Pets

[Joe24]

Would you spend £1213 on a pet? He's not even a pedigree one mind, just a common moggy.

No
i would have paid the vet £40 and asked him to put it down.
And spend the money i saved on a new bike.
And bought a hamster instead.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I'm afraid in the circumstances described I would have retired to the back garden and performed a very delicate invasive procedure, involving a high velocity interface between the cat's head and a spade.

Having said that, you're daft for not insuring the thing - our cat was insured and on the occasions when he fell ill, they would provide us with a courtesy cat, free of charge. Often it was rather different to our own cat, but it certainly was a big help.

Bren

PMSL

I've offed a few cats in my time. As wafflycat said, you take the responsibility for them. In my case that's involved a sharp blow to the back of the cat's head with a blunt object.

Spending 1200quid on a cat is obscene. So that it can murder more songbirds? I'd have paid the vet to put it down and given the money to Oxfam.

 

[rich p]

It's a question of where to draw the line. Even the cat lovers would baulk at, say, £20,000 so it's just a subjective limit based on your own feelings. My limit would be about 12pence but the holier than thou catties would each have their own figure even if they're reluctant to admit it.

 

[wafflycat]

I've always thought that a person's attitude to an animal in distress speaks volumes about the kind of person he/she is. And what is heard is very, very revealing.

 

[domtyler]

I've always thought that a person's attitude to an animal in distress speaks volumes about the kind of person he/she is. And what is heard is very, very revealing.

Nah, what people type in internet chat rooms may not be necessarily reflected in real life.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I've always thought that a person's attitude to an animal in distress speaks volumes about the kind of person he/she is. And what is heard is very, very revealing.

I grew up in the countryside, rearing animals for meat for our own use and for sale. We always took the view that if you were going to eat the animal, you owed it respect and a decent life beforehand.

Similarly with our pets. If you took the responsibility for the animal, that meant also for a non-suffering death. Sometimes that meant taking it to the vet, sometimes a short sharp blow or a 12-bore cartridge.

I've found abandoned puppies by the side of the road in Spain twice and had to put them down myself as the alternative was a slow death by thirst - not something I could allow to happen. Taking them with me was not an option.

A little while ago a cat turned up outside my neighbours - blind, deaf, walking in circles for 18hours non-stop. The vets were closed and my neighbour was freaking out. I put the cat down.

A few years ago a cat moved in with me and we got on very happily. He got poisoned, I suspect by someone using weedkiller, or by eating a poisoned rat. I thought he was recovering and left him for a weekend but when I came back he was visibly dying. I put him down too.

I don't enjoy it, it's always horrible to have to kill something, but the alternatives in all these cases were worse - a lingering painful death, in order to spare my own feelings.

To my mind, it's more honest than sub-contracting it to a vet.

 

[ChrisKH]

Jokes aside, I'm sure none of us would cause a cat suffering (except bonj). Despite my misgivings over having a cat now, I wouldn't rule it out in the future. The two I had most recently were a pain in the ass and a pleasure in equal measures. Their antics (such as bringing a squirrel into the house and getting under the floorboards which necessitated me cutting holes in every room on Xmas day) are good memories even if it seemed bad at the time.

There is a brutal honesty about ending the cat's life yourself as twenty inch says compared to a long lingering death my last cat had with cancer - you can't postpone the inevitible - he hated the vets and on the last trip I knew it would be his last. He knew it too and played his trump card; he died in the waiting room.

 

[domtyler]

I could make a comment about vets reducing waiting times by prescribing spades to receptionists.

But that would be insensitive, so I won't.

Oh go on, I dare you.

 

[gbb]

I've always thought that a person's attitude to an animal in distress speaks volumes about the kind of person he/she is. And what is heard is very, very revealing.

Surely, if a person makes a judgment to put an already injured or ill animal to sleep, rather than spending god knows how much money, hes still preventing further distress to the animal (just not in the way a cat lover would like it). We have to assume the animals difficulties are an act of nature, beyond our control. Crikey, doctors make that judgement every day on humans...let alone animals.

If by the same token, you walk away and do nothing from an animal in distress, thats a totally different matter....but thats not the case normally.

FWIW, this is like a helmet debate....the divide is virtually of biblical proportions.

 

[barq]

I'd be less inclined to spend a thousand pounds on my 19 year old cat than my 5 year old one. Sorry I know that's very ageist of me! The other thing I'd have to factor in is how hard the road to recovery is going to be. If it was going to involve considerable suffering for the cat then I would certainly consider asking the vet to put it down. That's not a financial decision, it's just that you can't explain to a cat what's going on and why they are in pain.

I certainly couldn't dispatch a cat with a spade though! If I were in need of euthanasia myself I'd prefer the overdose of anaesthetic, so I'll extend the same courtesy to my cats when the time comes.

 

[Cab]

I've always thought that a person's attitude to an animal in distress speaks volumes about the kind of person he/she is. And what is heard is very, very revealing.

Really? I for one wouldn't let an animal suffer. If I can catch hold of a rabbit with myxie then I'll dispatch it, if I have a pet in pain I'll make sure that it doesn't suffer needlessly. I'm compassionate, but I don't value a pets life more highly than, say, livestock.

 

[MarkF]

Just over a year later and the bleedin mog is back at the vets Started with him being sick last week, then diarrhea over last weekend, seems he has a blockage in his stomach........again. Guess what? As it may be related to his first stomach operation I won't be covered, as of this afternoon I am down another £645.00 with more to come

Taking into account all the stupid repairs and injections he has had in his 2.5 years he is going to be a £2.5K cat.

 

[Arch]

On the other hand, I can think of a few people on whom spending 2K to keep them alive would be an excessive waste of money....

 

[mr Mag00]

*clang!*

 

[Maz]

Just got my cat back from the vets today, he's been in a week for a lot of work doing. The final bill was £1213.00

You must have a lot of money in the kitty!