I personally believe this is something to discuss with your vet. I have to have my one cat go in every year to a specialized dental vet that has a specialized anesthesialogist for dental cleaning because anesthesia makes my cat's blood presssure drop and he dies. It suddenly happened one year and it happened with the regular vet, and it put his whole office into hot rush emergency and they didn't know if my cat would live and be able to breathe on his own. I was out and stopped by just for the heck of it in the midst of the emergency and found out and was in shock. I stayed in the waiting room for 5 hours and my cat recovered and they kept him in an oxygen box for a long time to promote breathing. So my cat has to see a specalized vet with super anesthesiologist every year for teeth cleaning. That special vet and I had to eventually have a talk and he lowered his price way down for me.

So before you go on internet boards with strangers to consider euthenesia, PLEASE, PLEASE discuss this with your actual vet and be truthful about money and don't say you don't have anything, if you can pay perhaps half or 3/4 of the bill.. Sometimes, when they are aware, vets may cut their price, recommend alternate treatments or even recommend local pet places that offer financial assistance to help.

I'm sorry you are facing all this and it is difficult. I have had to help pets pass on in the pass, and I have relied on good vets to help me make those decisions.

Also when the time goes, I would suggest not getting more animals because they are expensive. When my two cats pass on, I will not be getting more animals because I discovered that there are always unexpected expenses and animals deserve to be taken care of. My cats had bad care in the inital years of their lives, so now that I have had them, their teeth have always been bad and they have had to have teeth cleaning every year and even tooth removal at times. Sometimes there have been some ear infections too. The one with the special dental cleaning is on special food because he was vomiting and also has cystitis.

Forgot to mention, I was at the vet in October because the one cat has a lump appear and it had to be aspirated. Very rare lump. Luckily it was not cancerous. another unexpected expense.

Peppe, For me, this is a personal decision that I think you have to make for what's in the best interest of your pet vs. your finances. I can certainly understand wanting an unbiased opinion from others out here that may have had to make this decision in the past.

My DH and I adopted two Lhasa Apso's 14 years ago; male and female. Two of the greatest and most loving little creatures God put on this earth. In Feb. 2012 our male, Chewy was diagnosed with diabetes and since our one of our grandchildren was diagnosed with Diabetes type 1 several years before that we were pretty comfortable with administering insulin and taking blood levels, diet control etc. His first initial visit which was a two day stay cost $1,495 and that was on Feb. 12th. On March 16th he had to go back in for ketoacidosis for a day at the cost of $996. At that same vet stay is was discovered that he had cataracts in both eyes. We followed up with a specialist that was vet recommended; the cost of both eyes came to $2,700.00 which did not include the multiple visits to the specialist for exams and pre-prep and post followup costs which amounted to another $450.00. After the second eye was completed we were told by the specialist that there was a very good chance that the cataracts in either one or both eyes WOULD come back since his deterioration in the eyes came on very quickly and the operations don't always work. THIS was told to us AFTER the surgeries... End of April; cataract came back in one eye and the specialist wanted to operate again on the eye at a cost of $1,300.00. We opted out on that surgery. Shortly after the cataract came back in the second eye. Middle of May, he was brought back in for ketoacidosis again with a one day stay and yup, the cost was another $996. In June he developed a cough in which the vet felt it was kennel cough for multiple stays in either vet hospitals or vet offices so he was treated for that. I think the cost was about $200 for that. When the cough didn't go away within a few weeks; we took him back again to the vet and she now wanted to run another test on his lungs to see if there was cancer involved which she suspected was the cause of the ketoacidosis that we couldn't seem to regulate unless he was in a vets office on fluids etc. That test was $495.00. Yes, he now had cancer that she wanted us to have him treated for which the numbers were in the several thousands all said and done. AT that point my husband and I sat down and had a serious conversation about what was in the best interest of the well being of our dog and what we could actually keep on affording to do. We made the decision to have poor Chewy put to sleep. This was the hardest decision I have ever had to make and when it comes down to really going through the process; I've never felt so useless in my life.

All said and done, we talked many times to his vet about the costs and other alternatives but to no avail. There was no pet insurance that would cover even a decent portion of his treatments vs. the cost of the pet insurance. NO ONE was willing to give us any type of break or lower their costs etc. From his first diagnosis to his last day we spent more than $7,000 on him. I would do it all over again if I had to but we seriously have to think about our finances and what we can personally afford when owning a pet. None of us think about that until such time as our pets become ill.

Last Tuesday we had an emergency visit for our second Lhasa, Meg. Turns out she had a stone in her bladder which required emergency surgery the following day. First visit $352.46. Surgery; $1,138.95. HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll do whatever we have to for her because we love her and want her to be with us for many more years BUT, I will not go through what we went through with Chewy and the amount of money that we had to spend. As much as we love our pets there comes a time when you have to make that financial decision of what's in the best interest long term for your pet and your own financial well being.

I will not own another pet should something happen to Meg; The costs associated with pet ownership is too high for most folks; vet bills, grooming, pet food and whatever else our little loved ones require.

I'm so sorry to hear of your cat's poor health. Hopefully; he/she will mend soon and will not require a vet stay.

All my prayers to you.

PD

I agree that this is a personal decision for you and should be discussed more with your vet. Our cat Jewel had Diabetes. She lived two years after being diagnosed. We couldn't afford the insulin, so my son actually tried giving her a very small peice of sugar cookie whenever she showed signs of weakness. For a whole year this worked. Finally at the age of 16 Jewel had succumed to the diabetes and we had to make the painful decision to have her put down. We gave her lots of love and the peice of sugar cookie worked for a little while. THen three years later our last cat Smokey we had to rush him to the hospital. He was 16 years. I felt so bad I couldn't afford to have him seen or treated so the vet told me about Care Credit. It's a type of credit care just for your pet's vet treatments. I wish I had known about this a few years ago but I think it's farely new. You can get approved for up to 2500 depending on your credit, but it can help pay for the vet bills and you just make a monthly payment to pay it back down. For check ups or emergencies it's good to have.
Sadly the very next day of getting this care credit card SMokey died at home, but now we have this as a way to take care of our two new kitties we adopted last January.
I pray everything works out for you.

CareCredit is an option but I'd be very careful with them since they are owned by GE Capital which is one of the most unethical credit card banking systems out there. They will suck you in on an initial promotional offer of a 0% finance offer but read the fine print because you'll only have 6-8-12 months to pay the entire balance off; OTHERWISE;;; watch the finance charges! Ouch!

This happened to our daughter once in paying for her dogs care; they opened up an account and thought they had 12 months to pay it off; NOPE, was only 6 months; NOT what the representative told her over the phone.

GE Capital will find a way to rob you of every cent you have if they can get their hands on it !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi. PD, I would suggest finding other vets because I don't like how you vets acted. Like you, I would expect full disclosure up front before the cataract surgeries and want vets that are there to help out. There are good vets.

I have used CareCredit at the vet. They don't rob you, but like most other credit cards, their interest rate is WAY UP THERE. And like other credit cards, they do have various promotional plans (6-8-12 months ) to pay off the entire balance before you get hit with back interest and ongoing interest at high rates. No credit card is kind and gentle these days. But be aware of it before going into it.

Astimegoesby, we used care credit for our beagle a few months ago. It costed us almost 1,000 dollars because she was hospitalized for two days and nights and in an oxygen cage. We would have lost her if we hadn't done it. If care credit will accept you, I would recommend them in a heartbeat. They saved our girls life.

You're right ATG, absolutely on the Vet side of this! The Veterinarian's office we worked with for Chewy and Meg was located in a pricey town; we knew fees would be higher but they were highly recommended and we did a lot of research on them. The opthamologist that did Chewy's eye surgery again was located in another pricey town near us and yes, again we knew that his surgery was more expensive than another quote we got but we decided to go with this surgeon as he worked with Angel Medical Center and Boston Animal Hospital in Boston, MA. These are two of the top veterinary hospitals in New England. We thought our dog was in good hands... The surgeon did tell us that there was a very minimal chance that Chewy's cataracts would come back as he was just recently stricken with the illness and they had full confidence that they would not return. WHAT a load of CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were taken over the coals by both offices. We knew for months prior to putting him down that there was something else very, very wrong with him besides diabetes and yet it wasn't till a few weeks before he died that his cancer diagnosis was finally brought to light.. They let us go through all those vet treatments and expenditures for a dog that they already highly suspected had esophageal and lung cancer. They told us this the day we put him down. I was just flabbergasted! I never would have put him through all the treatments and hospital stays if we had known this. Bunch of dirty NO GOODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For CareCredit, people need to understand that it's only for medical expenditures only. While it may help, people absolutely need to read the T&Cs because they offer a 0% promotional rate but that's only good for 6 or whatever months the promotion offers. IF you are late on a payment they WILL retroactively charge you at least a 26.9% from the purchase date. So, finance charges could arise very quickly on someone that's on a 12 month 0% plan that's made a late payment 9 months into the loan. That's what happened to our daughter; she actually made a payment prior to the next billing cycle figuring that she paid it early. When the statement came in a few days later she just marked it as paid; (probably her fault for not using the most recent statement but used a copy of the prior months to send along with the payment). The following month she received a letter along with the statement from GE stating that she had missed a payment and they were retroacting the finance charges from the date of the purchase, 9 months earlier... While she thought she had made a payment early, it turns out that the payment was marked as a second payment the month prior causing her to be in default for the present month. She fought this with the AG's office in the state wherever GE's main office is located. It took her a long time to get that cleared off her credit report.

I'm not saying not to use CareCredit; just be wise if you do. Read the T&Cs carefully.

Yes the interest rates for Care Credit is high, but at the time I was desperately needing to have our cat Smokey helped at the vet. Sadly he died anyway the next morning, but since I have it I can use it for our two new kitties. It's best to get the 12 months promotion but do beware, if you miss a payment the monthly payment goes up. I've paid as little as 24.00 a month up to 60.00 a month

Oh, I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your cat Stlaries. I don't blame you a bit for taking whatever avenues were available to you to have your cat treated. I would have done the same thing! New kittens? Oh Joy! There goes the x-mas lights, tinsel and anything else they can get their little claws into... lol. I love cats, especially when they're babies! So funny to watch!

I accidently dropped a bag of powered sugar on my kitchen floor last weekend. Sure enough my two cats make their presence in the kitchen and JUST HAVE to run through the mess! They were both licking their feet for a 1/2 hour afterwards... Gotta love em!!!!!!!!!!!!

pd2012...yes there goes the Christmas tree especially...but I'd rather have the kitties than a christmas tree anyday. Last Christmas there was no kitties in our home and it was a very empty holiday. Yes gotta love them:)