.

[Mum2Tyla]

I am a vet nurse so my bills are never huge but I would pay whatever necessary, I think the problem in australia is that we dont pay for medical care so we have no idea how much things really cost, if you had a ligament repair in hospital you would be looking at $10-20 000 and we do it on a dog for $2000-4000, anaesthetic is expensive, the eqiupment we use is expensive, good staff is expensive and it all adds up, vet nurses do not get paid that well and neither do vets we do it because we love animals, i understand that it seems we charge alot but we dont. I often get told that vets are a rip off, having a pet is a priviliege not a right and that is why I strongly advise pet insurance so you are not in a position of having to decide to put down a beloved pet due to finances and most vets do allow payment plans these day.

[~Candy~]

The most I've spent is $ 1200 in one vet visit, which was for surgery and an overnight stay. My last dog had a stone in her bladder which blocked the urethra and she couldn't wee. She was 12 yrs old at the time, but a very fit and active 12 and went on to live until she was 17.5 yrs.

I don't have as much money now, but I would arrange a payment plan with my vet if my dog or cat needed urgent treatment that was going to cost more than say $ 300. I committed to giving them a healthy, happy home when I brought them home, so vet care comes with the territory.

:iagree: :yelclap: (my girl eats stones..arghhhh)

[MountainGirl]

lots:o

Our little baby boy has a neurological disease and is constantly throwing up curve balls. We have had blood transfusions, MRI's ($1,000 a hit), steroids, x-rays, neurologists ($600 a visit), blood tests once a week, drugs,.and total blood transfusions / IV feeds with 3 day stays (last week @ $1500),.. so,..easily over $6,000.

but what do you do? He is our responsibility and I would move mountains not to have him suffer.

thank god his brother is bulletproof - or we would be living in a tent!:laughing:

[SorenLorensen]

$5000 for one op after he got a splinter IN his eye ball.
$2500 when he ran into a stick and cut his eye ball.
(he actually had no sight problems, he was just not suited to running around the bush i think)

then $5000 to raise, turf and fence the section of back yard just out the back door to prevent him from getting into the bush again...<<<this was done all for my wee little lowchen. :cloud9:

many more dollars were spent on him and also our cat cost a fair bit too, most for her was when some @SS shot her :banghead: and then also when she was bitten by a brown snake.


both animals have passed now (just last year), they had been with us for 16-17 years and were part of the family and like any member of our family cost does not matter when it comes to health.

[chameleon]

I spent $700 on getting my dog's tooth removed - I couldn't believe it cost that much - not even that expensive for a human!! BUt vets are always so pricey which is why I have Insurance - we have had her insured since 8 weeks - and in that $700 I got back what I had spent on premiums so was not overly concerned. I pay for a top cover which is about $38 a month, but you can get them alot cheaper (medibank Private just introduced it for as little as $20 a month) - I figure I spent so much to get her (she is a pure bred Labrador) and I love her like a child so would hate to think if something happened to her we couldn't do anything because of the cost alone.

Eek, that's a lot for a tooth! We have a pure bred Lab too, who is just crazy (I would've thought she'd be the one to end up in hospital), but it was actually the other dog who ate something he shouldn't have!:shame: We really need to get pet insurance... Who would everyone recommend?


I've spent $300 on a pet chook recently, she had only just started laying and got a uterine infection due to a broken soft shelled egg getting stuck....up there....

Chickens are pets too :o

I totally understand!:goodvibes: My Mum spent a fortune on my 5-year-old guinea pig to get a tumor removed when I was a kid. She was my baby! Most people wouldn't bother with a chook, it's nice you did:)

Anyway our dog has to go back to the vets today as he is having on-going problems from the surgery:( Hopefully this thread might make DH feel a bit better! Would love to hear from anyone else too...

[Cicho]

$650 to have our cat treated for a brown snake bite...

Would have spent more if we have to because he is a part of our family and we love him :yes::yes:

[Silvana]

About $200 last year because of an infection in her eye and another $250 because she found some ratsak.

I spent money for her to be desexed, wormed, vaccinated etc.

I think differently to many of you. Over $500 I would probably put her down, especially for conditions that will never see her get better, but rather just prolong the pain. Luckily being a mixed breed she isn't susceptible to any diseases.

I love her very much, I just couldn't justify spending thousands on a pet.

[mum_I'm_hungry]

My mum once spent over $3000 trying to save our cat's leg (she'd wandered into next door's yard and been savaged by their dog). It didn't work and they ended up taking her leg off, which would have been a much better option as she recovered very fast and is fine to this day (about ten years on) with three legs. Would have been much less expensive, too!

[subaruforestermum]

We recently paid $800 for emergency surgery for my mum's dog, his nose got ripped open by our dog (long story)..

We paid $200 to get my pet Galah checked out by a specialist and then put down.

Paid around $400 in total for our dog to be desexed.

[~Candy~]

I spent $350 on my pet rat when her tail got caught in the door and snapped the end off it! About 3cm of her tail was gone, leaving the bone poking out of the rest of her intact tail. So gross. But I took her to the vets and they amputated and stitched it up.

DF went OFF!

He said FFS we spent $350 to turn a rat into a guinea pig! :laughing:

:laughing: @ what your DF said!!!

I friend of mine took her mouse to the vet when it was looking unwell (it was nearly 2 yrs old!! mice don't live much longer than that normally)..the vet thought she was a bit strange because...really..you can't just operate on a mouse and expect it to make it through :no:

Anyway..she said yes...do it, and the mouse didn't survive :( I have nooooo idea how much that cost!!

[Cicho]

About $200 last year because of an infection in her eye and another $250 because she found some ratsak.

I spent money for her to be desexed, wormed, vaccinated etc.

I think differently to many of you. Over $500 I would probably put her down, especially for conditions that will never see her get better, but rather just prolong the pain. Luckily being a mixed breed she isn't susceptible to any diseases.

I love her very much, I just couldn't justify


spending thousands on a pet.


Although we spent more than $500, I can understand your point.

The vet told us that because our cat had been bitten probably 12 hours before we found him, he may need 2 shots of anti-venom, which if I remember correctly (?) were close to $400 each...

So that would have upped our vet bill to over $1,000, which at the time we could afford...

I think we (and the cat!) were very lucky!

[~Candy~]

I have a 9 yr old outdoor cat and I "think" he's got cancer...he is slowly getting black on his mouth and nose...but he is happy and content.
I took him to the vet to get micro chipped not so long ago and just having him in the cat cage he hated it soo much he gave himself a blood nose.
I wont get him diagnosed though...I had a talk with the vet and he understood where I was comming from. So long as he is happy, eating, drinking and getting on with life as per normal...we are all happy. I'd rather he lived life the way he likes it rather than have daily treatment and be locked up where he hates it and is completely unhappy.
I'd rather spend money on spoiling him than to spend it on making him miserable.

However..saying that, if he gets bad and starts to suffer, stops eating and drinking and being his usual old self....then he will be put down :(

[shockinamillion]

We spent $1500 on DPs dog last year when his brother dumb@ss GF took him out without a lead at 5 am and he got hit my a car.

He needed a took taken out and he had a broken leg up into his shoulder. Everyone told us we should have just put him down and got annoyed at us for expecting half the money from the stupid girl (she took him without permission too). He had his leg removed, they could have sent him to have sent her to have plates all through her leg but it would have cost closer to $10 000 and we just did not have the money. We did niot want her put down though.

She now lives at DPs folks until we get a place with a yard that takes pets. Last week I spent $150 getting the back of her neck fixed up and getting Anti-biotics because she had a flea collar embedded in the back of her neck :no:. NOT HAPPY!! I am now buying the good flea stuff for her.

She is allergic to fleas and we have had to spend close to $300 getting her skin fixed up after a bad reaction.

I have spent $100 on my cat so far for desexing and vaxes. He is only 18 months old though so plenty of time :P

[OneCheekyMonkey]

I havent had to spend a lot, yet, but I would, depending on the situation.

But my best friend recently spent 6000 on her cat, it had torn its anterior cruciate ligament and needed knee replacement surgery - twice! and early last year her other cat cost her about 5000 and the year before about 3000.

I just couldn't spend that much, I don't have that kind of money.

Her cats do adore her though.

[Dilga]

We spent 1200$ when our aussie bulldog tore her cruciate ligament last year. Now she's dislocated her knee on her other back leg and its just a matter of time before she tears her other ligament - and we'll once again spend the $1200 to fix it.
We also have 3 cats and all need vet checks and injections yearly.