my dog needs an operation, talking a thousand pounds, help?????

floydy

Hi all

sorry ive not posted an update till now, have made so many phonecalls and spoken to so many peole about what to do !

Floydy is booked for his op next thurs, managed to get the vet to do a breakdown of the costs and have been told it should cost around 500 pounds(gulp),better than the thousand i was quoted before!

However, the vet says it could reoccur even if he gets over the op ok ( after another strict 6 weeks of house arrest), and so i have wondered whether to put him thro the op at all.

Anyway, he's booked in now and will have to play vetinary nurse for a good few weeks, not looking fwd to it!

Thanx for everyones advice and support!!

*zippy*

Hi Floydy

Was thinking about you yesterday, thanks for the update.

There was a thread on DFW this week similar problem lady had a £800+ excess to pay for her dogs operation, she managed to get a small contribution from

Tailwaggers trust

she was put in touch with them from the RSPCA

It may be common knowledge, but I only found out recently, that you can pay a little extra it goes by the dogs weight, to have what is considered a safer anaesthetic, vetinary nurse knew what I meant as soon as I mentioned it.

floydy

*zippy* wrote:

Hi Floydy

Was thinking about you yesterday, thanks for the update.

There was a thread on DFW this week similar problem lady had a £800+ excess to pay for her dogs operation, she managed to get a small contribution from

Tailwaggers trust

she was put in touch with them from the RSPCA

It may be common knowledge, but I only found out recently, that you can pay a little extra it goes by the dogs weight, to have what is considered a safer anaesthetic, vetinary nurse knew what I meant as soon as I mentioned it.

Hi, will def ask about that, thanx. Tried unsuccessfully to get help from the rspca, will look into tailwaggers trust, cheers!;)

mentaljessie

I wouldn't advocate this but Auntie who's really skint, goes with the flow and says she hasn't got the money. I must say she always pays the bill even if it is only £20pw. Alternatively speak to the vet nurse to see if you can pay in installments not all vets are money grabbing !!!!!!!s, it's worth a try.

Lillibet_2

Have been following with interest, allbeit with nothing new to suggest, thanks for the update.

Please can I take this opportuntiy to get on my soap box for a moment & beg dog owners to get insurance? Floydys situation is utterly horrible and could have been so much worse ; what if she had gone for the loan or credit card & been turned down? Or what if the cost of the operation had gone up instead of down? And most importantly, did you know that, unlike cats, if your dog gets lose & runs out into the road & causes a car crash not only could you be facing a injured dog & all the associated costs but YOU are legally responsible for any damage caused to cars s & property?:eek: The PDSA won't cover you for this! Pet insurrace will cover you for this and these costs couly be way way in excess of £1000. To my mind, if you can't afford insruance then you can't afford a dog. Please get pet insurance.

OK, I'm off my soap box now.

Wishing Floydy (the dog) a speedy recovery from Lillibet & Bertie the Springer Spaniel;)

shirlgirl2004

I can afford insurance but with 6 dogs it would cost me around £900 a year. I pay insurance for one of them because her sister died from an inherited condition but the others I'll take pot luck with thanks.

Fortunately if I did get a £3,000 bill I could pay it but even if I couldn't I'd just save the money instead. Aside from when my cat got runover and I got a £1,000 bill I've spent very little at the vets in my 20 years of dog/cat ownership.

I think everyone needs to look at their own circumstances. People definitely shouldn't been aquiring any pet though if they can't afford it's upkeep and vets bills. I guess it's just harder if you already own one and then hit hard times.

Lillibet_2

shirlgirl2004 wrote:

I can afford insurance but with 6 dogs it would cost me around £900 a year. I pay insurance for one of them because her sister died from an inherited condition but the others I'll take pot luck with thanks.

Fortunately if I did get a £3,000 bill I could pay it but even if I couldn't I'd just save the money instead. Aside from when my cat got runover and I got a £1,000 bill I've spent very little at the vets in my 20 years of dog/cat ownership.

I think everyone needs to look at their own circumstances. People definitely shouldn't been aquiring any pet though if they can't afford it's upkeep and vets bills. I guess it's just harder if you already own one and then hit hard times.

Just out of curiosity, what if one of your dogs caused a car crash & you were faced with a £30K bill for the damage? Assuming the drivers were insured their insurance companies would pay out to them then recover their costs from you.

I'm not going to labour this point, I have got off my soap box & won't get back on it, I am honestly just curious? Persoanlly I couldn't afford this kind of cost unless I increased my mortgage!

shirlgirl2004

Well as it stands I've got £25,000 in the bank and the rest wouldn't be too hard to come by. So yes I could afford it. But it 20 years of dog ownership I've once had one of my dogs run loose. It was a long time ago and wasn't down to me. Having learned the lesson the hard way (the dog was lost for a day and I was devastated) I take sole responsibility for the safety of my dogs so it just wouldn't happen. But in the highly unlikely event it did then yes I could begrudgingly cover it.

At the end of the day someone can sue you but if you don't have it they won't get it and a court wouldn't award it.

Shirl

Lillibet_2

Thanks Shril, I was just curious. I am not criticizing you, you are obviously aware of your obligations & responsibilities & are a responsible dog owner, it's just that so many people don't realize this or wouldn't have that kind of money available, you are surely in the minority? Hence why I am a fan of insurance for dogs, becuase it takes the heat out of this kind of situation.

Oh, and they can sue you and you might not have it in the bank but they can send bailiffs, force the sale of your house/assetts or put an attachment on your earnings/benefits to get it!

shirlgirl2004

You're right they cannbut unfortunately all too often it doesn't happen. Look at all those poor soles that get hammered because they have a car accident and the person responsible isn't insured. Insurance companies just don't chase it through the courts they hammer the car driver and I'm sure it's what would happen in most cases.

I think everyone that owns a dog should be responsible (I can dream) and those that aren't are unlikely to consider insurance anyway.