Would you ever euthanize a pet that had medical issues that were not terminal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The expense would have to be astronomical before I would ever consider it. I have pet insurance so hopefully I won't be in this position. I would give up a lot of things before I'd euthanize my pets for financial reasons.

I mean, if you don't have the money to pay for pet insurance (that doesn't suck), most long-term illness vet bills ARE astronomical.

Clearly you're not in the same financial situation OP is describing. Lucky you.

If I couldn't afford pet insurance I wouldn't have a pet. Vet bills are part of being a pet owner. I have pet insurance because I don't want to be in a position where I have to put down my pet strictly for financial reasons.

I pay $110/month to insure my two dogs. That's with a $1000 deductible. My policy doesn't cover regular maintenance issues, vaccines, flea and tick preventatives. It just exists in case my dog breaks a leg, gets cancer, something major. The $1300ish I pay just for the insurance is also about what I have to pay annually for a wellness check, fecal float, and their vaccines, plus another $1000 to keep them both on Trio.

Before ANYTHING goes even remotely wrong, and before factoring in food, treats, coats, shampoo (I groom my own dogs, but there's another common expense), I pay about three and a half grand. Just to have them. Don't get me started about the cost of feeding them!

I don't fault anyone for not having that kind of money just to have a pet. I'm extremely lucky, and I haven't always been. While past iterations of me have had pets, they were mostly found rescues with barebones care, cheap food, and only the required shots at whatever clinic was cheapest. Mercifully, most escaped major calamities and I wasn't often faced with the necessity of putting one down to avoid catastrophic financial damage. I don't envy anyone that decision, and it IS a valid decision. The alternative is saying "only rich people can have pets" and that's ridiculous.

People need to stop shaming pet owners for being both humane to their animals AND reasonable about their financial health. Not everyone can afford pet insurance and premium care. That shouldn't preclude people from having a pet in their life, provided they can afford basic care standards and annual wellness expenditures within reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The expense would have to be astronomical before I would ever consider it. I have pet insurance so hopefully I won't be in this position. I would give up a lot of things before I'd euthanize my pets for financial reasons.

I mean, if you don't have the money to pay for pet insurance (that doesn't suck), most long-term illness vet bills ARE astronomical.

Clearly you're not in the same financial situation OP is describing. Lucky you.

If I couldn't afford pet insurance I wouldn't have a pet. Vet bills are part of being a pet owner. I have pet insurance because I don't want to be in a position where I have to put down my pet strictly for financial reasons.

I pay $110/month to insure my two dogs. That's with a $1000 deductible. My policy doesn't cover regular maintenance issues, vaccines, flea and tick preventatives. It just exists in case my dog breaks a leg, gets cancer, something major. The $1300ish I pay just for the insurance is also about what I have to pay annually for a wellness check, fecal float, and their vaccines, plus another $1000 to keep them both on Trio.

Before ANYTHING goes even remotely wrong, and before factoring in food, treats, coats, shampoo (I groom my own dogs, but there's another common expense), I pay about three and a half grand. Just to have them. Don't get me started about the cost of feeding them!

I don't fault anyone for not having that kind of money just to have a pet. I'm extremely lucky, and I haven't always been. While past iterations of me have had pets, they were mostly found rescues with barebones care, cheap food, and only the required shots at whatever clinic was cheapest. Mercifully, most escaped major calamities and I wasn't often faced with the necessity of putting one down to avoid catastrophic financial damage. I don't envy anyone that decision, and it IS a valid decision. The alternative is saying "only rich people can have pets" and that's ridiculous.

People need to stop shaming pet owners for being both humane to their animals AND reasonable about their financial health. Not everyone can afford pet insurance and premium care. That shouldn't preclude people from having a pet in their life, provided they can afford basic care standards and annual wellness expenditures within reason.

This. If you required pet insurance for people to have pets, we'd wind up euthanizing many, many more animals in shelters than we currently do, because it's actually a pretty small percentages of pet owners who can afford the premiums and deductible.

It's okay, if you pet gets very sick, to not pay for expensive measures to save them. An animals life is not worth less than a human life, but it is worth *different* than human life. Pets don't dream of being parents one day, don't have career ambitions. They live a much more basic existence. They want comfort, security, food, sleep. Some pets need something to do or a job of some kind to be happy. If they have those things, they are mostly happy and do not experience existential anxiety about the meaning or worth of their lives. It's one of the things I love about them! They simply live, for its own sake, without spending time or energy thinking about living.

Letting an animal die of natural causes, or hastening their end if those natural causes are going to kill them very slowly with low quality of life, is not cruelty. They still got to achieve the apotheosis of their life. That is more than many humans get. It's okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The expense would have to be astronomical before I would ever consider it. I have pet insurance so hopefully I won't be in this position. I would give up a lot of things before I'd euthanize my pets for financial reasons.

I mean, if you don't have the money to pay for pet insurance (that doesn't suck), most long-term illness vet bills ARE astronomical.

Clearly you're not in the same financial situation OP is describing. Lucky you.

If I couldn't afford pet insurance I wouldn't have a pet. Vet bills are part of being a pet owner. I have pet insurance because I don't want to be in a position where I have to put down my pet strictly for financial reasons.

Just because their life can be prolonged doesn’t mean it should - just like humans. Some humans should also have option for dignified death

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The expense would have to be astronomical before I would ever consider it. I have pet insurance so hopefully I won't be in this position. I would give up a lot of things before I'd euthanize my pets for financial reasons.

I mean, if you don't have the money to pay for pet insurance (that doesn't suck), most long-term illness vet bills ARE astronomical.

Clearly you're not in the same financial situation OP is describing. Lucky you.

If I couldn't afford pet insurance I wouldn't have a pet. Vet bills are part of being a pet owner. I have pet insurance because I don't want to be in a position where I have to put down my pet strictly for financial reasons.

I pay $110/month to insure my two dogs. That's with a $1000 deductible. My policy doesn't cover regular maintenance issues, vaccines, flea and tick preventatives. It just exists in case my dog breaks a leg, gets cancer, something major. The $1300ish I pay just for the insurance is also about what I have to pay annually for a wellness check, fecal float, and their vaccines, plus another $1000 to keep them both on Trio.

Before ANYTHING goes even remotely wrong, and before factoring in food, treats, coats, shampoo (I groom my own dogs, but there's another common expense), I pay about three and a half grand. Just to have them. Don't get me started about the cost of feeding them!

I don't fault anyone for not having that kind of money just to have a pet. I'm extremely lucky, and I haven't always been. While past iterations of me have had pets, they were mostly found rescues with barebones care, cheap food, and only the required shots at whatever clinic was cheapest. Mercifully, most escaped major calamities and I wasn't often faced with the necessity of putting one down to avoid catastrophic financial damage. I don't envy anyone that decision, and it IS a valid decision. The alternative is saying "only rich people can have pets" and that's ridiculous.

People need to stop shaming pet owners for being both humane to their animals AND reasonable about their financial health. Not everyone can afford pet insurance and premium care. That shouldn't preclude people from having a pet in their life, provided they can afford basic care standards and annual wellness expenditures within reason.

This. If you required pet insurance for people to have pets, we'd wind up euthanizing many, many more animals in shelters than we currently do, because it's actually a pretty small percentages of pet owners who can afford the premiums and deductible.

It's okay, if you pet gets very sick, to not pay for expensive measures to save them. An animals life is not worth less than a human life, but it is worth *different* than human life. Pets don't dream of being parents one day, don't have career ambitions. They live a much more basic existence. They want comfort, security, food, sleep. Some pets need something to do or a job of some kind to be happy. If they have those things, they are mostly happy and do not experience existential anxiety about the meaning or worth of their lives. It's one of the things I love about them! They simply live, for its own sake, without spending time or energy thinking about living.

Letting an animal die of natural causes, or hastening their end if those natural causes are going to kill them very slowly with low quality of life, is not cruelty. They still got to achieve the apotheosis of their life. That is more than many humans get. It's okay.

Finally some smart, mentally healthy people on the pet board. It’s nice to finally see it