Vets bill - What is your limit?

I've never been given the option by the vet.They always just treat them and charge me.
I suppose they might one day ask if I want to spend x amount but if the horse would be ok I would find or borrow the money somehow!
 
at the risk of sounding like a real cow, about half her value to get her field sound, up to her full value to get her sound and back in full work.

I know that will shock some people but she is a young horse and I couldn't afford another. I wouldn't spend an unlimited amount of getting her well to stand in a field for the rest of her life because that could be 20 years of paying livery etc and not being able to ride.

She wouldn't suffer though, if it was too expensive I would have her PTS
 
depends on the horse, age etc. Would not have an older one mucked around with for the sake of having it as an ornament in the field, unless it could cope with a boring life...ie a working horse....

If it was one of the minis that could settle as field person only, then possibly spend more.

I dont think anyone has a limit, it all depends on animal, your financial state at the time, and type of injury I suppose...
 
Well, I would probably go up to £5k over the insurance pay out...but it depends much more on the pain and suffering involved, if any, the age of the horse, and whether it would have a viable working future.
I think you have to be careful you're not keeping a horse alive for the benefit of the human, and not the horse...
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For me it would not be just about the money - but whether it was worth spending....

So for instance - I made the decision to have Amy put down because it made no sense at all to spend a lot of money on treating her at that stage. Primarily because of her age, but also because the long term prognosis was nil. Financially it would have been very difficult for me to have kept her as a field ornament and have another horse as well.
 
Would depend on the horse and my financial situation but I personally can't see myself paying out much more than 1K on a horse to be a field ornament.
I presume you are talking about your DJD/Nav/ligament problems.

Personally I would pay to have the damage assessed, then either offer pain relief and rest or consider the not very nice alternative.
 
Would depend on the horse and the long term prognosis, I dont have mine insured but that is my choice, they are of very little monetary value, so i look at it from a slightly different perspective. For example 2 of mine would quite happily be field companions but the other would not, is it worth treating and recuperating a horse like him to be field sound?
 
I've spent about 1500 so far and insurance has paid about the same. Would have been less but was wrongly diagnosed at first so took the long route to where we are now. Horse was worth about 6k. in theory she should have had a good chance of almost full recovery so was prepared to spend out. Haven't quite reached bottom of my purse yet, but getting close. goood luck.
 
I have spent £7k so far this year on my 5yo. He's had a very bad year
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The first instance the insurance has paid out £2600 of a £3500 bill. The balance being my excess - £500 & livery while he was hospitalised for 3 1/2 weeks - £400.
The second instance was an operation that cost £2k which I'm waiting to hear if they will pay but I'm assuming not
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& complications from that operation which resulted in emergency hospilisation & a 10 day stay. I've just received the bill for that of £1300.
For me it depends on the prognosis.
The first the prognosis was good & I thought the insurance would pay.
The second I knew the cost before the op & elected to have it done assuming I would be paying.
The third was an emergency, he was very ill & as Carthorse said I wasn't thinking about the cost, just getting him better.
He's not out of the woods yet & further treatment will depend on the prognosis rather that the cost (unless its silly money)

I would add that in all of this my vets have been fantastic & I don't think my charges have been excessive, I've just been unlucky!
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Aw it really depends on a lot. Each horse I own has a figure on it's head and this figure has absolutely nothing to do with the market value of the horse.

For example, our least valuable one is little Cloud, however in terms of how much money we would pay to have her made right again far exceeds any money I would be prepared to spend on any other horse here.....but having said that, there is still a limit. I would be prepared to spend up to 10,000 of my own money on Cloud IF the prognosis was more than 80% sure of a positive result.

The other horses I own vary between a minimum of about 2,000 up to about 5,000; except the old boy who sadly I would only spend up to a few hundred on.

If this was my only horse and he was going to have a good life as a result of any treatment then I would spend about 10k, if the best there was for him was to be a field ornament then I'm sorry but I would only spend a couple of grand to get him back to a comfortable state - if this wasn't fairly guaranteed then I would opt for PTS.
 
Having read GTs' post I realised that we bought my cat for £30 but recently spent £150 on a vets bill. Money is almost no object wehn it comes to our cat. She is the best cat in the world and we would never be able to replace her. I've put a video of her in the pictures
 
I don't know. I couldn't say until I was in the situation. It would be so distressing to have to have her PTS purely because I couldn't afford the bill, so I'd do what I could. Both my dogs ran up large bills this year relative to their value. They are Standard Poodles. One of them developed bloat, then gastric torsion. That cost £1200. a couple of months later, the other completely dislocated her femur from her pelvis in a small disagreement with her sister (don't ask ...). That cost nearly £600. Neither are insurred. I have had dogs all my life and insurrance never seemed cost effective! Both these figues are still sitting on a credit card
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Amymay has taken the words completely out of my mouth, but obviously for me, with regards to Topper.

I had no idea things were this bad hun! I'm always around for a chat if you need me! Hugs my sweet!!!
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