No, it was a she, Carly. My daughter named her after a TV show. I always worried about Carly getting out and getting rapped by the wild rats around the house.

I just went through this scenario a couple of months ago. I spent around $500 at the vet on tests for my almost 12 year old yellow lab Honey. I knew by the look she gave me before we left the house. Inoperable mass.

The best dog I will ever have. If money would have given her quality of life I would have mortgaged the house …

Big Hutch

What I will spend, basically put the dog through depends on the quality of life.
I’ve paid for TPLO surgery, plus same dog ate cardboard and fell out a few month later. Both were expensive, but 3 years later he’s still with me. Around $9000 on 9 year old dog.
Different dog had Bartonella, that was a few thousand. Six years later, she is still with me.
One of my young dogs compressed a nerve in her lower back two years ago. Between diagnostics, surgery with a neurologist, and a few months of physical therapy. That was over $10’000.

I have let dogs go. For me to put them through surgery, or treatment there has to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I won’t keep one, if it only means pain, and suffering for them.

I'd surmise it depends on two things.

1. is the animal a simple pet or a real family member
2. do you have real disposable income or are you tight at the moment.

...!

Depends on the age and the illness. Growing up I saw some high vet bills and specialist bills

You have to look at the treatment cost versus the replacement cost, and will that dog come back at a 100%. Age and many other factors come into play. A young great dog is worth putting money into if they can come back. An old declining animal isn’t worth much.

We put our 12.5 year old BELOVED rescue mix down Oct 30. We had been spending money on special shots and arthritis medication. He was suffering in silence and it wasn't fair for us to keep spending money to keep him going to stave off our hearts breaking a few months..

Had he been five or six or seven years old and had to have a knee surgery... yeah, I would have paid that and grimaced... I think all of us family dog lovers are right there together

After knowing so many who have wasted away in nursing homes with practically no quality of life, I wish it were easier for people to choose to have their life ended in a more dignified way.

I would never let a pet suffer or live with a poor quality of life...

I have two bird dogs. Both are purebred Brittany, registered, and have spent multiple months with a professional birddog trainer. I carry vet insurance on both of them... the older on is 8, his insurance is about $80/month. It pays 80% after a $500 deductible. He just got back from the vet with a $1700 dollar surgery bill, that could have easily been double or more. Its his second surgery (unrelated), in addition to being stitched up a few times from barbed wire cuts.

I am co-owner in GPS that just turned 11. He did not have insurance and he broke a knee a 4 years old. That surgery and follow-up was about $7,000 our the door. He had an external fixation, with pins and rods sticking out. He got another 5 years of good hunting in, but age is getting to him know...he slowed down this last season.

We had to put our last dog down. We paid the emergency vet $3500 to run test and who knows what else. Best solution was taking him to Shreveport for an exploratory surgery with no guarantee of survival and was going to be in the $15-20k range. It sucked but the quality of life was a big concern and he had suffered enough.

We had the best dog named Charlie. He was a chocolate lab/pit bull mix and turned out like a giant chocolate lab with a giant pit bull head. He had bone cancer in his shoulder. We hung on to him until he was suffering badly, and we took him to the vet and laid him to rest properly. Got him steaks and he died surrounded by me, wife, two daughters, and my youngest adult son and his woman came for that as well. We made sure he knew he was a good boy. It was a heartbreaking moment.

The dog we have now, I am fairly certain is my karma for not catching that bone cancer and doing what was necessary to save our best dog. He is sorely missed. We were so lucky to have him.

We just paid the Vet to remove our 13 year old Yellow Lab's Spleen. It was full of tumors and had a large mass on the outside of it. She lost 7 pounds but is doing well now.
On the 4 Lhasa Apsos that we owned (wife was going to breed and sell them) they were Vet Magnets. One of them had Cushing's Disease and was on Trilostan. At the Vet it was $560 for a 100 pill bottle, Chewy's had it for $150 for a 90 day supply.
The wife says she will pay what ever is costs to keep them healthy and alive as long as they are not in pain.
I could have been on a really nice deer lease for what we spent on pet meds, checkups, etc over the years.

Being raised on a ranch, we didn't have the liberty of having pets. Animals were tools and had to earn their keep.

+1
Our dog tore left ACL at age 8yo. Repair was $4,500. Tore the ACL on the other leg at 9yo. Repair was $4,800. The joke I mentioned when paying the last bill was "She's a rescue dog & I only paid $50 for her as a donation!". I wasn't really laughing....