For the love of pets, Part 1
Pam Frampton: It was comforting, in the week after the local news reported three stories of animal cruelty, to hear from scores of readers who love their pets fiercely and are willing to do whatever they can to give them healthy, happy lives.
It was comforting, in the week after the local news reported three stories of animal cruelty, to hear from scores of readers who love their pets fiercely and are willing to do whatever they can to give them healthy, happy lives.
I had asked for reader feedback after writing a May 20th column (“Putting a price on your pet”) about the cost of caring for our dog, Lucci, and the horrible dilemmas some people face when they simply can’t afford to continue with expensive treatments and medications.
The stories I got back are laced with love and loyalty, joy and sorrow — testaments to the strong bonds we forge with those sentient creatures we choose to share our lives with.
As a parent, and an animal lover, it gets my back up when someone says, “They care more about the stupid cat than their kids,” or “They treat the dog like it’s a baby.”
My response to that is, what makes you think there isn’t enough love to go around?
My dog is not my child, but that doesn’t mean for one moment that he isn’t a well-loved member of our family. And we are obligated to take care of him as we would a child too helpless to care for themselves. That’s part of the responsibility of taking a pet into your life.
But it can carry a high financial cost, which is a serious factor to be considered before making the decision to adopt or purchase a pet.
And while you can get pet insurance — and a veterinarian can probably recommend some options — for many pet owners like me, insurance is not something you think about until the bills start to pile up. Once you do, chances are the condition your pet has that requires medical attention will now be viewed a pre-existing condition and won’t be covered.
Few of the people I heard from had pet insurance, though many wished they had thought about it from the start.
Here are two of their stories. (I’m using first names only, since many people who contacted me spoke candidly about their personal financial situations.)
Peter wrote from Cincinatti, Ohio about his family’s beloved cat, Fuzz, adopted — rescued, quite frankly — from a local veterinary school.
“She had had innumerable surgeries and fractures, she was undernourished, and was certainly lacking for any humane treatment,” Peter said. “We took her in, and between our daughters and us, we nursed her back to health.”
But during a family vacation in Nova Scotia a few years ago, they got a call from their daughter saying that something wasn’t right with Fuzz. They authorized her to charge the cost of whatever medical care the cat needed, and returned home to a US$6,000 bill.
“While this was much more than we anticipated, we didn’t feel cheated,” Peter writes.
“Fuzz was considered to be as much of a family member as any of us. Further, she had spent the early part of her life being cut, broken, burned and experimented on by students who thought of her only as a lab cat rather than as a living, sentient being who was deserving of a modicum of compassion. She had as much right to as much health care as owed any other member of the family, and she received it for the next year until she died.
“For my money, anyone who isn’t willing to take on that responsibility shouldn’t be allowed to own (pets). I have no idea how anyone … could think of providing that being less love and loyalty than they would provide to their family.”
Rick wrote from St. John’s to say that grappling with the high cost of medical care was far less painful than having to come to the decision to have his dog, Belle, euthanized.
“After Belle started limping on Boxing Day (in 2014), the vet bills started to add up, from $1,200 for X-rays on to a total of over $7,000 to $8,000 in care. I went out and bought a dog wheelchair. After two years we were told Belle had degenerative myelopathy (a progressive spinal cord disease) and should have only lived three months.
“Was it worth it to spend the money? Yes. No treatment could have cured her, but I spent what I could in hopes the vet would find out what was wrong. Belle started to get sick on Dec. 25, 2014 and passed away on Jan. 24, 2017.”
Rick also has a little terrier mix named Maggie, who will be 18 years old in November.
“Hope yours can live as long without any discomfort,” he writes.
Thanks, Rick. Me too.
I’ll have more pet stories on Wednesday.
“Few of the people I heard from had pet insurance, though many wished they had thought about it from the start.”