Pet ownership should be for the wealthy

[spottybaghottyhag]

Pre emptying this by saying we are low income, get topped up by UC and my pet is eligible for PDSA treatment

My ddog 13 has been eating less than usual and not keen to go out as much, but otherwise bright and seemingly well. Made an appointment with the above vet. Due to his age they wanted to do x-ray/scan under sedation. Was very shocked to discover he has a tumour in his stomach. Vet basically said (over the phone) that as they are a charity hospital they cannot do anything further, the options are either a referral to a specialist vet to ascertain if it's cancer, or PTS. She said the referral + tests would be circa £1k, which wouldn't obviously include any actual treatment or surgical options.
Personally I don't want to explore other options regardless, he's 13, had a great life and I don't think major surgery or chemo on any elderly animal is fair. We are making sure he's still comfortable and will PTS when we feel he's not.

Onto the AIBU: it really made me feel that you should only get a pet if you can afford expensive vet bills. The PDSA are very limited in what they do (very understandably) and you cannot rely on them as a complete veterinary service. Insurance doesn't always pay out. Someone asked me will I get another dog when ddog goes and my answer was we cannot afford it. She felt I was being very unreasonable. Am I?

And the cover runs out! Too many people think having insurance means never paying more than their access. A friend of mine had a dog who developed a serious long term illness. She was desperate to save him and he practically lived at her local veterinary hospital for nearly a year. When he passed from the illness and all the bills were in, she had exceeded her cover by £15,000! Yes, she should have been more careful, but I am amazed that there were no steps in place at the insurance company to flag she was about to exceed her limit. She is going to be paying that bill for a long time.

To be fair I get a fixed amount and I'm very good at budgeting. I would not be able to produce several thousand pounds though in an emergency.

I have had savings in the past that I have used for my dog. But she is at an age now where I would not put her through anything expensive anyway. It would not be fair on her.
It is the smaller things that add up though.

When I was younger my cat got ran over and needed surgery. The PDSA did surgery and ended up fitting a titanium hip as he had his rib broken. They should be able to do surgery to remove the tumour. I'm low income with a toddler, a baby on the way and a kitten and haven't had to take my kitten to a vet. I had a petplan in place for her which was £17 a month. There are petplans in place that help low income families and they can offer discounts for low income families or payment options where you can pay over different months .

Yes pets are a luxury but circumstances can change

Well no. If someone is prepared to sacrifice things for themselves to make sure their pet is fed and looked after correctly then anyone can be a good pet owner.

They provide a great deal of companionship, unconditional love, joy, hope, amusement, warmth, comfort, protection.

Lots of people would rather die than be without their beloved animals.

Pets don't judge you on the size of your wallet or bank account. Unlike humans.

My dog clocked up over £25k in vets bills, all covered by insurance thankfully, and the lovely vets waived the final bill, we did take them flowers and biscuits to say thank you. If you can’t afford the bills or the premiums (£180 a month by the end) a pet isn’t for you. I no longer have a dog because my finances have changed

Not necessarily wealthy, but you need to be in a reasonable income to afford pet insurance, vet bills, food etc. Pet ownership is a luxury, but unfortunately, you a lot of thick people get animals they can’t afford to look after properly. Makes me so angry when I see people asking for pet food on freecycle. I feel like telling them to take the animal to a shelter where is can be looked after properly. Also the single parent moaning about being in poverty, yet they have a dog 🙄.

Often people do not think through the costs of having pets. We have two cats. They are three so the insurance is still "cheap".

They are well cared for and have a good high meatfish protein diet.

Monthly
Food £100
Insurance £35
Vet plan £35 (covers, vaccs, worm/flea drops and a six monthly check up if necessary

Incidental
Dentals (both rescues and had calici virus as kittens and have had to have teeth extracted (a lot) £1000
Pet sitter £25 per day x 15
Cleaning stuff/occasional litter £60

I reckon it works out at £200pcm, pergaps a shade more. I appreciate they could have whiskas, no insurance and no vaccs, reg vet visits, etc., but if they were children they'd be deemed to be deprived or neglected.

Totally understand that. When I was in the vet I made a note that in the waiting room there was 2 frenchies and 3 chihuahuas. Buying these types of dogs when you know you are using a charity vet is wrong in my opinion. I saw 3 leaving, not one of them made a contribution.

I would rather someone ask if anyone had spare food than dump their pet in a shelter. Rescues are already overflowing with animals.
If someone is going through a rough patch then I don't think they is anything wrong with using something like a pet food bank (they do exist), or asking for a bit of help. Usually it is only temporary.
Obviously if they can't afford a pet in the long term then they might have to make difficult decisions.
I would go without things for myself to keep my dog. She is family and not something I can just give away.

There's a racket going on in the pet industry.
Breeders profit from selling expensive inbred dogs that develop serious health issues at an early age.
Vets then profit by providing expensive treatments to the expensive, inbred & ailing dogs.

I have used a PDSA vet in the past as my dog had hurt herself when we were away from home and that was the vet the helpline told me to go to. I had to pay the full cost for her treatment (£160 for a staple).

Firstly I am very sorry to hear about your dog.

Vets bills are atrocious because of the greedy hedge fund managers that own them. Independent vets are cheaper but the cost of drugs is controlled I believe. Vets don’t get paid much at all, not unless specialising and the hours aren’t great either.
I sometimes wonder if we do too much for our pets, they don’t know they have cancer or understand when they are receiving treatment, sometimes ongoing treatment and often have limited quality of life as a result. I’m not sure if ever treat cancer in a pet unless the pet was young, with a guaranteed good outcome.

Perhaps you could volunteer to foster instead, it would be a shame not to have a pet ever again, but I can understand why you feel that way.

I also wonder if the government don’t really want us to have pets, they need meat to survive and I can see this becoming a problem in a few decades.

If you have a 'lot of spare money' then you shouldn't be getting it in the first place imo...I think your benefits are too high.

I'm not 'hoping to achieve' anything. This is a discussion forum and that's my opinion.

How d'you know what someone's benefits are? Because you believe all the sensationalism in the press? Maybe you should stop reading the Daily Mail.

I have two pedigree show cats, both very beautiful and cost a fair bit, plus a moggy from the rescue.
My oldest pedigree cats had a episode of dermatitis , never had it before, the blood tests for allergies was £950! She now needs immune therapy that's another £1000. All of the cats are insured with good companies, it just shows how things get very expensive quickly, on top of that, they cost me approximately £40-50 per week to look after, i see i too many times how people want a fluffy kitten, but 6 months later cannot afford them.

@spottybaghottyhag I’m not sure it’s just for the wealthy, you should only have a pet or a child if you can afford or meet their needs.

"Buying those types of dogs", but how do you know those dogs weren't rescues on their umpteenth home? Unless you know someone else's circumstances you should not be so quick to judge.

It's cute that that's your response. Express any disagreement at all about benefit levels and 'you must be thick and read the mail innit'.

Boring and unoriginal.

No, I have spare money because I live like a pauper and am good at budgeting.
I get less than a pensioner does.

Yes, they probably think I am on £70k or something. I am actually on less than the state pension. But that is "too much".
I looked on my UC journal as there is no way to pay back money I have spare after my bills are paid and I have bought loads of porridge to eat.

That's how it sounds to me as a Guardian reader, I'm afraid.

Good lord. Well, there's proof that choice of newspaper is no real indicator of intelligence. What a thing to say...i'm cringing for you 🙈

I don’t think pet ownership is only for the wealthy at all - what an elitist attitude. As long as you have GOOD pet insurance cover, it’s okay. And if you are prepared to pay out when needed.

That’s like saying children are only for the wealthy too. What exactly constitutes wealthy anyway?

How much do you spend on average on pets vs children?