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 .

Goggle your area

If you live near farms there will be one near by.

It sounds like settling in problems to be honest, the blood in poo needs investigating, but as a rule of thumb, upset tummy needs chicken and rice, if they leave the rice just give more chicken or white fish.

The separation anxiety is something that is to be expected with a rehomed dog, it takes time to let that resolve by itself, anxiety meds and behaviourists may be a waste of money at this early stage, you need to just let her settle and leave her as little as you can in the early stages.

We found a dog that had been dumped as a stray, he was left on a country lane and made his way to a cottage we were staying in with our own dogs, lovely dog and after contacting the dog warden who came out, we decided to keep him, but he was terrified of being left, terrified of being put in the front of the car (okay in the back).. it is just the reality of rehoming a dog, it took him a good year for him to stop scratching at the doors when we went out, but after about a year he was perfectly fine, he is such a good dog.

They need time, love and patience, rather than 'fixing' with drugs and behaviourists.

Exactly, you could say the same about anything really such as my family would really benefit from a luxury holiday or a bigger house etc. Pets are lovely to have but like everything else, not everyone can afford everything they want.

I'm from a farming background & have livestock as well as a working dog & horses - am definitely not well off & income topped up with benefits.

We look at animals in a different way & I honestly think it's a better way. They aren't furry humans. They don't have the same wants or needs as children.

You need to meet basic needs - food, water, shelter, exercise, adequate space, companionship etc.

They don't need £90 behaviourists. Fluoxetine is prozac. That really isn't something a dog needs.

They need to be free of pain & suffering.That should be the priority. There is nothing wrong with putting an animal to sleep because it has a long term illness or disability. It is absolutely not the same as for humans.

I do agree that there are issues with the huge profit driven vet corporations though. Thankfully we don't have that to quite the same extent in equine & farm vets & ours are still independent (but it will go in that direction)

I agree, OP, Vet bills, food, insurance all make pet owning a luxury these days. I willingly pay for mine as our Vet is brilliant, and always tries to keep costs down. But it does worry me that many pets are neglected because their owners can't/won't pay the vet bills.

Agree. Some people rush to the vets for every little thing. I have a friend like this and then complains about the cost. My dog had an upset tummy for 24 hours it was a nightmare but I did the obligatory boiled chicken and rice for a few days and it cleared. Easy.
Had it gone on a few more days or got much worse I'd have taken her but not without giving it a few days to settle first.

Where I am human medical is heavily subsidised so when vet bills or even dental bills come people carry on how drs aren't this much. Well actually drs, scans and meds are as expensive as animals but because they're subsidised, we don't see full costs. I have worked in both a vet as a groomed and a dentist as a receptionist and the costs to run are high. We had one product that was $350 for a small vial that could often only be used once because it goes hard and unusable within days of opening and the chance of another patient needing it in that time is slim.
So they have wages, bills, products etc to pay for before they even get paid for their time and no subsidy from the government. So I can easily see why they charge what they do and it can be impossible for some to manage but as mentioned people will still own them and just not provide adequate care or people will take them for every little twitch and complain about the cost. If they remove govt subsidies for humans people would see those costs are on par pretty much.

I hope dog ownership does decline. While the dogs themselves are sweet and funny, they destroy beaches, pavements and country walks with their endless shitting.

And no, I don’t want to hear about how it’s the owners’ faults, even for those who do pick up (and don’t dump the plastic wrapped turds in bushes) it still leaves unhygienic shit smears.

Dogs are just incompatible with hygiene. Let only rich people who have land own them so the rest of us don’t have to walk on fecal matter.

@Sunshineandoranges
Slightly off topic but how do pet owners of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters manage the huge vet bills that seem to be the norm now?

They don't, and the animals suffer and die in pain (because people won't even pay to have them PTS).

I volunteer in small animal rescue and it's horrifically shocking and heartbreaking what happens. With rabbits especially, people just do not bother to think about what they need or how to take care of them. The neglect is off the charts. So many are dumped, or found abandoned in empty houses, people haven't even bothered to cut their nails or leave them on the doorstep of a rescue or something.

The situation is getting worse and worse, noticeably so over the past few years. People becoming homeless and/or landlords banning pets is a big reason even loved pets get handed in. Unfortunately stupid ignorant people who lack basic thought and empathy towards other beings but still selfishly want a pet are the cause of most of the suffering. (That sounds harsh but if you could see these animals you'd understand.)

There is an issue of money/vets costs but also people just not caring or prioritising spending. Same as with children, but no animal social services to take them away!

Drug mark ups at vets are obscene. SIL is a veterinary nurse.

Sorry but dogs are living things. Not someones right to keep. So, no i don't think its unfair. If you can't afford every aspect of animal care its not for you.

Could do what we do and foster, helping dogs in need and the most expensive part (vet treatment) is covered by the rescue the dog is under

Yep, NOT spending £10K to £20K on vet treatment for a dog (or cat) does not make anyone a bad person. (Especially if said pet is most of the way through their natural life....) Dragging a dog or cat through months of stressful and potentially painful treatment - whilst in a strange room/lab with people they don't know, now THAT I question. Seriously, why put a dog - or any pet through that? Just to have a £20K debt at the end of it, the conglomerate who owns the vet £20K richer, and a distressed pet who will very likely die before you even start paying off the £20K.

Seriously, people need to start REFUSING to pay these huge, colossal vet bills. As I said before, putting to sleep is normally the best thing to do if a pet's health is in such a state that it needs £20K of treatment.

I think it's disgusting what they do. My cousin had a 17 year old cat who was 50% blind, 90% deaf, had arthritis, a heart murmur, malfunctioning kidneys and liver, and was not moving out of the house. (Hadn't done for about 6 weeks.) She took her to the vet, (she obviously need to be PTS,) and yet the vet churned out a list of things they could 'try' to make her better. She was looking at £6K to £7K for the treatment, just to try to 'make her cat better' then there would be ongoing treatment/monthly scans/blood tests/various meds etc etc etc. Costing several 1000 pounds every 4-5 months.

My cousin (and her husband) were like... Please. Just euthanise her. She is 17, and she is completely done. She had checked out of life about a week earlier and wasn't even engaging with them, and was barely eating. To have dragged this poor baby through ridiculous 'sophisticated' vet care, milking multiple 1000s of pounds out of my cousin - just for kitty to have died anyway a few months later - would have been disgusting.

I question ANY company/vet surgery that does this, and I actually question the owners of the pets who agree to it. Just WHY?!

You're right that dog ownership is great for kids-it develops their responsibility (caring for it) emotional and social skills and their physical health (growing up with a dog lowers your chance of asthma and means you're likely to be healthier in general, but that only works if the adults do their bit (training/walking the dog, buying the few things it needs, and making sure that the children are supervised with the dog until they're old enough to be sensible.
This isn't just about money (though if one parent doesn't have to work FT, it obviously makes it easier). But I at one point, I lived on an estate where many people were very hard up, but had dogs that they didn't train or look after, which is a problem. I am not blaming the dogs, obviously, and I don't know what teh answer is, because when the NHS can't treat people quickly, we can't have a free service for dog bills.
But it would be a really bad thing if dog numbers go down, because as well as the reasons you mention for why they are so important (sadly we didn't have one when my kids were born due to money mainly), for people with disabilities, it can be very difficult to places without a dog. As getting an "official" service animal is so hard, many rely on pets.

It’s bonkers it really is. Putting these animals
though treatments to make a company rich and preying on people love.

It’s the same how we force the elderly / very sick to keep on living when their quality of life is near zero. Inhumane but people will push to save through a sense of love and fear and guilt.

And in paying places vultures will play on that to make money.

I am qualified to say all of what I'm about to btw before anyone tells me that I'm wrong or don't know what I'm talking about....
Veterinary care is a business. Like all businesses they need to make money. About 90% of Veterinary Surgeries are now corporate owned and set sales targets for all medical staff to achieve, often in order to retain their employment.
A large percentage of the investigations/treatments offered are not necessary or in the animals best interest. Obviously, to anyone who is not medically trained, it would be very difficult to decipher what treatment would be the best course of action and what additional investigations etc are completely unnecessary and do not alter the outcome of the treatment plan anyway.
Its a terrible shame that the industry has become this way and most private practices are selling up and handing over to the big corporations.....

So are the procedures/scans/x rays etc etc... Many things at the vets (for cats and dogs) cost double what they would cost PRIVATELY for a human!

A neighbour of mine has a cat who just had 3 teeth out. It took an hour. And she also had a 'scan' of her heart to make sure her heart could take the treatment/the anaesthetic. Then 3-4 hours in 'recovery' and a week's supply of meds. Cost = £3500.

No way would that have cost that much for a human being (who had it though private care.) Not in the UK!

Vet bills (many of them) are a joke now. And not a funny one!

And don't anyone start boring me with all this guff about how much more 'sophisticated' and 'futuristic' all the equipment is now, and the special sets of skills vets have these days, because frankly, I'm sick of hearing it.

It doesn't wash anymore I'm afraid.

.

With respect, you can speak for yourselves and your partners but the same cannot be said for all vets, I'm mid forties, had dogs all my life and the amount of upselling that happens now, or jumping to expensive tests and treatment, is quite shocking.

I took my cavalier in for pain medication for what seemed to be an injury around 18 months ago, sudden lethargy, unable to jump etc, he examined her and said her arthritis was what was the problem and she would benefit massively from monthly Librela Injections, when asked he said there were no side effects as it is a nerve blocker to stop pain, sounded great, so I let her have a first dose, I had to ask him for pain meds too as he had no intention of prescribing them and said the injection would be effective after a month or after her second dose so I insisted on the meds too as she was quite obviously in some discomfort.

Upon researching Librela it DOES produce side effects and is actually known to kill dogs after as little as one dose, seemingly healthy dogs are suddenly dying after being given this drug. There is a lot of official information about it online and it is not recommended for dogs with heart murmur which she has, I never took her for another and her pain cleared up after a few days and back to her usual self, as I predicted.

But he did give me the hard sell on it, they are £90 a month, every month, for the rest of their lives, I was disgusted at his complete miss-selling and it's not the first time they have encouraged spending money when it turned out to not be necessary.

It does happen.

Best vet I ever had was an ex army vet. He did it for the love of animals. He would stay open late no extra charge to see you. Bring out books and all the X-rays and scans to show you what he was diagnosing with the proof. He would even tell you to buy the meds or food elsewhere if it would be cheaper for you.

Amazing. Sadly left. You could just pop in and he would come out and basically give a free eye over health check with weight and a treat and fuss.

There’s no ‘hard sell’ - people have different attitudes about their pets, different cultural expectations of what being a pet owner means. Vets can do more stuff but they’re also significantly more expensive - vet prices have risen by about 60% even in the last five years.

There are many things some people can't afford. Yes, it's not fair but that's life.

I know a Vet. This article also reflects his experience:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j3020kl04o.amp

@sandyhappypeople

With respect, you can speak for yourselves and your partners but the same cannot be said for all vets, I'm mid forties, had dogs all my life and the amount of upselling that happens now, or jumping to expensive tests and treatment, is quite shocking.

100% this. People can come and defend themselves (and others) til they're blue in the face, but facts is facts. Vets upselling, and jumping to expensive tests and treatment, and uneccessary and unsuitable treatment for pets, has gone wild now. It's happening everywhere..

And frankly I am disgusted by it, and disgusted that anyone is trying to excuse it. I did say I didn't blame the individual vets as it's the big companies who have taken over who are pushing them to do it. But I'm beginning to wonder now, after what I've been reading on here this past half an hour. (Vets who work for a big comglomorate, defending their practices!)

edited to say, I know not ALL vets are happy with what's happening. Some seem to be though!

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We have guinea pigs and are fortunate that we can afford vet bills. A bit of a sniffle can easily cost £150 with multiple vet trips, one of ours had a tendency towards URIs, so we had that about 3 times in her life.

Most vets acknowledge that they don't seem many guinea pigs, but plenty of people have them, so I suspect they don't take them to the vets much. Guinea pigs hide their illnesses and many live outside, so aren't observed as much as indoor ones. They probably just die of the things we get treated.

For small pets, but maybe all pets, it seems to me that you need to take a balanced approach. Sometimes vets offer lots of invasive investigations and treatments for elderly guinea pigs, but then seem relieved when you bring up euthanasia. I wonder if lots of owners react badly to the suggestion, even when it is the kindest course of action.

The other issue that might be causing high vet bills and over treatment is unrealistic expectations of animal life expectancy. The RVC did a study recently that included the average age at death of guinea pigs. It was just over 4 years old. But most guinea pig advice pages say 5-7 years and there's a bias in social media posts with people talking about their 8 year old guinea pigs. I think that encourages people to aggressively treat older guinea pigs. If that's happening with guinea pigs, then it's probably happening with dogs too.

But since they are, their welfare must be taken seriously.