Stugein Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Ok, so here's the skinny..my two dogs got in a fight this past weekend. I use the word "fight" in the loosest possible sense of the word (one of the two combatants is a rottweiler, the other a beagle..you can guess it was a fairly one sided affair). In the 2 years I've owned both dogs (I've had the rott for 5 or 6, the beagle is the more recent addition) they've only tussled once before. Both times it has been while a family member has her dogs over at my house visiting. So something about other dogs being involved in the play instigates these two. I don't know what. In any case I broke up the fight quickly, but not before the beagle got a little chunk taken out of the meat behind his left front leg. It didn't look too bad at first so I cleaned it, put some antibiotic ointment on it and bandaged it up nicely. That was 4 days ago. Since then he's been licking the area and not leaving it alone. Today when I let him out in the morning I saw the wound in the sunlight and it looked a lot worse than it did originally. Not infected, but it looked deeper and I could see muscle. I decided that it was time to take him to see the vet. The vet looks at it and decided that between the dog running around since and the licking that he had worsened the original damage. He said that I didn't do anything wrong, but that because the injury progressed the way it did it would now require surgery to repair. He said that he'd need to debride the whole area and repair the tissue if we wanted the dog to be 100%. We could just clean it, bandage it and put one of those stupid cones over his head to keep him from screwing with it until it healed, but he'd likely have a limp for the rest of his life because of the existing damage. I asked the vet for a quote. The bill would come to between $430 and $475 to do the repair. Now, I like the dog just fine, but that's more than the dog cost me in the first place, ya know? My initial reaction is to say, "F it..the dog can limp a bit". Does that make me a bad person? What would you do? On one hand I want to make sure the dog isn't in any real pain or that not doing the repair won't cause some serious quality of life issue for it. On the other hand I'm not exactly tripping over stacks of cash laying around my house. Almost $500 is a not-insignificant chunk of change for me to be scraping together..especially for a dog. What say you, Tailgate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enter Apotheosis Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 The cost isn't exorbitant and you'd be nothing short of a negligent pet owner not to get it fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 paging Huly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 What say you, Tailgate? I say I'm glad I'm not in your position. That's tough. (Oh, and no charge for my advice.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0ublestr0ker0ll Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Gotta factor in how old the Beagle is. If it's young, yeah, I'd have it get surgery. See how lenient the vet will be with payments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Seeing as the dog is young, you need to pay to get it fixed. Of course, people think I'm crazy for the amount I'll spend on a pet. About 5 years ago, I spent almost $8k to have my dogs hind knees replaced. She was only 3 and didn't want her limping the rest of her life. Without going into all the details, it wasn't 8k all at once. at was around 3500 for the first surgery. then she broke her leg a few months later and another 3500. and around another grand in incidentials between the two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unforgiven Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Yeah, if the dog is somewhat young still and you expect it to have years and years yet to live, I'd try and swing it if possible. Obviously you need priorities on how you spend your cash but if it's something like "ahh damn, I'd have to buy 8-9 less xbox 360 games this year to be able to do it!" you may be a bad person. On the other hand if it's like "hmmm....my kid's health insurance premium or the dog's surgery..." that's a different situation. It all depends on what the money would be going to if you didn't have to pay for the surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingwolf Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 when you said "especially for a dog" that tone sounded so poor and nasty that it kinda made me mad. Better ways to say that. You can come up with the bread, it will be some sacrifices but you can do it. Fix your dog, cure your concious, and love your family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 A reason I won't have pets anymore. I hope things work out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enter Apotheosis Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Yeah, if the dog is somewhat young still and you expect it to have years and years yet to live, I'd try and swing it if possible. Obviously you need priorities on how you spend your cash but if it's something like "ahh damn, I'd have to buy 8-9 less xbox 360 games this year to be able to do it!" you may be a bad person. On the other hand if it's like "hmmm....my kid's health insurance premium or the dog's surgery..." that's a different situation. It all depends on what the money would be going to if you didn't have to pay for the surgery. This is definitely hitting on a good point... If the OP has had a series of financial disasters that makes swinging $500 extremely difficult (dog's health vs. kid's insurance) or downright impossible, the debate would certainly be understandable. However, it's quite different if the OP can't afford to swing the occasional $500 in case of mishap under his normal budget or is so tight with his money that he can convince himself that his pet isn't worth the expense. If that happens to be the case then he probably shouldn't have pets to begin with. About 5 years ago, I spent almost $8k to have my dogs hind knees replaced. She was only 3 and didn't want her limping the rest of her life. $8k is definitely out in the territory of "expenses you really can't be prepared for", though. :pfft: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 $8k is definitely out in the territory of "expenses you really can't be prepared for", though. :pfft: Yea, I wasn't saying I would expect everyone to fork out 8k for their pet. I had to take out a loan but I could afford it. $500 is a different story though. If you can't afford that much, either up front, on a credit card, or a loan, you probably shouldn't have a pet. And for a young dog, $500 to me is an investment you HAVE to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 It's young, correct? Get it fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 It's young, correct? Get it fixed. yeah, but what should he do about the leg? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0ublestr0ker0ll Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 I know one thing, if my pup needed surgery I would work overtime for it. Definitely my best bud. But I understand that some pets are more of a simple fixture rather than a big-time friend to some folks. You have to balance what would be better for you, as selfish as that sounds. Would your livelihood take a big hit from the money you would spend? Would you anticipate feeling guilty throughout the next decade wondering if you should have helped your dog when you had the chance? What's more meaningful in the long run? $450 in 2010? Or 11 more years of your pup being 100% healthy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 yeah, but what should he do about the leg? Fix it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 yeah, but what should he do about the leg? HaHa....that took me a minute....but it is 3 am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stugein Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 Gotta factor in how old the Beagle is. If it's young, yeah, I'd have it get surgery. See how lenient the vet will be with payments. Yeah, he's just closing in on 3, or thereabouts. Seeing as the dog is young, you need to pay to get it fixed. Of course, people think I'm crazy for the amount I'll spend on a pet. About 5 years ago, I spent almost $8k to have my dogs hind knees replaced. She was only 3 and didn't want her limping the rest of her life.Without going into all the details, it wasn't 8k all at once. at was around 3500 for the first surgery. then she broke her leg a few months later and another 3500. and around another grand in incidentials between the two WOW. Yeah, $8k is a bit extreme. Yeah, if the dog is somewhat young still and you expect it to have years and years yet to live, I'd try and swing it if possible. Obviously you need priorities on how you spend your cash but if it's something like "ahh damn, I'd have to buy 8-9 less xbox 360 games this year to be able to do it!" you may be a bad person. On the other hand if it's like "hmmm....my kid's health insurance premium or the dog's surgery..." that's a different situation. It all depends on what the money would be going to if you didn't have to pay for the surgery. It wouldn't be anything so drastic as that. We've just had some high-dollar expenses lately (paid my season ticket account, decided to remodel bathroom for wife as a mother's day present) that the bank accounts haven't recovered from so, as seems to be customary with things like this, the timing is just really bad. I'll have to borrow money for this. Sacrifice-wise, it probably means that my kids won't be able to register to play football this season..they'll have to sit and take a year off and just not play a fall sport this go-around... when you said "especially for a dog" that tone sounded so poor and nasty that it kinda made me mad. Better ways to say that. I don't mean to sound callous, but really..it is a dog. I mean, you love them and take care of them and make sure they have a good life. You do what you can for them but you don't make the same level of sacrifices as you would for say a child or a spouse. I mean, it it were a kid I'd be taking out second mortgages, selling body parts, begging, borrowing and stealing, ya know? Heh, now I know THIS sounds awful, but the first thing that popped into my head when the doc told me how much the bill would be was, "Seriously?? I could get two new dogs for that!" If the OP has had a series of financial disasters that makes swinging $500 extremely difficult (dog's health vs. kid's insurance) or downright impossible, the debate would certainly be understandable. However, it's quite different if the OP can't afford to swing the occasional $500 in case of mishap under his normal budget or is so tight with his money that he can convince himself that his pet isn't worth the expense. If that happens to be the case then he probably shouldn't have pets to begin with. I wouldn't call them financial disasters, but like I said above there have been some high-dollar expenses recently that the bank accounts haven't quite recovered from yet. Under normal circumstances I don't think I'd be having as much of a struggle with trying to decide if its worth borrowing and scraping the cash together to do this. But $8k on tickets and almost another grand to Home Depot on the bathroom in the last month doesn't leave a ton of wiggle room on the credit cards right now, ya know. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
757SeanTaylor21 Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 way i look at it bro, if you really love the animal you shuold do it, just as you wuold do it for ya child. if your mentality is that its just a animal then maybe you can just give it up for adoption while it walks witha limp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 I wouldn't call them financial disasters, but like I said above there have been some high-dollar expenses recently that the bank accounts haven't quite recovered from yet. Under normal circumstances I don't think I'd be having as much of a struggle with trying to decide if its worth borrowing and scraping the cash together to do this. But $8k on tickets and almost another grand to Home Depot on the bathroom in the last month doesn't leave a ton of wiggle room on the credit cards right now, ya know. :/ I know your not going to like this option but it is what a good pet should do, IMO.... Sell your Dallas-Skins tickets (or another game, depending on value). If you spent $8k on the package, you should have no trouble getting AT LEAST $500 for them. To me, your pet has to take priority over a game. Unless it was the Super Bowl. That would be a hard call to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vilandil Tasardur Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 I wouldn't do it. 500$ doesn't seem like much, but sometimes money is tight. Is it not possible to wrap the dog up and let him be that way for a while, and have the surgery in 6 months or a year? There's no way I'd let the dog prevent my kids from playing a sport of my kids wanted to play. The family comes first, always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelarkascend1ng Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 I know your not going to like this option but it is what a good pet should do, IMO....Sell your Dallas-Skins tickets (or another game, depending on value). If you spent $8k on the package, you should have no trouble getting AT LEAST $500 for them. To me, your pet has to take priority over a game. Unless it was the Super Bowl. That would be a hard call to make. a damn practical solution. +1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ax Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Whatever you decide to do, getting rid of one of the dogs might be necessary. It WILL happen again. How much will the next one cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Whatever you decide to do, getting rid of one of the dogs might be necessary.It WILL happen again. How much will the next one cost? This I walk with a limp so I'm biased,but if ya can't care for them don't get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stugein Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 Whatever you decide to do, getting rid of one of the dogs might be necessary. It WILL happen again. How much will the next one cost? This I walk with a limp so I'm biased,but if ya can't care for them don't get them. This I walk with a limp so I'm biased,but if ya can't care for them don't get them. Ok, I've had these dogs for years and many dogs over my life. It's not a "if ya can't care for them don't get them" kind of situation. I know what it takes to give a dog a good home and I do it. This one just decided to get injured at a bad time. Aside from that though, you really think that this is going to turn into a reoccurring issue? The dogs have gotten along swimmingly for as long as we've had them with the exception of when these other dogs are brought over to our house. Do you really think I need to get rid of one of mine to avoid future tangles, or would it also suffice to just not allow those outside dogs to be brought to my house again as they seem to be the instigating influence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 If you can't afford $500 for things like this, then you really shouldn't have pets. Because stuff like this happens. My dog cost me $1400 within 3 months of adopting him, now i have doggy health insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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