poor people shouldnt have pets.

my 'babies' have just cost me $120. they have an ear infection (yeast infection). ive been putting it off for ages, hoping it would go away. they didnt seem in any pain, and it didnt seem like ear mites (which cause a discharge), but their ears were 'smelly'. not only did it cost $120, but that was CHEEP!!! my vet examined both dogs for the price of one!! how on earth do people manage??
dog food $40 (cheepest dry food i can get 40lbs X 2)
flea treatment $10 (bio spot..$15 per dog for 3mths)
worm treatment (inc. heart worm) $12.50 ( $45 for six treatments)
per month

i get the feeling that prices in the US are artificially high. someone remind me how much this is in england. (two large dogs, one cat)

rant over

 

birds are cheaper. as are snakes, but any vet visit is a killer. cost almost as much for animals as it does for people now.

 

what kind of dogs do you have Laurie? post some pics if you can, i'm a huge dog lover (larger dogs that is) : D

 

Vets are not cheap here in N.Y. For a regular cat visit (just an examination) runs about 55.00! It seems every 6 months that my vet ups the price.
I have no idea if dog visits cost the same but I can understand why people are starting to mail away for the heartworm pills etc (that is, if the vet will give them a prescription for it). It is a lot cheaper.
We had 7 cats at one time and as you know, it got mighty expensive. It cost a lot more to raise those cats then to raise my son!
I think that's why I've seen in pet catalogs that they sell vaccinations for pets that you give them yourself. I really don't know if you need a prescription for those from your vet. Though there are times (like yours) where you have to take them to the vet. Just gotta hope when you get a pet it's a healthy one cause those bills can run up mighty fast!
Then as they get older, they tend to get sick more.....
I'm down to 3 cats now and when they're gone I really would have to think about getting another pet, It's just to expensive for their upkeep!

 

Cats??? Dogs????????

I have a couple of tortoises that cost about £300 each (that's around $450- $550, i not very good with exchange rates tho lol). They not hard to keep tho, u jus chuck in a load of celery an berries an they'll be happy for the day. Celery and berries costing about £1.50 per packet.
The bedding is expensive though, at £30 per bag but you don't have to change it very often. Had them 2 years and never needed to see the vet.
Tortoises are perfect for poor ppl!!!!
http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/reptile-pictures-breeders-babies/herman-tortoise-pictures-breeders-babies/pictures/herman-tortoise-0001.jpg
http://www.remix-net.co.jp/Peponi/Image/2005/1gatu/1.21/herman2.JPG

 

Vets here in the UK are real costly also, my old dog needed teeth out the vet gave me an estimation of £120 per tooth.

But thankfully we have the PDSA here and i was able to get them to take care of my pets without them many people would be in huge trouble taking care of their pets, and lets ahve it right our pets are family..

My dog is on Propalin because she has no control of her bladder..

Glad all is well for your babies..

 

We are very fortunate. Our eldest son's fiancee is a vet tech If you ever visit me, bring your pets lol

 

I'm sure Darwin had jotted a few notes on animals getting ill...

 

Re: poor people shouldn't have pets.

these are my babies. the big one is called boyzie and the smaller one is shadow. boyzy is extremely smart and well trained. so much so i almost feel guilty about owning him, i think he should have been someones 'seeing eye dog' or the suchlike. shadow is my 'charity case'. we scraped him up off the side of the road about a year ago. he was very nearly dead, and i am surprised he survived at all. however we think hes brain damaged. my daughter (who knows about these things) says hes autistic. i love them both dearly.

 

we go through 1 40lbs bag of dog food aweek cost for each bag is $10
no need for a flea treatment here we give them a bath every few days
i think the only worm treatment we give ours is"Turpentine" and some of my dry Zig~Zag [size=-1]cigarette [/size]tobacco
we have 3 dogs
one is a 1year old pom
one is unknown
one is a [size=-1]Saint Bernard [/size]7years old and we are about to get 2 more of them

9 cats
4 are new borns

1 African Grey Parrot 3 years old and it can out live me!!!!!!

some odd number fish

[size=-1][/size]

 

Re: poor people shouldn't have pets.

Laurie the small one looks like our dog Cindy. They are cute and obviously you love them loads, What a sad story about Shadow, but a happy ending. It was great that you found him and saved his life, do you believe in fate? fate may well of happened here.

 

Re: poor people shouldn't have pets.

oh, i definitely believe in 'Divine providence' which is more or less the same as 'fate'.
without sounding at all judgmental, a lot of Hawaiians do not treat their animals as part of the family. especially big dogs, which are used as hunting dogs, (for wild boar) and are often killed or lost in the process. being a 'soppy English woman' meant i had to at least try to save him. i really just expected to give him a warm safe place to die in. despite the fact that i have never known such a brainless animal, he is also warm, affectionate, and hysterically funny. they are my telly, my confidantes, my solace, and although i discourage territorial behavior, i have no doubt the bigger one would die for me if i needed protection.

 

Laurie you sound so happy with your pets, me and my wife love animals nand our cat is a rescue case.. Plus we have a ferral cat we have named Tilly who we feed twice daily, she comes regular as clockwork, and my wife has finally been able to stroke her tail this is after about a year of feeding her.

I will take a picture of Tilly through the week and put it up. her left ear is ruined not sure probably a fight in her early days and she ahs a bad right eye.

Arrr very sweet indeed.

 

very cute dogs Laurie, especially with the bandanas... do the get along well with one another? they look like pals, and they pose well for pictures too lol... i'm sure the rescue case was very fortunate for you to crossh is path...

damn i can see the pretty hawaiian trees/plants outside your living room window... grrr!

 

they do get along well. the big one poses, the little one is being bribed with treats!!
and yes, the view from my window is awesome.

 

so, took them back for a check up and the vet said that when the puppy screams hysterically, what its really doing is calling for its mum! i explained that we had recued it from the side of a road, and had had it for over a year now, and he said that the same as humans, that when a puppy is subjected to trauma, it can become emotionally stuck. that its still just a baby in its mind. so that explains a lot!

 

poor people have pets to dull the pain of the children... Children make bad pets and people never seem to figure it out until it's too late...

aw crap, typing out loud again... *runs away*

 

at my vet (and I'm sure others) there is actually pet health insurance. It's probably just a matter of time until you can put your animals on your company health coverage. I currently just have my cat, DOS.

there are some great books out there on pet psychology. A few years back I read one called "A tribe of tiger" (or something like that) that had great info on how cats communicate visually. so, I can aggro my cat by peaking around a corner like I'm stalking, with both eyes fixed on him, or put him in passive mode by looking at him with one eye closed and the other half open. It's fun to mess with their minds

and laurieB, I can totally vouch for what you said. When I was young we had a dachshound/beagle mix that would create a psuedo-mammary object from a blanket and 'nurse' itself to sleep throughout its entire life.

Ya gotta love pets.

 

well we always knew there was something 'wrong' with it! opinions varied from brain damage due to starvation and malnutrition (mine), autism (my daughters), just plain stupid (hubbies), not stupid but super intelligent just seriously disobedient (my sons).
emotionally retarded didn't occur to me but it makes an odd sort of sense. now that the vet said it, the screaming does sort of sound like a 5-6 week old puppy thats got caught on something or spooked by something. (those who have had puppies in the house will know what i mean). i don't know what that means in terms of training, but the dear little thing HAS made loads of progress in the last year. i remember writing a plaintive cry for help from the geeks with dogs when i first got him. he wouldn't respond to anything or body. he looked permanently frightened. now he looks deliriously happy most of the time, and confused or surprised the rest. at first we couldn't get him anywhere near us, now he is always insisting on a fuss. (even that is odd though. most dogs push there noses under your hand? this one pokes you with his nose. if you don't respond he continues like a demented woodpecker until you do.)
I'm sad though to think he's still hoping for his mum. aloha

 

Nice dogs Laurie. I love dogs, but only have cats right now. We have a cat we think is not right in the head - it's a Maine coon (not sure of the spelling - but that's what the breed sounds like. Vet said so.) She is very jumpy and will sometimes just forget where she is and start the most mournfull sounding cry. Once we go to her and she sees one of us she is fine again. I love that stupid cat! I posted her pic somewhere here on another thread a while back.
We have a total of three cats - two (including the challenged one) were my wifes before we married, and the other is one I had that kind of showed up one day on the porch, came in and just stayed. I guess it adopted my sons and I.
Yes - pets are expensive, and demanding. Dogs or cats, they are in essence perpetual children.

 

although it seems logical that animals can suffer from any human physiological complaint, including imbalances of brain chemistry, as a psychologist i have always Pooh-hoo ed the idea of animal psychology. however, as i said, it does make a certain amount of sense, and his behavior would make sense if he was in fact a very young puppy. one of my friends told me i may have perpetuated it with my feeding system. they have a kind of hopper that keeps their food bowl full. it discourages food aggression, but it may have interfered with the transition of 'provider' as i do not physically put food down for them once a day (or whatever). so its my fault. lol. who'd have guessed. in shadows case of course it is possible that there is nothing that would have made a difference. he is rarely frightened now, and the only reason he was screaming at the vets is because he was trying to check his ears, which entailed pinning him down. he got so distraught he was shaking violently. poor ting.