How far would you go to save a life of a pet?

I have never had an animal that got seriously ill with something that was curable. I would think that if I loved my dog enough, I would not want to know or think that he was suffering in any way. If he was, I would want to go ahead and have him put down for his sake. I do not think that it is fair for us to have are pets poked, proded, and cut up, just because we can not bear to let them go. But, if a surgery would actually help, I would be all for it. Depending on my financial situation and how much the surgery cost. There are times you can spend a lot of money and the animal passes anyway. But, I guess you are left with the peace that you did all that you can.

i will treate life of an animal as equal to the life of a person and how far we suffer to save a life of a person in danger situation through good hospitals i will try to save pets by contacting good animal specialists docters to save the life of a pet it will be good blessing for us !!

I have had many cats live various numbers of years. Hobo had diabeties, Henry had hyper thyroidism & some skin cancer, The Doctor had a malignant thyroid tumor. I lost them, and many others to kidney failure.

Well, if spending the money meant that my pet would have a long healthy life then I would spend it, no hesitation. Like your friends, if they were old pets who wouldn't have much time with or without the surgery, I would probably leave well enough alone too. Although it would kill me inside a little! But if it was a young pet that would have a life in front of them after the surgery, I'd do it!

I think I would die for my kitty...I love him so much, I cant bear the thought of anything happening to him!

Hi, I have had a hernia 10 years ago. The operation was a very painful experience. I know I am not a kat. But that is what makes it so sad. A cat cannot express itself. Does your cat have pain? (does the vet need extra money?) If it does not have pain, I myself would not let it get operated on. I love animals. But when an animal is in pain, I will let it be put to sleep. Unless,I am absolutly sure it will get better. In that case I would do what ever I can. Good luck, take care.

Great question! I just recently spent $500 on a 3 year old cat that was suffering from a blocked bladder. I didn't realize there was a problem until the cat squatted to pee right in front of me (not in the litter box) and only urinated about a teaspoon! I was so worried as he (the cat named Dobby) seemed to strain to produce that little bit. The vet worked us in two weeks ago and determined that my beloved roommate needed to be catherized and given IV to return fluids to his dehydrated overweight body. I was shocked. I went to the bank and depleted my savings account, but only after sincerely considering just putting him down as it was the cheaper alternative. My vet told me that his own cat suffers from the same thing and once the blockage was removed a special diet would need to be followed and that would minimize the chance of it happening again. So I have already paid a substantial amount of money for my furry friend who helped me get through losing my oldest daughter in a car accident 2 years ago. If it hadn't been for Dobby, I think I would have gone stir-crazy! So while I no longer have a savings account, I think it was a small price to pay for the well-being of my friend who concerned himself totally to my well-being for the past two years!

We found ourselves asking this very question last week when our 2-year-old cockapoo, Kip, suddenly developed a ruptured disc and went from being a happy, healthy dog to being paralyzed from the waist down and in terrible pain, OVERNIGHT! First I took him to our local vet, who kept him for the day, ran some tests, and charged us $400. Then I had to move him to the emergency animal hospital, who had him for another 24 hours (another $350). We were then told that he was not improving and in a lot of pain, and we would need to decide if we wanted to drive him to the University of Columbia's Vetrinary teaching hospital for surgery, an hour and a half away, or put him to sleep. We were told upfront that the surgery is very expensive and there is an 80% chance that it will be successful and Kip will regain full use of his back legs and bladder/bowels. What an awful decision to have to make! It was a tough decision but we ended up driving him to Columbia for the surgery and 6 days later he is doing very well. He can empty his bladder and move his bowels on his own now, and he is slowly regaining the use of his back legs. I brought him home the day before yesterday and he is recooperating in a crate. He is not allowed to come out of his crate unless it is to go to the bathroom or do his physical therapy! NO ACTIVITY WHATSOEVER FOR 2 MONTHS! The surgery and hospitalization was $3500. Unfortunately, we had to put all of this on a credit card. I'd be lying if I said money was not a factor in our decision but with Kip being so young, we just couldn't put him down. This is something I could've never anticipated, though, and I can see how some people wouldn't have the option of surgery, if their finances just didn't permit it. It's been an awful ordeal.

In my country... pets are not given that much attention not like in the US or in Europe... most of the people in my country treat pets like dogs are a guard to the house instead of a best friend... I don't have a pet so i still do not know how attach i can be to one... but i think if i have the ways and means... and i have fallen in love with my pet... then i would do everything to save its life...

That's a hard question to answer, and unfortunately a lot has to do with money. It sounds like the $150 is nothing compared to what I've heard some people paying for their "babies" health. If it were a question of unlimited funds and one of my fur babies needed drastic vet care, no problem, unfortunately that isn't the case for me, unless I could pay in installments somehow. Years and years ago, I had to make the decision to put one of my babies down, due to lack of money.. I blame the shat vet my grandmother took him, Friskey to. I was away on vacation when all this happened. When I came back Friskey was gone. He had had some kind of seizure, and my grandmother who lived with us, took him to our vet. This was a vet we trusted and had gone to for years. I don't know what the hell happened though. Number one, he was to be in the vet's for about two weeks, and the shat vet wouldn't let us visit him. At the time we just trusted the vet and thought this was common practice as the vet said, oh if you visit him (Friskey) he might become upset. We didn't know at the time that this was the wrong thing to do. A vet should always allow the owner to visit. Well times goes by and we're getting anxious to have Friskey come home and our vet was very vague as to what was wrong with him. Finally we said ENOUGH, we want to bring him home. And we were for a shock. Friskey's one leg was all bandaged up...like WTF?? There had been nothing wrong with his leg! The vet didn't give us any medication or anything. Okay, now we have him home but he was listless and in obvious pain. It got worse and we took him to another vet. A big 24-hour clinic place, very well known in Manhattan. After the vet examined his leg and all, he said Friskey had gangrene..like WHAT? How the hell did he get that? So the vet gave us two choices. One, the leg would have to be amputated and he would need "therapy" so he could get used to walking on only three legs...at a cost of thousands and thousands of dollars. OR, two..you can guess. Put him down. We just didn't have the money to have him have the surgery ...so... My "lovely" mother couldn't "handle" making the decision so left it up to me..Crap I was only eleven years old and she's expecting ME to make that decision?? As a end note...that first vet, the one we had gone to for years and trusted had a LOT of complaints against him by others...and you better believe we never went back to him

This is so sad looking at my little baby. Baby BJ is over 2 years and that is a hard thing to say. I would love to be able to fix anything if the need arose but realistically the cost would be a factor too. My sister did a surgery for her new kitten and it was $750. I wish the vet had payment plans because then I would do something that much but they want it upfront. I don't have an emergency money even for my kids. Sad.

My dad is veterniary and he was teaching me, that it doesn't really depend on us, how much we want to spend. Even if we would try to help the pet, it can be only harming him, because after exact operation he jsut canot walk or do such and such things. when my brother was at university they ha a expensive horse there for surgery and it cost a lot of money, but horse never could run again anymore. So that makes me thinking if it was worth to get him thorugh all that pain and now he would be only in his cage anyway.

That is a hard question to answer. I guess it would be different for everyone. I would have done the same as your friends in the situations you describe. I think $500 would probably be about the cap I would put on medical care for a pet at one time. Then again, it depends on the situation. I don't have a lot of money, so $500 is a lot to me. I don't believe in going into debt over the life of a pet. I don't know why I feel that way, and I hope you don't think I am heartless.

Well, I have to say that sometimes you can't save your pet and there are some things that you have to choose to do. The question now is how far would you go to end their suffering? Not too long ago my kitten was run over by a car. She was still alive but not doing well at all. I'll leave out the details, but she stayed alive longer than she needed to. So, what do I do? Leave her to die like that suffering or end it for her. I chose the latter. But how? You have to be humane at least in some kind of sense. So, I ended up sufficating her with the exaust of a car. Silent but deadly... What would you have done?

Like you I think it depends on the outcome If it gives them a longer painless Life then yes but if not then I would not go through with it I am glad to see you back as I have been worried I sent you an Email Love and Hugs

I really don't know what I would do...it's not like we have pet health insurance. I think I would probably just have to keep the pet as comfortable as I could for as long as I could and then opt for it to be "put to sleep". I'd feel bad but that's why I didn't want any pets right now. I did rescue one of our kittens last night that got her head stuck in an empty vegetable can...

I would donate my kidney to my lovely puppy...if it's possible... That would be cool...

if you really love your pet you will not let him suffer any pain...so for me I will let her go.

I would do whatever was necessary to provide my pet with whatever medical care he needed, irrespective of cost, age, or life expectancy - to withold medical care due to age is known as age discrimination, and I strongly believe that if a pet's life is important, it is important at every age and degree of overall health. My dog and I shared some of the best moments of our time together in the last few months of his life. We had a chance to grow very close as I cared for him through his illness, and if I had followed prevailing 'wisdom' of the general public and of most veterenarians, we would have missed out on this very special time together. Many studies of human psychology indicate that physical suffering due to life-threatening or terminal illnesses is greately alleviated, and often becomes irrelevant to the individual person's self-perceived 'quality of life', when their psychological needs are being met (i.e., if a person feels loved, and feels that they are important to their family and friends, they want to live for as long as possible no matter how much physical suffering may be involved). I imagine that this applies to pets as well. So I think that showing my pet how much I loved him, whether heathy or sick, whether young or old, as well as offering him whatever medical care I could, was the most caring thing I could do for him in that situation.