Pet vs $$$

[JRobyn]

I'm sure that their fund for cigarettes and beer was ok.....

 

[Bird]

I'd say we spend a total of about $800/year for 2 dogs.

You may very well be right, but I think most people under estimate what they've spent on their pets. Just out of curiosity, I started keeping pretty detailed records when we first got our Chihuahua. She turned 12 years old this past week. And over all, that one little dog has cost us just about $100 a month, or $1,200 a year. At our age, I have assured my wife that there will be no more pets if or when this one goes. Of course, I know that this little dog may outlive us.:laughing:

 

[Sigarms]

At our age, I have assured my wife that there will be no more pets if or when this one goes. Of course, I know that this little dog may outlive us.:laughing:

When we did rescue work, you would be amazed at the amount of little dogs that are in need of a home because their last master has died and because there is no more family around of the existing family doesn't want the dog.

 

[Looking4new]

Having watched Birds' posts ever since I joined this site, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has a clause in his will for the dog should she out live him.:thumbsup:

 

[Bird]

Having watched Birds' posts ever since I joined this site, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has a clause in his will for the dog should she out live him.:thumbsup:

:laughing:She's a very unusual little dog, at least in my opinion. She never learned to fight or bite; loves everyone, just looking for new friends. She won't even bite if you hurt her; just try to get away. And the younger of our two daughters wants her. She and the little dog have long been friends, so I've no doubt she'll be well cared for.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Buddy of mine spent 3-4K on a 17 year old cat. Still died. We have 3 large outside and 1 inside dog. Inside dog would get a little more as it's the inside dog (American bully) but after the outside dogs just killed two new kittens that adopted us I don't think she'd be inclined to spend much on them. Growing up dogs were a tool, when they get hurt it's time to get a new tool. I'm not emotionally attached to pets but I don't mind the inside dog

Brett

 

[rgr33]

Hoo boy! This hits me right where I live, our only pet is a Newfoundland. They are very big dogs, and ours is on the upper side of that, at 208 lbs, and he is not fat.

When he was 2 years old, he blew out a knee while chasing a ball. The cost of that repair was $5400. I used our entire vacation fund to pay for the operation, and have never regretted it.
I was warned after the surgery, that there is a good chance the unrepaired knee might fail. It only took about a month for that to happen. Another $5400, this time out of the emergency fund, to be paid back later. The money spent for the procedures didn’t affect the family much, other than a missed vacation.

I imagine a great many of the readers here think I’m an idiot for spending that much on a dog, hard to argue that I guess. But I had to look for a very long time, and drive a long way from home, and go through lot to prove to the breeder that I was the best choice to own this dog. And I think I am.

There are only five of us in this family, and money will never stop me from doing all I can to insure the best life possible for each of us.
By the way, Zeke is 6 yrs old now, and he is everything I hoped he would be, healthy as a horse, and not much smaller.

 

[goeduck]

Daughter in law said look at my tatto. It cost me so many hundreds of dollars, the very next breath said I don't have any money to buy the kids Halloween costumes. My son her husband came over one day had a boxer pup with him, said it cost him 500 bucks, a little later said he didn't have enough money to pay the electric bill or water bill, was living in a house me and my X still owned jointly for free. A dodge cummins truck I bought for him needed batteries, he was proud to say he stole two new ones from Walmart and had the kids hanging in the shopping cart when he did it and at the same time his wife bought him a used set of drums. Just a couple thing the oldest one did won't say what the youngest one has done but it involved several pets over the years among other things.

Pets, if you like dogs and cats more power to you and if you have and want to spend millions of dollars on them so be it. I have helped all kinds of people and family members as long as they help themselves. I have always said a person needs to do what needs to be done first and then do what you want after. Every time I have helped and I mean every time it always turn out they expect it to continue and they do what they want while I had to do what was needed. When the giving hand quit giving I became the A-hole.

I just can't understand or will I try to wrap my brain around spending thousands on a dog or cat when you don't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out. Sorry about the rant but it's a sore spot with me and the kids pets and other escapades.

Sounds like a lot of work needs to be done in regards to their priorities and I agree adding pets to that situation is not good.

As for myself I will spend the money within reason considering prognosis and age. Different subject but related, the wife gives to animal charities before human charities. Her reason being humans are overpopulating and pushing animals out. Humans can help themselves while animals (particularly pets) are taken from nature, bred to be incapable in many respects of living on their own.

 

[Birdhunter1]

My dad and I had Brittany's for about 20 years, a long time ago I had one expecting pups that went limp and energy less overnight, the pups were delivered emergency C section and with other treatments the bill was near $500 dollars I think. That dog was a hellacious hunter, I would have loved for her to have survived but she died on the table. A few years later another female I had had problems at birth and had a reaction to the anesthesia and didn't make it. She was just as much a hunter than the other.
One of my dogs a year ago in November, who was the lone survivor of a litter of eight from my first Brittany I lost, we think died of kidney failure. He died in my arms at the vets office trying to figure out what was going on with him.

My oldest Brittany I had to have put down just after Christmas last year at 15 1/2 years old. At one time I had been offered $7000 for him but declined it and hunted the heck out of him for the next 10+ years. That one was probably my cheapest in overall vet bills as he only required stitches a couple times (sheared metal T posts can make for a heck of a slitting item when they are about 6" tall.. found in an old fence row while hunting one day), feed and shots/vaccinations/worm medications.

But the lifetime of memories I have with those dogs was priceless. That being said I don't know what amount I would have said no to on my oldest living one.

Now I have horses, two to be exact. One is a 20 year old gelding 'Whisper', the other is a 23 year old mare 'Tonka'. My 7 year old daughter and Tonka are best buds, I hope when its Tonka's time she goes quick and isn't a long drawn out affair. I also wish that I had that horse about 7 or 8 years ago when I had awesome birddogs, I think my team of horses and my birddogs would have worked in the field well together.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Pets, if you like dogs and cats more power to you and if you have and want to spend millions of dollars on them so be it. I have helped all kinds of people and family members as long as they help themselves. I have always said a person needs to do what needs to be done first and then do what you want after. Every time I have helped and I mean every time it always turn out they expect it to continue and they do what they want while I had to do what was needed. When the giving hand quit giving I became the A-hole.

I had a friend who was in the hospital taking chemo for leukemia when the bank sent her an "intent to foreclose" letter. I ponied up $5400 to catch her up on her mortgage payments, a trivial amount for me but 10x more money than she had in the world. I was not going to let her die on the street, and a year and a half later she passed peacefully in her own home. I have spent more on a dog; I sure wasn't going to refuse to bail out a friend. I had the money, and would never miss it.

That said, I was a farm kid. I have 5 dogs and an indeterminate number of barn cats. I go to the Co-op and buy their vaccines for $10 instead of paying a vet $100 to poke them with a needle. Their heartworm medicine, flea medicine and medicated shampoo comes from Mexico for a quarter of the cost locally. They see the vet once every 3 years for their rabies shot, because the county won't believe I did it myself. We cook our own dog food with 49 cent a pound chicken hindquarters, 87 cent a pound frozen vegetables, and 29 cent a pound potatoes. There's nothing in it I wouldn't eat myself, with a little salt that the dogs don't get. We cook big batches in a 40 quart stock pot and freeze it in re-used cottage cheese containers. When I was a kid we had a cocker spaniel that lived to be 21 years old on nothing but table scraps and oatmeal. We give them rawhide chews to keep their teeth clean, that we buy from a local butcher and dehydrate in the smoker. The big expenses are things like canine cruciate ligament surgery, and we gave one a hip replacement once. We just don't let the monthly expense of owning a pet bleed the bank account.