Thoughts?

CorvusCorax

Deary me...
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What do you think?
While I am very sorry for him, is it right to ask people to help raise funds for his dogs, who were off-lead on a height in an area they had never been before?
Kinda reminded me of the debate about the deformed foal going on in other areas of the forum.
Apparently total bill could reach 13k.
Having had dogs with similar injuries following an accident I've got strong views on this one!

Details are there for anyone who does want to contribute!
 
Do they not have insurance (if they are much loved family pets why aren't they)? Unfortunately no I would not help (probably sounds harsh) But why have the ops etc if you can't in any way afford it? Is it even fair to sell their sob story to get strangers to pay for their animals treatment when it was their negligence that caused it?

I know not everyone insures their pets but still... mine are all insured and I have an emergency fund for them (just incase). When Jake was hit by a van it came inhandy
 
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It does seem to be the trend doesnt' it. Not sure if I would have had the treatment myself if they were so badly injured, but having said that they do look quite bright and happy in the picture. However, as far as I am concerned my vets bills are my responsibility and certainly would not be asking for help, or contributing towards a random strangers bill.
I am paranoid about dogs near steep drops, I have always understood dogs don't see height of cliffs etc as we do which is why so many fall off them. Mine are never off lead if I know there is a drop of any sort, although of course Buffy did manage to fall down a land drain in a field, but in my defense I didn't know the damn thing was there.

Ets. Only one of my 3 is insured, as premiums were getting silly, however I do have a small emergency fund, not 13Ks worth though. :(
 
I'm amazed the vet was willing to treat so extensively knowing they can't pay the bill!!!!

Pet insurance isn't that expensive. If you can't afford £10/month (about what mine is) then maybe these people should question whether they should have the dogs if they haven't got any other way of paying the vets bills?
 
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I have insurance and a contingency fund (well, a credit card:D) but it wouldn't cover £13k!

I wouldn't think of asking strangers to donate to a vets bill for Henry, personally. I wouldn't have him off lead next to a drop like that either:eek:
 
To add to their woes, Phil and Carol who both work as cleaners at the Belfast grammar school, cancelled their pet insurance six months ago after seven years because they just could not afford to meet the monthly premiums.

Eh, no sympathy from me I'm afraid. It only costs about £10 a month for that kind of dog, £14 a month for mine with super-dooper life cover. I appreciate that older dogs command a higher premium but you wouldn't put an older dog through that kind of surgery anyway - right? I'm not sure I'd even expect a younger dog to go through it, they've spent all that money with no guarantee of sound dogs at the end of it...
 
I liked a fund raising effort I saw a while ago.

Someone had created a web picture of the ( in this case child ) and had divided it into thousands of squares and the idea was that each square was bought for a £1 and eventually there were enough donations to reveal the whole picture.

I can understand wanting to do everything possible to help my animals , however I am at a loss to understand how these owners don't protect their dogs from danger. Dogs fall off beachy head, how can that be, they should surely be on a lead.
 
It would be interesting to see if they asked friends and family if they could borrow money, took out a loan or attempted to remorgage house (if they own theirs) before asking for donations. :rolleyes:
 
WOW 13k is a heck of a lot of money:eek:

Heart ruling head comes to mind of course, but then we all love our pets and want to do everything for them in cases of accident or illness don't we.

I have thought many times about cancelling my pet insurances and putting the money in a savings account as it costs me a small fortune each month with 3 dogs,2 cats and a pony, but I know the moment I did that something would happen and I could never afford to pay the bills!:(
 
We spent nearly a grand on Max when he was diagnosed with cancer, he didn't last long as I made the decision to pts his bills were expensive though plus the pts and disposal. My bitch also ran up about £600 when she bacame ill last month. Still need to pay for crem bill as haven't collected her yet. The current dog is insured but only for £3000, I think vets love trying new things on our pets and we get carried away with what they say. I would draw the line at what they have had done though, surely those dogs will suffer?
 
I have to say my dogs aren't insured (runs and ducks for cover) but I do have an emergency fund and my choice is deliberate because I feel it is too tempting to agree to treatments that can be done just because then "can" rather than because they "should" for the animals quality of life. BTW I have paid for various broken bones etc to be fixed, I'm not that heartless!

In this case I don't have much sympathy I'm afraid. For a start I don't think they will have much quality of life with false limbs given the problems I have seen first hand with human prosthetic limbs. Also there is no way those dogs should have been running free in that situation and, awful as it is, the owners must take resposibility for that.
 
Mine aren't insured either and I have a very accident prone, uninsurable dog :o you live and learn. But when things go wrong, it's my bad and I pay.

For the record, we've had a smashed leg and a dislocated hip as the result of the same road accident - the bitch with the broken leg was young enough to make a recovery, her leg was pinned and she lived sound to 14 years old but had it been the oldie I think we would have PTS.
 
Having a very active dog, and knowing how my Mum's dog struggles with his legs (shattered both elbows (a year apart) a few years ago) I wouldn't put my dog through that kind of surgery, whether I could afford it or not.
I certainly wouldn't be donating to help him do it either. He's choice, if he doesn't have insurance then tough.
 
One of our cats had a back leg 'rebuilt' after losing an argument with a car. Although it was never right afterwards (it didn't bend properly, although this was 15 years ago so I suppose surgery has advanced. We used to joke that his leg was made of elastic bands and pens from the vet's reception :o) it didn't slow him down to be fair, he still deposited dead critters all over the place for many years to come. However, if he hadn't been so young, or if he wasn't recuperating properly after the surgery we would have pts.

I'm not sure I would have gone for the surgery in this case, but I can understand why people would want to try.

As a side note, the cat wasn't insured. We just had to bite the bullet when the bill came in- our cat, our bill, our responsibility.
 
Our bitch's front leg wouldn't bend fully either, I would forget which leg it was and ask her for a paw, the bendy leg was the good one :p
I meant to say, my comments are as the owner of a weightbearing breed BTW, dogs of their size find it hard enough in old age without being full of metal as well....
 
I have no problem with plates and pins if the dog will have quality of life and would hope the vets would take this into consideration when operating.

I think this is the press hyping it up tbh. Sorry CC but it is a classic!:)

They have plates and pins and the bones will mend. But they are not bionic LOL!

But this is Ireland and we all know about the intelligence of the Irish....;);):D
 
Cow :eek::eek::eek: :mad::mad::mad::D

You can imagine how it would have looked if I'd done it :o :o :o
Although in fairness there's been that bionic cat on the news, probably got stuck in someone's head....

Do you mean in terms of Shepherds? If so, I dont think it would have made a difference UNLESS the press had put a different slant on it which they may have done with Shepherds.;)
 
Our bitch's front leg wouldn't bend fully either, I would forget which leg it was and ask her for a paw, the bendy leg was the good one :p

We'd wait til it snowed.... he'd have distinctive tracks.... 3 little dots and an arc around them where he'd swept 'rubber band leg' around :D

It would be harder with Loki, a clean break is one thing to set, but not sure I'd opt for that level of treatment.
 
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