A while back I read a post on Free Money Finance about how much people are willing to spend to save their pets life.
The author, obviously had a difference in opinion about how much to spend on a pet, and didn’t agree with my comments. Read the last paragraph of this post to see his response to my comment
Read the post I made on that a while back where he completely missed the point I was trying to make.
He made another post about it today, and I think further misunderstands the way things are for pet owners who actually treat their pets as anything more than a car purchase.
Pet insurance doesn’t work anywhere near the same as health insurance for people work. All the pet insurance companies I have come across drop you as a customer when your pet reaches a certain age, with my dog I think it was around 8yrs old. Also, the insurance benefits long run out before any form of a major problem is taken care of.
The one thing he is right about is that there are plenty of reasons to think over before you get a pet. If you can’t take on the responsibility, or just toss a pet to the curb as soon as a problem comes up, then no, you (or him) should not have a pet.
#1 by FMF on December 12, 2005 - 3:49 pm
Quote
Actually, pet insurance WOULD have worked for the latest post made (at least according to your account). If you read closely, the issue discusses a KITTEN. I’m sure an insurance company wouldn’t drop someone when their pet was still an infant.
I’m not saying a pet should be treated as an object (like a car). However my point was that I would not take all the measures (nor spend all the money) to save a pet as I would to save a human. Would you?
By the way, I’m not anti-pet. I grew up with several pets and I would have some today if my kids weren’t allergic. However, I don’t think people calculate the costs of pet ownership (nor do they realize the commitment they are undertaking), so I have to go overboard a bit to get them to stop, take notice, and consider the financial decision and commitment associated with having/getting a pet.
#2 by emjaydee on December 12, 2005 - 4:11 pm
Quote
the pet insurance may possibly helped, but from my experience most of the pet insurance companies put cap’s on how much you can claim. This was years ago, so it may be differant, but I believe they would pay up to $1,000 on one claim and up to $5,000 for the same medical problem. I think their best policy wasn’t much better than that either. So, they may not have just dropped the person due to their pets age, but quite possibly might have just stopped accepting claims on that medical problem after she reached the limit.
In my case, I would (and have) taken all the measure I could think of to save my pet. It ended at the point where his problem was a terminal one, and when it got to the point where nothing more could be done and my dog was as in as much and discomfort as he could be, that was when I threw in the towel. But it wasn’t for financial reasons, it was because he was on his death bed and it was at the point where I was basically keeping him alive so I wouldn’t have to accept the fact that he was leaving me.
However, you are completely right about how most people don’t think about nearly all the costs of owning a pet. Most financially and emotionally