To ask what you would do for your pets?

I would go into debt or use savings up to £5k ish if it was for a young previously healthy animal with a good prognosis
If older or would only prolong for a short time I would probably not consider much more than £1k same
I do have good pet insurance which I needed last year when my 5 month old kitten fractured his pelvis and spine - with ongoing therapy costs the insurance has paid out nearly £10k in last 12 months

Thank you for this, I agree entirely. I'd never do that to a pet. It's always insurance/savings for us. Cat insurance £10 pm. Friend put £10 pm in savings pot, cat needed thousand for operation which friends than had to find. It's that dilemma.
Or the animal with a long term, expensive illness such as diabetes.

No to everything. I mean, hundreds, yes. A thousand? Two? Probably. More? Hmm not sure. Absolutely not would I go in to debt.

I very much agree with this

We took a 0% loan through the vets for £1.7k of surgery on our cats last year. We have two good incomes coming in so paid it off early in the end.

Both our rescue cats needed extensive dental work and they were only about 12/13 months old so they would have had a long life of pain if we didn’t fund treatment. our insurance didn’t cover it because the vet had picked up symptoms before we got insurance (we took them in temporarily and kept them when no one came forward).

I have no regrets about it, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I adore them and their company brings me a huge amount of joy. I can see why others don’t pay for expensive treatments though - we’re very privileged to be financially stable and able to afford big bills.

I'd walk over hot coals, lose a limb, throw my friend over niagra falls, go into witness protection, sell the house.... I mean what kind of answer were you looking for OP 🤣

I'd use savings if I had them

I would get into manageable debt... My dog needed an operation for 1300 that insurance would not cover. I was able to put this on a credit card and can realistically pay it off unless I have very unforseen circumstances.

I would basically do anything reasonable that wouldnt have massive negative impact on my children's lives. I adore my dog but not above my kids.

We had a 2yo cat pts a few years ago because he had a large tumour in his chest cavity, he went downhill quickly and we didn't have time to do tests/biopsies etc. it was PTS or refer same day to a big animal hospital for very significant scans and surgery, cage rest for weeks or months, outcome basically unknown as we didn't know whether cancerous or not. He was an extremely active outdoorsy cat and we felt it would have been cruel to put him through that and it might not even make him better. The insurance covered what we did have done but wouldn't have covered all of it if we'd done the surgery etc.

I wouldn't put ourselves in debt to pay vets bills, or compromise on my/family health. Very much agree with @Unrelated38 above. All of our cats (and guinea pigs) have been rescues from a centre or taken from dubious people/homes so even if they aren't with us long, it's better than their alternative. Maybe if we were more accepting of PTS as a viable and acceptable option rather than shaming people when they think practically about vet costs, then there'd be less cases of neglect and animal suffering.

I would go into debt up to about a thousand pounds if it was something with a likelihood of a outcome.

I love my cats dearly and take my responsibility to them seriously but that is to ensure they are not in pain and have a good quality of life, are warm and fed.. Not to keep them alive at all costs for my own selfish reasons. Pet ownership is for the benefit of the owner not the pet.

I'm lucky that my vets clinic would allow me credit to pay off any treatments but if they didn't then I probably wouldn't get into massive amounts of debt for my pets no as it would affect my dcs quality of life.

When I had a high income and no kids I'd have said "anything"
Now I have a very restricted and two kids. I wouldn't jeapeardise what I can provide for my children for the sake of a pet.

And I think the mentality of "if you can't give your pets everything they could ever need you shouldn't have them" is stupid. There are millions of homeless animals, neglected animals, abused animals filling up shelters. They're better off in poor homes on cheap food than dead. Even if that means having to get pts years down the line when they need expensive vet care. One of my cats was a stray, two of them were being given away for free off a woman who didn't even know my name when she handed them over. They're better off with me than where they would have ended up.

My cats have collectively run up huge bills o er the years. Thankfully covered by insurance. But if it was a condition that the insurance wouldn't fully cover. (Lifetime policy with a high limit.) I'd be wondering about quality of life and what was in her best interests.

Anything with the exception of it harming my child. Our dog is mine and DS’s entire world.

I'd love a cat but its so expensive now to look after them I've heard that vets can cost more than it would for human private health care and that more and more pet insurance companies are denying pay outs for treatment costs. Knowing this I have decided to put off pet ownership indefinitely.

I have wondered if this is a warning about a switch to private healthcare as with private insurance initially you pay it and probably get great care but as it goes on and prices go up, because why not it will be paid be the insurance company, the insurance starts to quibble with you over eligibility or necessity of treatment or won't cover existing conditions so you need to pay out of pocket or co pay. So you are paying twice, once through your insurance payments which can be £100s per month in the US and then again for all the things your insurance won't pay out for because of course if they have to pay out too much it affects their profits. I've also seen similar issues in the car insurance industry, its basically a racket which pushes prices up.

It's a tough question.
Years ago when mine had bladder stones there was a bit of investigating before we found out it was bladder stones. Once we knew that I had to pay almost £1000 out of my savings for her.
I now pay hundreds for my other cat who has hyperthyroidism.
But I guess it depends on the situation as to how much I'd be willing to pay. Eg how old they are...
I guess if it's thousands it wouldn't be feasible
But then that's cos I don't earn a lot and have a child

Impossible to answer unless you're in a situation where you have to think about it

We faced this discussion recently. Ddog has lymphoma and insurance will cover up to £7k. We know treatment will be over this but should be by less than £1k. We’ve agreed that we’ll go up to £3k but we have savings and after that point it would start eating into savings too much and be detrimental to our dc. I would say that there’s too many nuances to say for sure. I wouldn’t go into debt but I’m in a good financial position.

Having lost one of our cats to an accident I would do everything possible to save them as long it was in their best interests. If that meant lots of savings or taking on debt so be it. But I’m fortunate we have access to savings and credit cards and could take this on

What procedure is it that you are considering?

If it's something like cancer surgery or the orthopaedic stuff featured on Supervet, no I wouldn't do it and would PTS.

I've watched a few episodes and by the end am always shouting at the TV that at least one of the pets is suffering.

I love my pets but they live purely in the moment. It's cruel to put them through traumatic experiences because I can't cope with reality.

I won't have a pet we can't insure now - we have two dogs insured and one who isn't due to his age. Going forward, we won't get another dog until we can afford decent (ie pet plan) insurance.

We have two credit cards, both with no debt at all on them, so in theory I could spend around 20K. I am unlikely to do so though... we also have a savings account and what I would spend on insurance for the oldiewonk gets put into there, however as I am on UC there is only so much I am allowed to save before that then gets deducted from my income (not that I disagree with this!) so as a long term plan for future pets, thats not an option.

So yes, I would go into debt, but not beyond my means to repay it comfortably.

Yes I would spend thousands if necessary.

No I would not spend thousands (or anything in fact) to prolong an animals life where that is for my benefit rather than theirs/ not in their best interests.

So using the old chap as an example - I might get him a dental and a lump removal, I might not, he is 16 - depends on what my (very trusted) vet says - a few days of feeling a bit rough with a clear benefit, thats ok. But weeks and weeks of feeling awful with no major benefit... that wouldn't be ok, we'd just let him go.

Will I prioritise the dog over me... not over my health, no but I am currently not replacing the dryer that makes a fuckawful squealing noise, because I am hopefully getting the old fart a dental!

I'll always put pets before things where the things are 'nice to have but not vital'.

I don't have pets, in part, because of this. I simply can't afford them. If things go wrong, a lethal injection costs a fraction of the amount that surgeries and investigations do, but the enormity of that decision is too much of a burden to bear. (A colleague had to spend almost £7k on her horse and the vet eventually concluded there was nothing wrong with it. At one point she was considering putting it to sleep as the cost of investigations and x-rays etc were mounting up)

Depends. I stop insuring my dogs after they are about 7. By that point any pre existing conditions are apparent. My current only dog is a German Shepherd and when she got to about 7 despite having no pre existing conditions, my insurance wanted about £150 a month. I’m not paying that, that’s absurd. I pay a lump sum for a public liability insurance and that’s it.

I would pay reasonable amounts for my dogs treatments yes. It also depends on the condition; if it’s life limiting, then no. And the dogs age; I’m not going to spend thousands upon thousands for an elderly dog. I always say there are far worse fates for a dog than a peaceful death. And I think some of the things and surgeries that people put their dogs through when they are life limiting is absolutely mad. I can’t stand that Irish super vet on TV and think half of what he does is downright cruel.

I have been lucky with my dogs though. I’ve always got them from good breeders who prioritise health, feed them well, keep them lean (the number of obese dogs is shocking to me and animal cruelty), and exercise them well. My large breeds have always gone to 14-15+, little ones 16+, with just minor problems here and there. The number of people I know who have got dogs from crap breeders and have lost them to terrible health problems at a young age is really shocking.

We weren’t well off when we got into debt, obviously. As I said, I took on a second job. I did without a lot of things.

OP you’ve not answered any of the questions from PPs about the medical situation of your pet, which might help us to advise you better. It might not be the right thing in your pet’s case to find the money, in some cases it might be kinder to PTS. But I think you need to consider what’s best for the animal. Could a pet charity help with costs? Could you look into rehoming. I do really feel for you as it can be hard to foresee how things will go with a pet, we’re in this situation ourselves.

I think if you take on an animal that comes with an obligation to pay whatever you're able to look after it. My last cat cost me around £3,000 in vets fees once she got older and the insurance company wouldn't cover her any more. She had two operations when she was 17 and 18, but they gave her another three years of happy life. I didn't have any saving or the money to pay for the treatment and had to borrow the money for the first operation and put the cost of the second one on a credit card, but I never regretted it for a second. My current cat is insured but I would pay whatever was needed if he was unwell, and would get into debt again if need be.