What is your healthcare budget for older pets?

[ExFlyBoy5]

+1 Is anyone willing to go back to w*rk if needed to save their pet?

Well, in all honesty, if you *might* have to go back to w*rk to save a pet, then I would say you aren't ready to retire.

For me, there is no budget for those expenses. I look at the same as if I had to replace the roof, an AC unit or even a car. We have an elderly dog that is on quite a few drugs, two other elderly pets and the fourth will be in that category before too long. We didn't have any extraordinary expenses last year, but we still spend $3K..and that is with a very good discount from a family friend.

At any rate, I think if you have to set a "budget" for companion care, and it hinges on retirement, there is something that should be tweaked.

 

[ivinsfan]

Well, in all honesty, if you *might* have to go back to w*rk to save a pet, then I would say you aren't ready to retire.

For me, there is no budget for those expenses. I look at the same as if I had to replace the roof, an AC unit or even a car. We have an elderly dog that is on quite a few drugs, two other elderly pets and the fourth will be in that category before too long. We didn't have any extraordinary expenses last year, but we still spend $3K..and that is with a very good discount from a family friend.

At any rate, I think if you have to set a "budget" for companion care, and it hinges on retirement, there is something that should be tweaked.

Come again ,....a person should put an unlimited number of dollars aside for pet care and if they don't have it they should keep working? There is a difference between good quality of life pet care and shoot the moon and everyone is entitled to make the decision that works for them and their pet.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Here vet care is very expensive. 2 of my sons live in KS and it is cheap even in a large town. We are willing to pay more when they are young then when they are old. Also cancer treatment never works for long and I know a few friends that spent 10k and then were sorry as the pet did not live long. Besides $ a big part of the equation is if the pet is suffering. People have to suffer but pets don't.

 

[6miths]

Our 6 year old papillon is our constant companion, and we are besotted with him. But I believe that it is the nature of all living things to die, and I would/will treat him as I want to be treated when illness or age takes away most of my quality of life. Keep pain and fear at bay until it is clear that recovery is not likely, and then provide a quick painless death.

Agree with this as well. Whether it is via The Byrds or straight from the source in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. We love our pets and have spent 2k on dental work for a 2 year-old dog who had a propensity to 'catch' rocks but when terrible things like cancer arrive... we would not be able to justify the suffering. There comes a time to let old friends go and bid godspeed.

 

[Ian S]

Our last dog was 12 when he was diagnosed with failing kidneys. Less than two months later, he developed nosebleeds that took nearly $2000 to diagnose as nasal cancer. We consulted with an oncological vet who gave us the options. The gold standard treatment would be radiation which would require a dozen or more sessions each time requiring anesthesia and with horrible potential side effects including blindness. We didn't even ask the cost as we were not going to put our beloved dog through that torment which would only add perhaps a couple of years to his life. Instead, we opted for experimental chemotherapy that that was already in trials with some promise. We were not eligible for the trials because of the kidney issue so we paid the full cost which because it was a pill administered at home did not break the bank. Our dog lasted another 15 months with decent quality of life but I think the chemo was hard on the weakened kidneys and we eventually had to put him down. We had steeled ourselves for that day but as it happened, he deteriorated quite quickly so the final decision to do the deed was not that hard to make.

We'd probably be willing to spend $5K maybe more if the dog were younger with a good chance of full recovery. For just extension of life for a year or two, it would be less I'd think.

 

[W2R]

i told (instead of asked which i always do) the bride if we have to sell the house ,im saving that baby, we didnt have to sell, they saved my baby, thats all that mattered to me, he is my best friend

So glad they saved him! Sounds like the two of you are best buddies and spending happy days together once again.

 

[RobbieB]

No budget here either. I've got about a grand in this "free shelter dog" right now and she's only 3.

She's worth it -

 

[Choices]

We put our 20 yr old cat down last week. It is a blessing that we are able to end their suffering and send them on. We have been through cancer and diabetes and just plain old age with our fur babies and we just pay, balancing care with quality of life. The beautiful doggie to your left is only 6 and has a touch of arthritis but many years left to run...

 

[mamadogmamacat]

So sorry about the loss of your cat. My eldest is almost 18, and I have four other cats and one dog, ranging from 8 to 17. So it is quite an old crew. All have issues but with care and attention, quite a lot of both for the 17 yr old with CKD with the others not needing much care yet, quality of life is quite good for all of them. I spend, including food, supplies, vet bills, anywhere from 500. to 2000. per month. This was as expected prior to retirement 15 months ago. Quality of life, including how much distress if any the treatment cause, is my criteria for proceeding with any procedure. A cat who passed just over two years ago, for example, had oral cancer, a quite aggressive form in cats. The cost of chemo preceded by radiation, over the eight months extra life she had was only about 300. per month and were known to be very well tolerated by cats, and as she was already a very well traveled certified therapy cat, the experience and attention and being with the other animals just as if on a therapy visit actually was an experience she enjoyed. So, it really amounts to a matter of knowing our animals personalities, and educating ourselves on their disease and its treatment, in order to make the best decision. Money is not the big driver, beyond reasonable budgeting guesstimates based on their ages and how many one has.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

I have spent $1,500 on each of my cats for extensive dental surgery. One cat had to have all her teeth removed by age 7 because of severe gum disease. Because of their young age (for cats), spending the money was not a hard decision. I took both of them to a highly trained veterinary dentist that uses state of the art equipment for their surgeries. It was well worth the money and peace of mind. Both cats are doing great! I have had bad vets before, and that really kept me up at night.

 

[Katsmeow]

Would you put quality of life into this equation. Do you think you would give a pet aggressive Cancer treatment? In my mind the pet does not know that the effect of the treatment is to prolong their lives, they just know they feel bad and or sick all the time. Would you ever euthanize a pet, it certainly seems to be bad form to euthanize a person, but it is quite accepted in the animal medical world.
.

Not the person you were asking...but a couple of thoughts. With pets, chemo is usually not given as aggressively as with people. Basically if the chemo is making the pet feel bad or sick all the time then they aren't doing it right and they will usually try a milder dosage or milder form of treatment.

To the OP -- it really depends. We've had years that we had few vet expenses, just the annual visit and any needed vaccines. But, this past year and a half has been rough. We did it depending on the situation.

13 year old dog - She had a mammary tumor. We spent about $700 on surgery for it. Chemo is not very effective for this form of cancer. Sometimes the surgery gets it all and it never comes back. Sometimes it does and it becomes harder to treat. We decided to do the surgery once. She tolerated the surgery well and happily lived for almost a year and a half before succumbing (yes, we did euthanize when it was clear it was her time).

11 year old cat - We spent $10k on cancer treatment. This did include chemo. He tolerated the chemo well and went into remission for a time. But, it didn't last as long as would have been expected. And, then he didn't respond to the second line treatment. In his case he had surgery before chemo. It was necessary because of where the tumor was located (it was impeding breathing). He was euthanized when it was clear that the second line chemo wasn't working and when he started to clearly feel bad.

10 year old Saluki dog - This was a shocker. It was totally unexpected. This was a dog that had been healthy and started losing weight very quickly. The big cost was to do an ultrasound with biopsy to try to see what was going on. Essentially while it wasn't entirely clear what was causing the problem, it was a problem in the intestines that wasn't curable. He was euthanized a few days later. We had samples taken to figure out what was going on. It was an uncommon fungus. The cost to diagnose and do everything else was about $1000.

1 year old cat - She had stomatitis. The best treatment for this - even with a young cat - is to remove all teeth. That happened in January and she is doing really well. Cost was about $3300. She has had a dramatic improvement. She had chronic inflammation in her mouth, was constantly bleeding and in pain. Now, she doesn't have any of that. It was so worth it to do the surgery.

The point is that it really depends. For the one cat, treating his cancer made sense as it was a cancer that often responds to chemo. For the dog, her cancer didn't really respond to chemo and surgery was more appropriate and less expensive. For our other dog, we were told that any treatment would be futile so it really didn't make sense to do it.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

1 year old cat - She had stomatitis. The best treatment for this - even with a young cat - is to remove all teeth. That happened in January and she is doing really well. Cost was about $3300. She has had a dramatic improvement. She had chronic inflammation in her mouth, was constantly bleeding and in pain. Now, she doesn't have any of that. It was so worth it to do the surgery.

$3,300. Ouch! I won't complain about my cat's $1,500 surgery to remove all her teeth anymore. Actually, it has been a couple years since she had the surgery, and I never think about the money anymore. As a bonus, since she no longer has teeth, I no longer have to pay for expensive dental cleanings for her anymore.

My cat is doing much better after the surgery, so I am glad I spent the money!

 

[Katsmeow]

$3,300. Ouch! I won't complain about my cat's $1,500 surgery to remove all her teeth anymore. Actually, it has been a couple years since she had the surgery, and I never think about the money anymore. As a bonus, since she no longer has teeth, I no longer have to pay for expensive dental cleanings for her anymore.

My cat is doing much better after the surgery, so I am glad I spent the money!

It may be more expensive because the surgery was for stomatitis and not gum disease. With stomatitis it is very important to remove all the tooth roots and any fragments to try to lessen anything that can cause inflammation. The surgery was a little less than that total but I included the preparatory visit and blood work they did.

 

[kcowan]

We had 2 cats from little kittens. One cost $2500 for the vet at 5 yo. One lived for 16.5 years and the other 18 years. I think we were lucky. Glad to spend the money on the cat.

Friends have 2 cats and Randy has been struggling at 12. Gradually over 3 years they have now spent close to $20k with vets visits and meds for him. They have no kids and more money than they need so they joke about their 2 cruise cat! He is pretty lovable and is especially close to her "dad".

 

[AllDone]

We lost our old one last summer. The vet thought she probably had a malignancy, but suggested pain meds instead of a scan due to her age. Then she developed toe cancer, which sometimes happens in older black dogs, and we opted to have the toe amputated. A few days after the surgery, she became much more active than she had been for a number weeks which made it clear that the toe had been causing pain for a while before the problem became obvious. She became worse about four months later from the original problem and that was the end. We had hoped for more time, but we don't regret the toe amputation which gave us a few more months and kept her more comfortable.

Last month, dog #2 developed gastric volvulus and had emergency, early-morning surgery for $8000, but she should have 4-5 more years left and, well, she's our baby. She's back to her old self by now, but still a bit skinnier than usual. That was the most that I've ever spent on a dog.

 

[Choices]

All in, our budget for two large dogs is $1,800 a year. This does not count boarding or teeth cleaning. Last year we spent $2,600 on the two darlings. We are glad to have the money and see it as the cost of having pets.

 

[ivinsfan]

I'm just staggered by some of the sums mentioned in these postings. I feel that these vets think they have carte blanche to charge whatever they feel like almost holding these pet owners hostage.

As a contrast, we had a large dairy farm where we were responsible for the care and feeding of up too 200 animals at a time. We took good care of our animals, in fact our vet and his wife became two of our best friends. He's a great vet and always puts the welfare of the animal first and doesn't pull any punches with farmers who don't do that.
Yet, the prices he worked with were never much if at all, higher then the economic value of the animal. Every once in a awhile we did need to put an animal down, but not due to cost, usually it was a quality of life issue. Even in cattle that didn't make it back into the producing herd and had to culled after recovery, we would re-coup most if not all of the vet fees. We sometimes wouldn't have a net profit after the cull, but we knew we had done right by our animals.

I can't feeling that statements like "they are family" "i'd sell my house" "it doesn't matter what it costs" is setting pet owners up for ever escalating pet care bills.

 

[Carpediem]

All in, our budget for two large dogs is $1,800 a year. This does not count boarding or teeth cleaning. Last year we spent $2,600 on the two darlings. We are glad to have the money and see it as the cost of having pets.

Our current budget is $3000 for our one dog. Based on all the feedback so far, it sounds like *in general* this might be a reasonable amount knowing there will always be those unplanned for events that could bust the budget in a given year.

 

[Carpediem]

I feel that these vets think they have carte blanche to charge whatever they feel like almost holding these pet owners hostage.

I can't help feeling the same way with the statement above. And based on some of the things I've observed recently, I question whether some of the procedures were even necessary. Example: A $400 biopsy that proved absolutely nothing. Another example: Our vet told us to come in to get some blood work done before visiting the vet eye doc. We talked to the eye doc assistant and asked if we needed to have blood work done before coming in. Answer: "No, that isn't necessary".

 

[Teacher Terry]

My friends and family in KS and TX pay about a fourth of what we do for the same care. They live in big cities that are bigger then ours. I have no idea how things got so out of hand. A Friend of ours had a young dog that got hit by a car and the vet wanted 8k to fix her broken leg. Not being willing to go into debt for this dog like they had their last dog they put her to sleep.

 

[ivinsfan]

My friends and family in KS and TX pay about a fourth of what we do for the same care. They live in big cities that are bigger then ours. I have no idea how things got so out of hand. A Friend of ours had a young dog that got hit by a car and the vet wanted 8k to fix her broken leg. Not being willing to go into debt for this dog like they had their last dog they put her to sleep.

Well right, so if no one had an "unlimited" budget perhaps more pets could be saved because the vets would need to lower their prices.

 

[AllDone]

I'm not sure that the prices are that unfair. My dentist charges less to clean my teeth than the vet does to clean the dog's, but I don't need general anesthesia. When the dog bloated, we took her to the 24 hour emergency vet. The building is manned with several vet techs and an emergency vet and has multiple surgical suites. A surgeon came in from home and the dog was treated with IVs and monitored in "ICU" for 24 hours after the surgery. The surgery used to have poor outcomes, but now 80% of dogs who make it to surgery go on to survive thanks to more aggressive care and improved techniques. In the good old days, the dog would have died a miserable death or been put down.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When our dogs were younger we were of the mindset that price was no object. Well I let our vet know that our dogs are old and we are semi-retired with a smaller income so it is definitely a consideration now. It has also made me realize that in order to do the best for my dogs that in future I will be limited to 1 or 2. So if more people around here do what I am doing by reducing their numbers then more pets will need homes. Also some people are of the mindset that if your dog needs expensive work just put them down and move on to the next dog. I could never do that.

 

[Lisa99]

With our first dog, his medications were about $300/month and was at the level for 3 years until he passed away at 15 years old.

 

[simple girl]

Our current kitty has developed chronic kidney disease. We thought we were going to lose her last fall as she looked pretty bad, but, with proper treatment she is doing fabulous! The treatment has markedly improved her quality of life.

She has been extremely healthy all her life, only going to the vet maybe once or twice...so we figure she is making up for it now.

We budgeted for vet expenses, but she definitely is costing us more than expected now. Maintenance meds/fluids are running us about $250/month. This does not include costs for vet checkups and bloodwork.

We do not plan to get another pet for the first 10 or so years of retirement so that:

1) we have more freedom to travel in the early years
2) we don't have those costs to deal with in the early years of retirement when we will be more budget conscious