I was at my girlfriend Tag’s house last night, and her mom was telling me about how one of their cats has bladder stones. Poor kitty!
There are two ways to potentially cure the animal. The first is to put it on a special diet and hope they go away. If that doesn’t work, the only other option is surgery.
Pet Surgery is Not Cheap
As soon as Tag’s mom mentioned surgery, I cringed. According to this website, feline bladder stone surgery costs just under $1,000! And while nobody likes to think about it, the third option is to put the animal down if surgery is too expensive. The question in my mind became, “How much should you pay to fix your pet?”
This is a hard question to answer because there are so many different types of illnesses and at many different costs. Is the animal going to need repeated, expensive treatment, or will one large expense fix him or her forever?
Then there’s the question of the financial situation of the pet owners. If you have money saved up and it would make you happy to fix your pet, then go for it. If you’re in debt, and you’re only going to go deeper by paying for your cat’s surgery, well, that’s something I personally would never do. In fact, I think it’s financially pretty stupid to have a pet in the first place if you’re deep in debt; taking care of an animal properly can cost a lot of money.
Pet Insurance?
There’s also the option to get pet insurance, but it sounds like a big fat scam to me. This website offers pet insurance starting at $12 a month, but it also says their plans have deductibles up to $1,000. To get a plan with a reasonable deductible, who knows how much it’s going to cost? Then if you have multiple animals, are you going to insure all of them? You could easily be talking $100 a month in PET INSURANCE! That’s insane!
Watch Out For Your Relationship!
One of the biggest issues I encountered with Tag last night was the discussion we had later about the surgery. I came at it from the “you can always adopt a new cat” perspective, and she used the “a pet owner has a responsibility to that animal!” line. After a little discussion, we found some common ground with the decision being a combination of price, how much longer the animal could potentially live, quality of life, financial situation, and other things.
But I want to be clear, this had the potential to be a serious disaster! Here are a few tips to ensure your relationship can survive a fight over spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on pet surgery.
- Don’t have a pet (easiest solution)
- Be stinkin’, filthy rich so that a thousand bucks or two doesn’t matter
- Be willing to compromise. Your girl will seriously hate you if she blames you for her dead cat.
What’s Your Pet Surgery Limit?
If I had a pet, and I didn’t have a girlfriend to influence my decision, I think my pet surgery limit for a sickness (not getting spade, neutered, or declawed) would be:
- $750 for a pet from ages 3-8
- $0 for a pet 0-2 (because if you already need surgery at that age, I feel like you’re gonna just keep costing boatloads of money over the next 10ish years)
- $250 for a pet 9+ (because you’ve lived a good life at that point).
This also assumes I have a positive net worth and a handle on my finances. If I’m broke, then I’d send a sick pet to the pound. Not because I don’t want the animal to survive, but I want myself to survive more.
And of course, if I were married and my wife had a different idea, I’m sure these would change.
What’s your limit? Does your limit change based on your significant other?
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
My cats are 15 and 11. They both have pretty high monthly maintenence costs due to ongoing medical conditions. As of now, the food and meds keep things very manageable. My wife and I have discussed and agreed that any major costs or big bumps in monthly costs probably wouldn’t be worth it at this point due to the age of the animals, so we’re pretty much in agreement with you.
15 and 11 years is a lot of years to spend with a good pet. Here’s hoping you get a few more!
My sister just spent $2000 on surgery to remove a cancer tumor from her 15 yr old dog. Last spring she spent $1500 to repair its torn achille tendon. It favored the good leg and now that tendon is torn too and the animal limps. I personally would not have done any of those surgeries. But some people think of their pets as their kids and would do anything to keep them around. My own dog is 10 and she just better stay moderately healthy because there will be no surgery in her future.
Wow. $2000 on a 15 year old dog? That would be completely out of the question for me.
A very similar situation happened to me last week. I had to take my cat to the hospital because she got into and swallowed some yarn. I was willing to spend up to $500 to help her. They wanted to do surgery ($1,200 or more).
I said no and brought her home. It was very hard to do, but I am working to pay off my student loans and didn’t want to empty a large chunk of my savings. I also think vets overcharge, but that is an entirely different topic.
She passed the string just fine, but I would have put her down before spending over a grand for ‘exploratory’ surgery. My boyfriend however, wouldn’t have even taken the cat to the hospital if he had it his way.
Wow. I’m glad that your cat is ok. You’d think yarn wouldn’t be deadly to cats, considering how much they play with it.
Another option is to check out your local clinics to see if they offer plans. I know a friend with 2 dogs, both with insurance plans (good thing too, because one of them is a klutz), and it’s not even close to $100/mo for both dogs. I would never get a pet if I didn’t feel like I could take complete care of them (although I too feel that there’s a certain point in an animal’s life where surgeries end up almost worsening the aging process).
I didn’t really shop for pet insurance, just found one website and quoted that price. I’m sure there is some reasonable pet insurance, and I hope your friend found a good one.
Sorry, Kevin – I have to side with your girlfriend on this one. If granpad was about to die, you wouldn’t say “Hey, let’s go to the retirement home and find you a new old man to tell you the same stories several times!” Pet owners that are deeply attached to their pets do not want to hear about “adopting a new one.”
There is no limit on what I would spend on my cats (I have 5 of them). I have an emergency fund set aside just for the cats. To me, a pet is a member of the family and I would do for them the same I would do for myself.
If I ever faced this situation and the vet told me that the surgery would add years of high quality life for one of my cats, there is no question. I would pay and I would go into debt if need be.
If, however, the vet told me that the surgery might not work or that the quality of life would not be that improbed, then I would have to consider the alternative of putting a fmaily member down. NOT an easy decision, believe me.
And I agree most of all with your statement that if you are in deep debt, you should not own a pet. Just like if you are in deep debt, you should not think about having a baby.
The difference between you and me is that I value a human life more than an animal life. A comparison between an animal and a human is, to me, completely absurd. I’ve had many pets in my life, and none of them are so important that I would sacrifice my financial life for them.
It may be different for you, which is why you’re free to spend as much money as you want on your animals while I can spend as little as I want on mine. I wouldn’t judge anyone for spending many thousands of dollars on their pet; I just wouldn’t do it myself.
It actually comes off sounding a bit like you see pets as a little higher than toys. If you adopt a pet, you’re taking on that responsibility. If you think you’ll send a sick animal to the pound because you aren’t willing to take care of it, you really shouldn’t have a pet in the first place. They’re part of your family, not just there for your enjoyment. It’s not about valuing human life more, it’s about realizing that you don’t actually want the responsibility.
If it’s a cat, put it down. Who likes cats anyways? For a dog, pay up!
Haha, as a dog lover I won’t say I agree with this statement, but I would tend to spend more on a dog than a cat.
Pet surgeries/shots/vet visits are expensive. My wife hates pets so my limit is zero. Simple. If it were just me, maybe a couple hundred… throughout the life of the pet.
Not having pets can save a lot of money and relieve you of a lot of responsibility. That’s why I don’t have one now. I’m glad you and your wife agree not to have them.
For me it’s not so much a cost limit, but a quality of life limit. If my cat (who’s currently three years old) needed some sort of emergency surgery, and afterwards she would be totally fine and go on to live a long, healthy life, I don’t know if there is actually an amount that I wouldn’t spend on that. Literally. I’d probably be willing to even go into debt for it. My cat is awesome. If she, for another example, had cancer, and the treatment would be expensive, painful, and wouldn’t extend her life or improve her quality of life, I would probably make the decision to put her down.
I do love my cat, but I don’t think of her as the same was as I would a child or another living human. But at the same time, she is a living thing who I have taken responsibility for. When you adopt a pet, you take on the responsibility of taking care of them through their whole lives (and sorry, nine years for a cat is not a “good long life.” A cat can easily live up to 20 years or longer). If you’re not willing to take care of it, and would just toss it aside after its vet bills topped $X, then you really shouldn’t have had a pet in the first place. Maybe just get a toy panda bear for companionship.
And also, seriously? You suggested your girlfriend just get another cat? I’m surprised she didn’t slap you right in your face, and then break up with you. You should marry this girl.
Oh trust me I did not much care for the comment and I made sure he knew it. I completely agree with you that when you adopt a pet you are making an agreement to care for that animal. It just is not in my nature to throw a life away when I could do something about it. Even if that means I cut back on going to Starbucks, eating out, and going to movies for awhile.
Good for you! I know some people who have never had pets have a hard time grasping it, but while it’s not a person, it’s still a living thing! Not exactly like “Ah, my laptop will cost too much to fix—may as well just get a new one!” I wouldn’t even hesitate to cut back on things to help my cat, if the situation came to that. 🙂
I’ve had lots of pets. Sallie, Chelsea, Hailey, Sadie, and Penny. Four dogs and a cat. I loved them all, but didn’t love them enough to spend $2k on them.
I disagree with your idea that someone shouldn’t have a pet at all if they aren’t willing to spend thousands of dollars on a medical procedure. If a kitten is at the pound and about to be put down, and I adopt it and nurture it for 3 years before it gets some expensive ailment (at which point I choose to put it down), I gave that cat three years of a good home it wouldn’t have had in the first place. I can’t imagine any world where that is worse than letting it die as a kitten.
People take pet so seriously in this country. In any other country, nobody would pay $1,000 for a cat surgery. (I’m just guessing here.)
I’d be interested to hear about that as well. It’s also interesting to note that it’s harder to get into vet school in America than it is to get into med school. That gives you an idea of where people’s priorities are.
Just for the record, it’s as hard as it is to get into vet school in the US (and in Canada) because there aren’t that many schools relative to the demand for that sort of education.
And a vet degree leads to careers in conservation, researching, farming, zoos, etc. It’s not just to produce people to perform surgery on cats and dogs.
It doesn’t really have anything to do with priorities.
Also vet school is harder because you’re learning diagnoses and biological systems, etc. for many different animals, not just one. Med school is hard, yes, but you’re only learning about one animal’s body.
Not sure about cats, but most dog owners would pay any price to keep their dog alive. Even if it would lead to financial ruin!
About pet insurance, it can be a good idea, even with a $1,000 deductible. Yeah, it won’t help you if your dog gets an allergy and needs a shot, but it’ll save your bank account if he/she gets cancer or breaks a leg or something.
My point is that I wouldn’t spend $1000 total for a pet, so why would I get insurance with a $1000 deductible. And there’s no way I would let an animal put me into financial ruin. Sure it’s a “pet”, but it’s just an animal.
Let me clarify a few things from this discussion. The cat in question is about 5 or 6 years old and we literally rescued her from off the street. She hasn’t had any other illnesses and is the sweetest cat I’ve ever met. Emotional attachment aside, if it were up to me I would find a way to pay for the $1,400 (this is an estimate) surgery if it was a permanent fix and if she would not be likely to develop the stones again. As far as what you said Kevin about the fact that you shouldn’t pay for such things while you are in dept I agree to a point, but also feel I need to point out that this is a tad bit hypocritical. I seem to recall you buying a sports car after you graduated and got your first job. You were technically in dept because you had student loans but you also wanted a nice car that a hot young bachelor could enjoy. Even though I still have student loans I would pay for the cat’s surgery as long as it didn’t make me late on any other payment obligations. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
Woah woah woah. The cat is only five or six years old, and this will be a permanent fix? That is crucial information here! How is it even a question of whether or not to pay for the surgery? That’s literally like Kevin, at his age, getting some sort of curable disease and his parents saying, “Ah, well, that’ll hurt our retirement plans to fix him up, so we’re going to pass. But he lived a good long life!”
I do agree that you probably shouldn’t *get* a pet if you’re deep in debt, but if you already have one and then find yourself deep in debt? That animal’s still your responsibility, whether or not you want to spend money on its health.
You very much contradict your earlier statement here:
“I do love my cat, but I don’t think of her as the same was as I would a child or another living human.”
when you make the comparison to me and my parents. And I don’t think a “responsibility” to a pet means you should be irresponsible with your money in the name of being “responsible” to your pet.
OK, it was a silly comparison. I just wanted to point out how young the cat is!
But on your financial point, I actually do agree. But I just think this kind of decision should be made by looking more at the big picture.
Realistically, $1400 isn’t that much of a burden. So let’s say you’re in complete dire straights, and have no savings, so you put $1400 on a credit card. That amount might take you, what, worst case scenario, two years to pay off? (I know I personally could have that paid off in only a few months, and my income is quite low. How long would it personally take you to make up that deficit in your budget?) During which time you’d either try to make more money to make up the difference, or give up going to movies and drinking lattes for a while.
And in exchange for a couple of years of slight financial hardship, you get a potential 15 more years of companionship from your cat? To me, that would be worth it. Not only worth it. I don’t even see how that could be considered irresponsible. I mean, most of my friends probably spend that amount just on eating out and drinking in a six month period, or less, and I love my cat a lot more than I love burritos and scotch.
I mean, I know a lot of people that would side with you on this, too. But this is just my take.
I agree that buying that car was stupid. I’ve made that very clear. I made a bad decision in the past while I was in a lot of debt (that I’ve since realized was a horrible decision). If I stood by that decision and said it was a good one, then I would find that hypocritical. But since I don’t believe it was a good idea looking back, I don’t see any hypocrisy.
I have a dog and I have pet insurance. Maybe it is a scam, but the first year cost me something like $150 setup and $10/month. My dog got to be neutered for free ($150 value) and all of his shots are covered. Maybe I am an overzealous pet owner but each time I have run the costs, I am getting a good deal. I have no idea how much it would cost if he had to have surgery. I don’t even know if I have a deductible, but I don’t think I do. Regardless, I love my dog a lot. I don’t think I will ever get another pet because none could compare. The only way I wouldn’t do a surgery or spend a lot of money on him, is if it was unlikely to help or he would still be in pain.
Yep, not having a pet in the first place is the cheapest way to go. Having said that, we’re one of those families with a $550/year pet insurance deal, for two doggies.
I used to be an animal person when I was a kid. But thats because my family took care of the animal not me. Now I have a wife who has a cat and a rabbit. Those animals never do anything good for me.
They deficate in random places, cost money, make noise in the night (dont even get me started on dogs), make noise when I am trying to sleep in, and the rabbit chews up electrical cords and headphone cords costing me time and money.
What do they do thats good… I guess my wife likes them, but they don’t do anything good for me.
I wouldn’t have a pet, but finances are only part of that equation.
As for outragous vet bills for sick cats, I once had a poor friend who smothered her cat, stuffed its ass into a walmart bag and threw it in a dumpster. No more animal bills for her.