Comments: How Much Would You be Willing to Spend to Save Your Pet's Life?; A Lot

Contrary to what may be popular opinion, I am not a pet hater. In fact, I love animals. However, I do point out that there is a pretty big cost of pet ownership and people need to take this into consideration before they decide to get a pet. I think most people give the issue very little (if any) thought.

Here's a comment to my post on How Much Would You be Willing to Spend to Save Your Pet's Life? that tries to address the question I put forward:

I don't have a pet yet but will be bringing home my puppy in a couple months. I am already planning to spend $1500 just to bring him home and that is just the cost to the breeder. Then there is at least another $500-$1000 in initial vet shots and all the items he will need to make my home his as well. It is hard to say how much I would be willing to spend if heaven forbid something happen to him but I know I wouldn't just turn my back on him.

A few thoughts:

1. This person is spending $2,000 plus just to get a dog and set him up. I know there are much cheaper ways of doing this (a dog at the pound, some shots, and a bag of food), but there are more expensive ways as well. All I'm saying is "consider the cost." This is what some people spend on a car.

2. I never said you should turn your back on a sick pet (if that's what the commenter was implying). I said that I wouldn't spend anywhere near the amount to save a pet that I would to save a human (like one of my children). This was in response to a commenter who said she would spend whatever it would take to save her pet and that a pet's life was worth the same as a human life. I disagree.

3. Whatever you'd spend to save your pet, it's likely that it will be an expensive choice. If you are willing (like many people are) to spend $2,000 or more to save your pet, you better be saving up for it now. It's a future expense that's highly likely for many pet owners.

Free Money Finance recommends Emigrant Direct. It's a great place to save for that $3,000 facelift your dog will eventually need. ;-)

Comments

[Richard]

Don't forget about emergency pet visits.

One of our cats was attacked by a dog and within 48 hours had over a thousand dollars in vet bills for emergency treatment and surgery.

We recently had to put another cat down. This was after another thousand dollars in diagnostic tests to find out what was wrong with her.

[Kevin]

About 2 years ago, I decided to drop nearly $2000 on a stray cat I found with a broken leg, and since the couple of surgeries, she's really been a great companion to have around. $2000 is a ton of money, and I didn't really think of the cost at the time (I was still in college on scholarships so I wasn't really worried about it) but it's been worth it in the long run. What blows my mind the most, though, are the people that spend thousands getting purebred pets and then neglect them...