Well, we've had to postpone the surgery.
Mini has chewed a hole in herself at the infection point, so she's spending the day at the vet getting that take care of.
In light of the recent expenses, I thought I'd rerun this article that I wrote on 2/16/08. Enjoy!
How Much is Too Much?
Has anybody else seen this piece by Slate.com on saying no to your vet? As a pet owner, I found it very interesting and relevant to situations that I have experienced with my animals.
Our five pets are easily the least frugal aspect of our lives. We have one dog, one house rabbit, and three guinea pigs. While they are not insanely expensive,they are not cheap. Vet care is one of our biggest expenses related to our animals. When we accepted the responsibility of having a pet, we accepted that we would have to lay out a reasonable amount of time and money to care for them. And for the most part, we have lived up to that promise to them. We feed them quality food, keep their living areas clean, walk the dog, clip piggie and bunny toenails, and take them to the vet when needed.
There are some people that say "Oh, we'll just put Fluffy down if we are presented with some huge vet bill." For us, our vet care expenses have not been something that would cost a lot in one fell swoop (like the $1300 vet bill Ada Calhoun experienced) Our biggest vet bill was a slow snowball. It was not like we were presented a huge bill for a complected problem. Our biggest vet expenses came from a fairly simple problem and lack of research on our part.
Our first house rabbit Kibbles developed a mild foot infection shortly after we got her. Her former owner kept her locked on a wire floor cage 24 hours a day, she was a big bunny, and the combination resulted in a fairly common infection. We took her to a random vet, not realizing at the time that it is very important to find a rabbit specific vet. She looked at the foot, shrugged, and gave us some cream. It helped for awhile, but the infection always came back. Each subsequent visit to have the vet look at it and give us more cream cost about 60 dollars. Had we gotten it taken care of in a visit or two, the expense would not have been much.
After a year of these visits, I did some research and switched vets. Our new vet was very knowledgeable about rabbits. She took one look at the foot, said that the infection was out of control, and asked what we had tried. We handed over the cream, and she very gently lamented the fact that we had not seen a rabbit specific vet sooner. There was a lot more the other vet should have tried besides the cream. The cream was fairly weak and would not do much for an infection as terrible as the simple foot infection had become.
At this point, the infection was so bad that she said we may never actually get rid of it. Our best hope was to keep it under control. We spent around 200 dollars for her to put Kibbles under, clean it out very well, pain medication, stronger cream, and bunny antibiotics. Then follow up visits, another cleaning, and more medication. The infection cleared up quite a bit after this. We'd spent around $1000 total at this point, over a year and a half or two year period. It was a small infection- nothing that we would consider putting an animal down for, but when we added up the expense (at a time in our life where money was very limited) we were amazed at how much we'd spent.
A foot infection is hardly an expensive surgery or chemotherapy, but those things are available to pets. I'm not sure what we would do if this came up. When we accepted the responsibility of our pets, we accepted the expense that goes with it. As long as the quality of life would be back to normal after the treatment and we are not prolonging suffering, I would hate to put animal to sleep because the treatment was expensive. On the other hand, how much is to much? I know I would not go into debt for my animals, and spending $25,000 is out of the question.
The Salon and Slate articles have been weighing on my mind since I read them. Our dog, who we love so very much, is getting older. I know that these bigger vet bills may be an issue sooner than we want to think about. How much is too much? And if it becomes too much, will I have the courage to say no to my vet without feeling like an absolute monster? I think that if she was suffering and the treatment would not make that suffering less, I would be able to put her down without too much guilt. But if that $1300 treatment would cure it, what would I say? I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
Have you been in this situation? How did you decide that it was too much?
5 comments:
I (like so many) couldn't make the decision it was too much but my cat had competing diseases (kidney disease and congestive heart failure) and the fine line of maintaing fluid balance for him was too hard to control (one retained fluids and one caused a loss of fluids) and he was so sick. This was a miserable decision to have to make.
May your wonderful animals die of old age!
Andrea
Our decisions are based on what is best for the comfort and happiness of our cats. I received word from the vet last week that Calvin is dying. He's not in end-stage renal failure yet, but he's getting close. We were given the option of continuing his current treatment (3 pills/day, special diet) or putting him in the hospital for a week for intense treatment that could potentially extend his life a few more months.
Not only would the latter option be insanely expensive, it would make my poor cat miserable. I prefer to keep him at home where he's happy and comfortable, rather than terrify him by putting him in the hospital for a week. And for what? So I wouldn't have to say goodbye as soon. My husband and I are choosing quality of life over quantity, in this case.
We intend to make his last days good ones. :-)
There is a joy our kitties bring to our life which is with out price.
Last winter our cat Shade came down with what we thought was a cold.
We were in the middle of a move so money was tight. We had to delay a vet visit until we were in our new home. Once we took him to our new vet Shade was given a round of antibiotics. I mentioned the slight swelling I’d noticed on the side of his nose to the vet. After examining it our vet told us it looked a tumor but a test would have to be run to know for sure.
We declined the test. If it was a tumor, treatment options were limited and Shade, at 17, was getting old. We felt it was better to not know for sure.
The vet gave us a list of things to watch for that would indicate if it was a tumor and when it would be kindest to be willing to let him go.
In April 2009 we said goodbye. We had hoped Shade would get better and worried that we might be giving up too soon. In the end we wanted his passing to be painless.
I'm sure had we the money we could have done more to prolong Shade’s life but at some point it just becomes cruel. So in this case it wasn’t really about the expense.
When we returned home alone the silence that greeted us when we assured us we had made the right choice. Shade's breathing had become so labored you could hear it no matter where you were in the house. To be able to ease him on was a blessing.
It was different when Grim was taken into the vet for a urinary blockage. He was young and up until that point healthy. We worried about being able to pay the vet bill but we didn't think about denying him care.
As was the case with Kibbles the vet visits, and thus the cost, were spread out. After a brief scare Grim recovered. He is once more earning his nickname- Mischief.
After Grim's returned home we did a bit of research and changed their food. We currently spend about $4-5 a day on Wheat Gluten Free Fancy Feast. It keeps our diabetic cat from needing insulin and all of them are now a healthy weight. The extra cost is well worth their improved quality of life.
Working at a vet really opened my eyes to this issue.
Last year I put down our 17 year old cat. He was deaf and blind and couldn't find the litter box anymore. Some of my friends thought it was too soon, that I should get him on pain medication, etc. But he was skin and bones. He wasn't the same cat I knew when we got him. He wasn't enjoying life. And it was *my* choice.
A vet's job is to give you options and to keep your pet alive. I very, very rarely heard a vet even SUGGEST euthanasia in my 3 years experience working in two separate vet clinics. There is always something else you can do. My in-laws have a 18 year old cat who barely moves anymore, is skin and bones, and recently they found a tumor on her back. The vet suggested a biopsy and possible removal. They decided to do the biopsy but I felt like even that was too much. What difference does it make? There is no reason to put a geriatric animal who will not likely live for more than another year or two through intense surgery. But the vet would do it if that's what they decided. A vet will always do anything he or she can to prolong an animals life, as long as the owner wants it (or doesn't say no). Whether they do it to appease the owner or to make more money, I don't know. Depends on the vet I guess.
The most important thing for a pet owner is to be educated and firm. Talk to people who worked at vets, read up on the issue. Determine how much ($$) diagnostic work you're willing to do.
I've seen an ear infection cost several hundred dollars. If a pet owner felt the animal had an ear infection, researched it, discussed it with knowledgeable friends, and went into the vet with a plan and even before the vet started with "Well, lets take a slide of both ears and send a swab out to the lab..." said "My friend's dog had the exact same symptoms and was prescribed _____. I was hoping to try that before doing expensive diagnostics." The vet would almost certainly comply unless he or she felt it was a very bad idea. Another thing is if you've already seen a vet for a problem, you should be able to communicate with that vet WITHOUT going back in. If you were given a medication that isn't working, you should be able to call and have the vet prescribe something else without paying $40+ for an exam.
I feel that it is a pet owner's responsibility to give an animal a comfortable, happy life for as long as he or she can. There are many animals out there that need a family. What good are you doing putting an animal through $3k worth of treatment to prolong it's life when you could say goodbye compassionately and humanely and use that money for other things that make the world a better place? And maybe you could even fill that spot in your heart and on your bed with another animal who would be forever grateful for your decision.
Ruthie, thank you so much for that thoughtful response. I agree entirely. I also would like to say "hear hear!" to your comment on a vet talking to you on the phone about a problem that the animal has had before, or a problem that is not getting better.
Both our small animal vet and my dog vet are very good at that. They've even waived the consult fee a few times when I've had to bring an animal back in for a reoccurring problem, and all I've paid for was new medication, etc. That has saved quite a bit.
We put down one of our small animals a few months ago, and you are right- the vet did not bring it up. However, I could see that putting her through the treatment would be painful, and she was an old animal. I brought it up to the vet, and he was very compassionate and said that he thought I was making a good decision. I wonder if they're afraid to bring it up, fearing the reaction of the pet owner? I am sure some of them are in it for the money, but I know that both our vets understand that we view our pets as family. It must be hard to suggest that they put down a "family member."
It's hard all around. We're waiting for our diagnosis on the guinea pig. If it is cancer, we have decided already that we will spare her suffering and put her down. If it's not, we may be facing other (possibly expensive) treatment choices. It's a fine line. I love my pets so very much.
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