To feel that soon , dog ownership will just be for the well off? And thats not fair.

[Tunamelt]

We had a family dog and as a child I really benefited from it . As did my own dc when we had our beloved dog.
When the dc had a hard day she cheered them up so much and it was such a good experience for them.
We have just adopted a dog.
She needed the vets in the first week due to upset tummy.
Ist vet appt £75 and then x2 meds.
She now needs a stool sample and a further vet appt to
check her health.
stool sample test alone will be over £100.
We had appt with behaviourist at £90 ph .
Her food is £60 pm.
the vet thinks she may need fluxotine for anxiety and those meds are around £80 pm
So thats come to a good amount and she has only been here a few weeks.
Its made me realise that these sort of costs are just not do able for
many - and a concern to us -and it seems so unfair that the joy of a dog may be beyond reach for many these days .

lots of people that can’t afford dogs will still get them, the dogs just won’t get good care. Sad but true

We need to stop applying human medical ethics and medical care to animals who can't understand it, can't consent to it, don't have the same concept of future that we have, and live in the moment, and take a more pragmatic approach to veterinary care, not the "quantity of life over quality of life" approach of human medicine prevalent in the UK currently (which is not the global norm).

I agree, vet costs are a huge issue.

I wish.

Too many shit owners with out of control untrained dogs. Left to be a pain in the arse.
Sadly cheap dogs exist including rescues.

Though honestly you got a rescue that’s the issue really unknown health history with no insurance clearly.

Why is it not fair? A pet like a dog is a luxury, not a right.

People post rageful comments about children being fed with taxes, disability cars, I can imagine the fury of tax payer subsidised vet care can you?

I agree with you. It's become the norm that dogs have a really high level of veterinary care. It was a lot less when I was a child and we had a family dog. I can't believe it's all necessary to be honest. Dog ownership should not be just for the rich.

Who do you think should pay for the care of dogs when the owner can't afford their vet bills then?

Yabu. Pets are a privilege, not a right. They're also a huge financial commitment. Do you not have pet insurance?

Agreed. I’m sure the dog would have been fine after a few days. Humans don’t go to the doctors just because they have an upset tummy,

I do have insurance - but the access is higher than each individual visit to vet.

Same, but I think one of the differences is that there also weren’t so many dogs that seem to basically have been bred to have health conditions.

Yeah I honestly think that people have got a bit ott with dogs now tbh. I cannot ever imagine my parents taking my childhood dog to the vet for anti depressants 😆

It sounds like you are buying very expensive dog food. I understand you probably wanted to keep her on the same food as her previous home but you can wean her onto something cheaper.

Can I ask why you took her to the vet with an upset tummy? We have a rescue Lab who eats anything she can find and I soon realised that taking her to the vet every time she vomited or got diarrhoea would bankrupt me. She’s always been fine after a few days. Obvs I would take her if she got worse or seemed very unwell.

As a life long pet owner and a current owner of a very scared and reactive rescue dog who is the way he is due to people on very low income purchasing an animal they could not afford to care for and subsequently left his medical needs unattended, I welcome this gladly.

If you can not afford to care for a pet from beginning to end of life and everything in-between then you should not have them.

There are many things in life is love to have but can not afford them and resign myself to knowing I never will. The same should go for people who'd love a pet but can not afford to fully care for them.

I think decades ago, a combination of less advanced vet medicine, lower availability of pet insurance, and many people having a different attitude generally meant that it wasn’t so unaffordable: few people would e.g. put their pet through extensive cancer treatment, or put it on antidepressants for its anxiety. They accepted that their pet was sick and had it PTS if they couldn’t afford treatment. I suppose if you’re a pet owner who feels the same way now, it can be likewise.

Otherwise, yes, it’s unaffordable for many - medical care and specialist food do cost.

When i was a kid and had a dog, the standard practice for a bad belly was boiled rice and plain grilled chicken, and see how it played out.

I agree too. I don't understand why your dog has to have so much medical intervention - ours doesn't. Her food doesn't cost £60 aonth either.

Years ago a lot of dogs were mongrel but now we seem to have all sort of different breeds and some haven’t done well from the limited genes in the breeding. If a dog had some thing wrong with it, quite often it was put down. That might sound hard but maybe it was better for the dog. You can’t explain to a dog that it is going through a lot of pain or distress but if it sticks with the treatment it will be ok.

Same with dc now. Many can’t afford to have them.

I would be interested to hear where you adopted a dog that already had behavioural and dietary problems? Is it possible the root cause of your expense could potentially be where it was adopted from?

Still is among my Friendship group.

Op why does the dog already need a behaviourist.

starpatch
I agree with you - and thats what i mean .
We took her to the vets to
get pro
max - For her upset tummy .. they wd not give it without seeing her . They then wanted stool tests, to feel her tummy again … etc etc

I do
not expect it to be subsided! I was meaning that dogs seem to have become big buisness and more expensive than they used to .

Honestly in the day when “non rich” people had dogs vets were still unaffordable. People didn’t use them. Dogs had much shorter lives and were less medicated. They probably had more miserable lives, but their owners got the satisfaction you’re referring to from having them

If you changed her food expect upset tummy. Change in environment can give a possibly upset tummy.

Plain cooked chicken and boiled rice. No vet unless it doesn’t clear up in a couple of days.