Why do people buy animals that can’t afford to keep!

[Poppets14]

Exactly that!

My friend has just spent 2.5k on a french bulldog. She’s just been ranting at me about the cost of vet treatment (I work for a vet)

She’s moaning that the vaccinations flea and worm treatment has come to £100

So she’s happy to give a breeder 2.5k without blinking an eye but to spend £100 on health care is a problem!

Not sure what response I want really. I get so cross about people spending thousands on puppies and then moaning about the cost of vet treatment!

I bought my dog years before lockdown. I have always had insurance and have had it vaccinated against everything possible.
I didn't think of how much it would cost, but it's worth every penny. I never regret anything spent on the dog.
She is very well cared for, and loved so much by us all.
You cannot put a price on love.

YANBU about people ranting about the price of vet bills etc.
We are so used to the NHS, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that any treatment does cost money.
My dog has recently just cost me over £1k (which is a lot more than what I get paid, as I am on UC), but I just sucked it up because vets are businesses and they need to make money to pay upkeep on their premises, pay for staff, pay for equipment etc.

My friend works at a vet, and her stories have us sometimes roaring with laughter, but more often break our hearts. She regularly gets serious verbal abuse, with some straying into physical, when she states no payment, no treatment. And so many animals bought during lockdowns, and then colour them surprised that vet treatment etc is not cheap. . .

£6800 on the dog this year, though thankfully got £6650 back from the insurance, thank goodness!!! If you can't afford insurance, think twice about a pet, your premiums will increase a lot too so budget £100 a month by age 10

People are stupid

It also makes me cross when local vets post on Facebook "sadly we've had a deceased cat brought into us. Not neutered and no microchip". Or "a dog has been found wandering in xx and has been brought into us. No microchip".

I hope the owners when found are given a good telling about the importance and legalities of pet care but I doubt it. I can't believe people are so cavalier with their pets.

@mbosnz

My friend works at a vet, and her stories have us sometimes roaring with laughter, but more often break our hearts. She regularly gets serious verbal abuse, with some straying into physical, when she states no payment, no treatment. And so many animals bought during lockdowns, and then colour them surprised that vet treatment etc is not cheap. . .

My local FB community group often has people trying to shame vets for "caring more about money than animals", like they just expect vets to work for free and do it out of love. Love does not pay your bills, or pay back student loans for vet training. It doesn't pay for your staff, or an MRI scanner, or surgical equipment. It comes as no surprise that vets have a high suicide rate compared to other professions.

I have a french bulldog he cost 3k he’s very healthy no breathing problems not overweight but a knobhead
He cost me 48 a month for 7k lifetime insurance
14 a month vets care plan
50 a month food
Not to mention antlers toys
Insurance was the first thing I checked before buying him

Because, thanks to the NHS, they have no concept of the cost of healthcare. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a hamster or a human, healthcare is insanely expensive. Nevermind the salaries (and, if you aren’t aware vets are shockingly badly paid unless they own the practice), the equipment & premises upkeep, medication etc, it’s all expensive. But because we can rock up to our GP or local A&E and be seen ‘for free’, or when we have a car accident and end up with multiple scans and surgery, or have a heart attack and all the investigations and treatment are ‘free’, the vast majority of the public simply have no idea how expensive healthcare is. Our local vet charges £180 call out fee at the weekend……this is what we’ll be paying for human healthcare soon when the NHS collapses.

YANBU at all! I have two rescue moggies - they are still young and very healthy, but that won't last forever. And they definitely do better on higher quality cat food too. But I went into it eyes open, looking at my finances. And I have zero regrets, they are wonderful.

@gogohm

£6800 on the dog this year, though thankfully got £6650 back from the insurance, thank goodness!!! If you can't afford insurance, think twice about a pet, your premiums will increase a lot too so budget £100 a month by age 10

I can't afford insurance on my dog anymore. It would be over £100 a month now.

Pets are a multibillion dollar industry and it benefits them to get more people having pets whatever the cost.
Pet are a responsibility and a luxury not a human right

Was she dropping not so subtle hints that she wanted your staff discount OP?!

YANBU. Before we got our dog we added everything to our financial spreadsheet (insurance, pet health club, neutering etc) to make sure we could afford it. I don’t understand why people don’t think about these things.

It is sad that’s it’s so expensive as dogs are such a joy, but it’s worse that people don’t even consider costs other than buying the puppy.

Labrador:
£45 a month on food.
£28 a month on insurance.
£20 a month on worming.
Too bloody much on toys that he destroys 😆

My rustic rescue pony costs FAR less per year to keep than my 2 cats ( lives out, gets fat on 3 strands of hay, not shod, not ridden) No one believes me... they see horse and think 'rich' but then one person i know has 4 cats all bought from on line ads and not neutered as they 'can't afford it' !!

Some see the cute animal (especially when young/baby) and can't comprehend the level of costs involved.
I've got insurance for my dog/cat but for the 3 Guinea Pigs it's never been worth it (too many exclusions/poor level of cover) so the Guinea Pigs in the last 2yrs have cost us over £4K. I don't think anyone would ever consider vet bills like that. It's a good job they are bloody cute and worth every penny.
My dog has a habit of only ever injuring herself or getting ill on a Sunday evening of a Bank Holiday so everytime we have huge out of hours costs too

I do get very upset when so many people say they'd just not bother treating a small animal or would would drown it/use a hammer/wrong it's neck I've heard them all and more

@XenoBitch what will you do if he needs treatment?

And my last dog cost me 2.5 k in her last weeks and didn't make it.. not the vets fault she was old and ill.

I was informed by a fellow dog walker (works in a vet) that very few vets are independent anymore, most have been bought out. They have little to no control over what they charge.

Ours recently had a lump removal that was close to £1k, this is why we budgeted for lifetime insurance.

WTF is this obsession with French Bulldogs FFS?

Is it just so they can say they spent £2.5K on a fucking DOG? Why not just get a mongrel? Why is it always expensive dogs? And then, (as you say @Poppets14 they moan about the upkeep.)

Vet bills are extortionate, and we have been stung this year with our cats. Put me off having pets for good. Vet fees for dogs are fierce.

[quote MissBattleaxe]@XenoBitch what will you do if he needs treatment?[/quote]
I had to recently, and it cost more than I get paid (I am on UC, so that isn't much anyway!). I accepted it, as vets need paying, and my dog needed treatment.

I do have to say though that people's conception of pets was very different in the past.
People have domesticated dogs and cats for centuries but canned food became a thing in the 20th century. People used to put their pets to sleep when they became too old, expensive cancer treatment etc was not a thing.

My father's family used to have dogs - they were very much loved and a part of the family, treated well but it was accepted that they had a limited lifespan

Also to add this is why I don't have any pets ... DP loves cats and is welcome to one + all bills.

Do you think it might be a little bit of the cost of routine treatments being hard to find out without having to ring or email a specific vet practice and ask? I use one practice for equine and farm and to be honest I had no idea what the callout fee was going to be til I got the bill as it's not freely available. As for the small animals I've no idea what a course of antibiotics is for the dog, I know it will vary but I couldn't even give you a ballpark figure. And believe me both vets practices have had a good wedge from me over the years so it's not a lack of exposure, I genuinely don't know despite owning a variety of animals.

I'm not making excuses for people at all and I totally agree with the OP but if info isn't front and centre and in back and white a lot of people won't even think of it.

That said my farm animals seem to coat a lot less per 'incident' than the pets or the ponies, I suspect there's good reasons for that. And I can have the same vet out to a pig and another day to a pony and have vastly different costs even down to the callout fee...