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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our young, healthy dog was diagnosed with a rare gastro issue and had we known what we were going into, I would have made vastly different decisions.

The emotional, financial and physical toll it took on our family, not to mention the horrible end, would have changed my mind if I could have looked in a crystal ball. The vet bills, the food and medicine expenses (i.e. simple day to day) were astronomical. I felt as if I was a large part of Chewy's profits.

But I empathize with anyone who is going through it. [b]The vets make it seem like "We'll just do an X-Ray, or this procedure, or that procedure, and then we'll have some answers." In my experience, that was rarely the case. And I was made to feel (at least at the beginning) like a terrible pet owner if I did not just go along with a $5K expense. [/b]

I think that's the good and the bad of advanced veterinary medicine. Back in the 80s or even 90s, the neighborhood vet would have drawn on their limited knowledge or rare or complicated diagonosis and said, "We've done everything we can to make them comfortable." Maybe that's oversimplifying it, but I'm not sure knowledge is power in the prolonging of animal life era we're in now. Especially when it comes to the expense (not only financial) of it all. [/quote]

I have felt the same way when talking with my vet, where they've suggested we take our cat to all kinds of specialists as if that was expected. My friend is a vet and I asked her about this scenario and she says that these conversations are driven by malpractice concerns just like with doctors for humans. She said she's under an ethical obligation to present all of the options up to the gold standard for everything, and she can never make assumptions about who is willing to spend an astronomical amount of money on their pet. In her experience, what people are willing to spend doesn't correlate with her perceptions of their income.  But she also acknowledged that it's just an awkward conversation for a vet to have - about money and love, and the person on the other side thinks of pet care as an essential or a frivolity.

She also said that she understands the challenges people face in paying for vet care (which she also experiences as a pet owner - medications, special diets, etc aren't free for her). She said she only thinks that families have an obligation to pay for routine medical care (vaccinations, preventative medication for routine things like fleas, etc) and care that alleviates suffering (which could be euthanasia in the case of an illness/injury that the pet will definitely die from or medication to treat a chronic condition). She would say that if you can't afford or are unwilling to pay for routine care and care to alleviate suffering, then you can't afford/shouldn't have a pet. But beyond that, she's not judging anyone for any financial decisions around care.

That conversation with my friend informed how I talk to my vet about care. I'm always mindful of telling my vet that we're willing to pay for routine care and care to alleviate suffering. I will never take my pet to a specialist, and I will never pay for surgery. I will never pay for cancer treatment. It's completely unrelated to my income - I don't care how much money I have. I'm just not willing to go through such treatments for a pet. Of course, this stance doesn't always mean care is cheap - for example, I put dental work into the category of routine care, and that can be quite expensive. And even small things like our cat recently went through a phase where she wasn't using the litter box and the vet visits, lab tests, and medication cost $350. Either way, pets just cost money. [/quote]

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