Woulud you exhaust medical resources for your pet?

[PrincessFiona]

This kind of ties into the last post, but we've been having an interesting debate about this recently. (Hopefully, Michelle will chime in!) One of our good friends just found out that their 8 year old cat had diabetes. After much consideration, she decided to have her put to sleep. The tx for diabetes would have required daily injections, special food etc....and she was willing to try it out...but the cat just didn't seem herself anymore. The treatment would have been very costly in the long run and she (a pediatrician, btw) was looking to the future and imagining the complications that would eventually probably come. She felt it was humane and had her euthanized.

Thomas and I debate alot about whether or not 'everything should be done' for humans ... and the same extends to our animals.

When Fluffy (only 1 year old) got something stuck in the back of her throat, we paid for the expensive surgery without giving it a second thought. If, however, one of our animals developed cancer, we would have them put to sleep. I wouldn't want to put them through chemotherapy, surgery etc.

How do you guys feel about this? Maybe this should go in the debate forum.

Kris

[Rapunzel]

If I had an animal in end-stage cancer or another terminal disease I would euthenize.

Otherwise, if the problem was fixable I'd pay through the nose to fix it.

Diabetes is an iffy thing for me. I'm not sure if I would euthenize or not. Probably not - assuming the insulin and paraphanelia weren't outside of my financial comfort zone. It would be better to euthenize the animal than have it suffer a painful and awful death from lack of needed medications because I was unable to afford them.

Yes, this varies from what I believe regarding euthenasia and people. I do not equate animals with people so I don't have any moral qualms on this issue.

Yes, this thread may end up belonging inthe debate forum.

Jennifer

[mommax3]

My sweet kitty Sylvester developed diabetes this past spring, and we put him to sleep. He was 14 years old, and the presenting symptom that prompted me to take him in was uncontrollable, oozing diarrhea.....and this was a long-haired cat......do you get a mental picture? (sorry for the gross descriptive words, but it really WAS gross.) The vet gave me all of the info....I was going to have to buy a glucometer and insulin, as well as special food. I was iffy about all of that, honestly, but the kicker for me was the fact that, according to the vet, the diarrhea would most likely not go away. That meant that we wouldn't be able to let Sylvester in the house, and his quality of life would have really plummeted if he had been confined to the garage. We were all sad to let him go, but he was not a happy kitty.

In a young pet that required some kind of emergency treatment that would most likely result in that pet living a long, happy life, I would choose to treat the pet. Chronic conditions are different story, though, as are terminal illness. It is SO hard to say goodbye to a pet, but the truth is, there are lots of other pets out there that don't have homes, and are just waiting for someone to adopt them. (In fact, we just adopted two kitties over the weekend, and we are all head over heels about them.....more on them later!)

Sally

[Sheherezade]

Having gone through this decision many times now (some very recent), I know that prognosis is what matters most to me in my current phase of life. We had 3 cats die from cancer in the neck. We did investigate treatment options, but prognosis was very poor. When it was time, we had to let them go. Our dog had 4 health crises in her 17 years. The first was a swallowed toy ($600), the second meningitis/Lyme's disease-misdiagnosed ($1200), then old dog vestibular syndrome ($50 for meds and lots of home care), and the last was just ---old dog, I guess. We spent about $300 dollars and tried lots of different possibilities at the end, but the consensus was that she wasn't going to get better. After 10 mos downhill and under care, you just have to accept it. I probably would have busted the bank at the end if someone could have promised me she would recover for even one year.

You have to consider though that now we have more money and our choices would have been - dog or new furniture, dog or vacation, dog or nice birthday presents. In the past, the choice would have been dog or food, dog or rent, dog or pediatric co-pay. Then, I had a different threshold for care. When we went through the meningitis thing, DH was away on a rotation and I had a baby and a toddler and 10 K in credit card debt. When the vet offered me a specialist visit with a vet neurosurgeon starting at $500 (just the consult) I picked the IV antibiotic course and a wait and see approach. So I guess for me it depends on the financial situation *and* the prognosis.

BTW, our neighbors have a diabetic cat but it must be well controlled. She seems pretty normal. It is tough for them to get care when they go away. We had to have a vet tech come to the house during this last year to care for our old dog if we had to leave town. I can't even imagine how hard these situations become with aging parents.

[DCJenn]

We kept Rascal around for two years with his diabetes- but it was relatively well controlled and I didn't bother checking his levels, I took him in 2X a year and we adjusted accordingly.

Cancer- nope, immediate euthanasia- I have heard too many stories of too much money being spent with no good outcomes.

Petey has had more er visits than anyone else I know. But all before Nikolai showed up. Would we be able to afford a $1200 endoscopy for tampon eating now? I don't know.

I take everyone in for their annual appointments and then pretty much cross my fingers.

Jenn

[Rapunzel]

My uncle just died from cancer and I've had two of my grandparents die from cancer (one - my maternal grandmother - had a slow, lingering, painful death from breast cancer that mestastitized into her bones ). My mother (an RN) took care of her mom at family home in her last couple of years. I got to see first hand the day-to-day of someone with cancer. So, I see what you are saying, Annie. Personally, when it gets down to the end with things like cancer and you have a matter of weeks or days I'm OK with getting morphine in increasingly larger doses (and, well, we know what happens after a certain amount is given....). If it's a matter of weeks or days before the inevitable I don't see a reason in prolonging the absolute pain. So, I guess to sum it all up: I'm all for rigorous pain management for terminal illnesses that are in their end-stages.

Jennifer

We paid $1000 (in the end) to repair our cat's broken leg. He fell from a 2nd story window w/o a screen. The "emergency vet" gave us an estimate of $500 before setting the leg, but failed to mention the additional per-visit fees: $175 for the 'come-back-and-check' x-rays, etc. We had just moved & didn't have a new vet yet. To add insult to injury, when visiting a new vet 6 months later we were told she would have just crated the kitty - that setting really didn't do anything a wounded, confined kitty wouldn't have done himself. Whether or not this is true, I don't know, but it made us feel stupid.

This was BK (before kids), and I have to admit that people kids really gave me a new take on the furry kind. We didn't have $1000 to spend on anything - let alone a cat, but did it w/o a 2nd thought.

We did get our new pup, and he's adorable - we're smitten already. I share the opinion of most who've already posted. A financially feasible surgery that will provide the pup with true recovery would be a go. A terminal or long-term disease (like diabetes) where their quality of life would go in the dumper, then we'd euthanize.

[Vanquisher]

Better move this to the debate forum before I answer!

[SuzySunshine]

I agree that if the pet was still young and the injury was fixable to allow them to live a fulfilling life I would most likely pay through the nose to fix it. If the pet was old and had lived a good life I would probably put them to sleep. Cancers and diabetes, things that take a lot of human time to control and possibly don't help the pet would be very hard but I think for everyone's sanity I'd have to choose to euthanize the animal. Especially if we had young children, I wouldn't want them to see that suffering at such a young age - I'd rather they had good memories of the pet.

[Sheherezade]

Come on Heidi! I always love your posts! You got fire, girl!

So....any friendly administrators who could move this?

[PrincessFiona]

Already moved!

I'm amazed Kris even started this one in grand rounds! With this group, you HAD to know it would end up this way!

If we start getting into the human aspect .... I'll be chiming in again.

[PrincessFiona]

I guess I just assumed everyone would agree with me I don't think I'll ever learn. :>

kris

[Sheherezade]

I have no answers. Let me start by saying that (shields up!).

I think one benefit of not being allowed to euthanize humans is that the decision is so hard to make. I just put my dog to sleep and I feel guilty every day --even though she had no real life, couldn't stand and I'm sure others would think I was cruel for letting her go on living that way. If it was my husband, my parent....I just don't know if I could handle making that decision. It is like playing God. (Glad I'm not a "real" doctor! ) I am all for DNR orders, letting nature take it's course, refusing treatments - but actual active euthanasia is different. I think "aggressive pain management" is a grey zone emotionally. Actually choosing death for another human is not a decision I'd like to make. I know it is the right thing to do at times, but it would be terrible for the person who had to make the call.

I'm on the bus with Annie. When my mom was sick and SHE said she was done with treatments (I did not have to make the decision for her), I still had to fight with the hospital to let her go. A self-righteous chief resident said "I will respect her wishes, but I will not KILL her." I wasn't asking him to do anything that would kill her (uh, I knew that was against the law even at 23!), I was instructing them to stop all life-prolonging treatments.

Around the same time some guy wrote this absurd Op Ed to Newsweek suggesting that euthanasia is allowing people to take the easy way out, that it is a sign of people's weakness. He said that if there was sufferning at the end it was because God felt we needed cleansing before we could get to heaven. I was repulsed and wrote a letter back saying so. We can visit such kindness and compassion on dogs and cats and horses, but our beloved humans we'll send to hell and back to get one more week.