Medical Care for My Dog?

[filiaecclesia]

Hello:

Our 4 year old pet dog suddenly became paralyzed in her hind legs. I took her to the vet, who sent us to the animal emergency hospital. After an MRI, the veterinary neurosurgeon said she had two ruptured discs in her spine and required surgery to save her life. We went ahead with the surgery, she is recovering, and should make a full recovery.

From the beginning, I had serious qualms about spending the substantial amount of money, not to mention medical expertise, on spinal surgery for our dog. She is young and will hopefully live many more years. She is a very special and sweet dog, particularly with our children and my very ill mother who is living with us. Yet there are many, many humans who don’t have the kind of medical care she just received and it feels morally wrong.

The surgery has been done, so I guess my question for you is: was it a sin for us to have allowed the surgery for our pet when so many humans go without treatment?

Thanks,
Audrey

 

[Et_Cetera]

I don’t think it’s a sin; it’s just a personal choice. If you have the money, you have to right to spend it on your dog. I would have spent the money on my little dog. It’s not like you’re actively going out of your way to cause harm to other people or that harm is done to others because you got your dog an expensive surgery. Really, you could get hypothetical like this with anything, until the point of living like an ascetic and donating everything you make. Of course, I also think it’s important to donate to others if you have the means to do so, but I think that living in the first world we all get a little frivolous at times. At least you were saving a life, particularly one that your children value. I’m sure they would have been pretty sad if you hadn’t gotten the surgery.

 

[Bix]

The surgery has been done, so I guess my question for you is: was it a sin for us to have allowed the surgery for our pet when so many humans go without treatment?

Thanks,
Audrey

Definitely not! God entrusted you with this pet. If God has blessed you with the financial ability and veterinarians to save your pet- simply thank God for blessing you! Often!

Having spent way too much time with ER veterinarians and specialists myself, I’ve often wondered about all the people who didn’t have the financial resources needed to save their pets. Especially those with young pets who could have a longer, healthier life. In the future, I would like to find a charity which offers help to those families or see if there is a fund at the ER hospital to donate to and help those in need. I’ve seen people go through so much pain over the loss of a family pet. It’s especially devasting to those who lacked only money… Pets bring so much joy and companionship to our lives.

Maybe you can find a small way to pay it forward.

 

[Luna_Lovecraft]

The surgery has been done, so I guess my question for you is: was it a sin for us to have allowed the surgery for our pet when so many humans go without treatment?

Is it a sin for you to feed your pet when there are billions of people who don’t have enough to eat?

Is it a sin to give your dog clean drinking water when there are millions of people suffering from enteric diseases because they don’t have regular access to it?

Is it a sin to de-worm or vaccinate your pet because so many people without health insurance don’t have affordable access to a doctor?

Your pet was in pain. You basically had two choices: pay money to put your dog down or pay money to have her cured. (Leaving her to suffer in paralysis and pain would have been an immoral decision, in my opinion.) If you’re thinking it’s a sin to spend money on a pet’s emergency and routine medical care, don’t have pets.

And don’t feel guilty about the medical knowledge used to treat your animal. Human and veterinary medicine learn much from each other, to the benefit of both animals and people.

Luna

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Maybe you could make a donation to your favorite human or animal charity, when you can, in the name of your dog? Maybe a charity dedicated to providing help for people whose animals need surgery but they can’t afford it? Just a thought.



There is nothing wrong with taking care of our animal companions. To me, it is good stewardship. If you do not take food out of your children’s mouths to do so, it is your choice and not sin.

 

[King_Lazy]

Think of a dog to be like a car. We own cars for the purpose of getting from A to B. We own dogs for the purpose of having a loving animal that is a member of the family.

Sometimes, a car breaks down and you need to spend a lot of money to fix it.

Sometimes, a dog gets sick and you need to spend a lot of money to make him or her better.

If it isn’t a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken car, it isn’t a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken dog.

It does become a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken car if your family’s basic necessities are sacrificed for the sake of a machine. So too, it would be a sin to spend a lot of money to treat a sick dog if your family’s basic necessities are sacrificed for the sake of an animal.

 

[GEddie]

Four years ago, I spent $450 to treat my dog for heart worm.

There are poor people in this part of North America. But if I were to forgo treatment of my dog, to try to help them, who do I help? Even $450 won’t go far among “everybody”.

If there is a specific human need that you can meet, then yes, that might take priority. But a general sense that " others are poorer" does not obligate us to neglect those nonhumans in our life, IMNAAHO.

FWIW, she has lived another four years, and hopefully several more.

God Bless and ICXC NIKA.

 

[Mintaka]

If it’s your dog and your money, God has given both into your stewardship. As a child of God, you have the right to make your own prudent decisions about both.

Noah was not commanded to throw any animals off the Ark. That doesn’t make animals more important than people; but it does show that animals have a right to human stewardship of their lives and deaths.

 

[Luna_Lovecraft]

Four years ago, I spent $450 to treat my dog for heart worm.

I’m spending at least that much on a dental for my dowager Siamese next week. So much for my new summer clothes budget…

Luna

 

[filiaecclesia]

Wow, what interesting perspectives you’ve all offered to me!

This little dog is the first we’ve ever had, so the world of vets and preventative pet meds for heartworm, even pet emergency hospitals, etc., is all new to us.

In thinking about allocating a good and hefty chunk of money to our dog’s surgery, I thought of it as similar to other rare but expensive purchases like a vacation or new furniture. I wouldn’t feel particularly guilty about those because we save for them and don’t go crazy. I’m praying this surgery will be our little Beatrice’s one and only, and she will resume her very healthy ways for a long time .

You all offer a new way to look at these things, and I’m very grateful. I posted initially a little afraid that I’d receive a host of “you should be ashamed spending money on a pet”, and what I got was a lot of thoughtful, realistic, non-guilt-laden posts. Amazing! Thanks so much!

Audrey

 

[Luna_Lovecraft]

This little dog is the first we’ve ever had, so the world of vets and preventative pet meds for heartworm, even pet emergency hospitals, etc., is all new to us.

If your dog is four and hasn’t been vaccinated since you’ve had her, you need to let her vet(s) know. Surgeries and clinics are full of stuff she’s susceptible to; distemper is the one coming off the top of my head.

Once you’re over this emergency, you really do need to have her thoroughly checked out by a vet as well as vaccinated. If money is tight, check in your area for a low-cost, sliding-scale clinic or the SPCA (if you live in the US). She’s going to need to be wormed, get her jabs for rabies, etc.

Good luck!

Luna

 

[severus68]

Definitely not! God entrusted you with this pet. If God has blessed you with the financial ability and veterinarians to save your pet- simply thank God for blessing you! Often!

Having spent way too much time with ER veterinarians and specialists myself, I’ve often wondered about all the people who didn’t have the financial resources needed to save their pets. Especially those with young pets who could have a longer, healthier life. In the future, I would like to find a charity which offers help to those families or see if there is a fund at the ER hospital to donate to and help those in need. I’ve seen people go through so much pain over the loss of a family pet. It’s especially devasting to those who lacked only money… Pets bring so much joy and companionship to our lives.

Maybe you can find a small way to pay it forward.

Well said.

 

[severus68]

Is it a sin for you to feed your pet when there are billions of people who don’t have enough to eat?

Is it a sin to give your dog clean drinking water when there are millions of people suffering from enteric diseases because they don’t have regular access to it?

Is it a sin to de-worm or vaccinate your pet because so many people without health insurance don’t have affordable access to a doctor?

Your pet was in pain. You basically had two choices: pay money to put your dog down or pay money to have her cured. (Leaving her to suffer in paralysis and pain would have been an immoral decision, in my opinion.) If you’re thinking it’s a sin to spend money on a pet’s emergency and routine medical care, don’t have pets.

And don’t feel guilty about the medical knowledge used to treat your animal. Human and veterinary medicine learn much from each other, to the benefit of both animals and people.

Luna

Well said and I agree that if we do not want to spend on medical treatment for our pets, do not have them. They are not toys.

 

[severus68]

Wow, what interesting perspectives you’ve all offered to me!

This little dog is the first we’ve ever had, so the world of vets and preventative pet meds for heartworm, even pet emergency hospitals, etc., is all new to us.

In thinking about allocating a good and hefty chunk of money to our dog’s surgery, I thought of it as similar to other rare but expensive purchases like a vacation or new furniture. I wouldn’t feel particularly guilty about those because we save for them and don’t go crazy. I’m praying this surgery will be our little Beatrice’s one and only, and she will resume her very healthy ways for a long time .

You all offer a new way to look at these things, and I’m very grateful. I posted initially a little afraid that I’d receive a host of “you should be ashamed spending money on a pet”, and what I got was a lot of thoughtful, realistic, non-guilt-laden posts. Amazing! Thanks so much!

Audrey

I am glad you spnt that money and no, you do not have to feel guilty. You heled a sentient being, one of God’s creatures.

I hope Beatrice recovers fully. God bless you all.

 

[severus68]

Think of a dog to be like a car. We own cars for the purpose of getting from A to B. We own dogs for the purpose of having a loving animal that is a member of the family.

Sometimes, a car breaks down and you need to spend a lot of money to fix it.

Sometimes, a dog gets sick and you need to spend a lot of money to make him or her better.

If it isn’t a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken car, it isn’t a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken dog.

It does become a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken car if your family’s basic necessities are sacrificed for the sake of a machine. So too, it would be a sin to spend a lot of money to treat a sick dog if your family’s basic necessities are sacrificed for the sake of an animal.

While I understand in a way your analogy, I do think it goes too far. A dog is a sentient being, one of God’s creatures. A car is a thing and should have the least priority. If we do not have suffficient to take care of pets, do not have them and save a lot sorrow.

 

[Bookcat]

Can we provide medical care for our pets? I would say yes of course. Within reason and right judgment. Judgments and even resources etc though can differ here…and one ought to avoid both carelessness or scruple.

One can also think - can one say spend a good deal on the family vacation? Or buying something otherwise for the family? Pets can be very much “for the family” and thus I think there can be reasonable expense employed for the sake of a particular pet we love as our family pet.

What one would spend is a prudential judgment.

Here is the Catechism:

2416 Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory.197 Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image.198 Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. …

2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a7.htm#2416

 

[severus68]

I’m spending at least that much on a dental for my dowager Siamese next week. So much for my new summer clothes budget…

Luna

The dental work on my 15/16 year old Tonkinese a few years back was a great job. Hope it is the same for your Siamese.

 

[Luna_Lovecraft]

It does become a sin to spend a lot of money to fix a broken car if your family’s basic necessities are sacrificed for the sake of a machine.

While I understand your analogy of caring for cars and pets, please remember that for many poor people, especially those who live in rural areas or in places without reliable public transportation, their car is the only way they have of keeping a job so they can feed and clothe their kids. Among the working poor, getting the transmission fixed might mean turning the furnace to 58 and feeding the family ketchup soup for a month. That’s not sinful; that’s survival.

Now, feeding your children oatmeal for three weeks so you can afford new rims… That’s a different story.

Luna

 

[King_Lazy]

While I understand in a way your analogy, I do think it goes too far. A dog is a sentient being, one of God’s creatures. A car is a thing and should have the least priority. If we do not have suffficient to take care of pets, do not have them and save a lot sorrow.

Oh, absolutely, we have a greater duty of care to animals and it would in fact be a sin to cause them unjustified suffering through neglect, which is not something one can say about machines. I’m a super-duper dog-lover, so taking good care of and providing a loving environment for a dog is a given, and neglecting or abandoning it is unthinkable, so I guess in my thinking I have to emphasise the fact they’re not human so as not to go too far the other way.

If I went by emotions alone, I might be inclined to treat my dog better in some situations than I would a family member that I might be less fond of, so there needs to be a rational perspective in all of this.

The point of my analogy was that if we don’t feel guilty about fixing a machine, there’s all the less reason to feel guilty about treating a dog. In the same vein, where it would be sinful for us to sacrifice so much for the sake of a machine that we neglect the necessities of our family, it would also be sinful to make such a sacrifice for the sake of a dog.

Beyond those principles, we do indeed have special duties towards our furry friends, and it would be sinful to abandon an animal in our care or to neglect them in other ways that would cause it to suffer. However, if your animal’s medical treatment requires that your children don’t get to eat, then we do need to think about where our priorities lie, and in these cases, it may be better to give the animal away into somebody else’s care or to put it to sleep to prevent it suffering unnecessarily from its illness.

 

[Viki63]

I appreciate the companionship of our dog, and the lessons in compassion that he’s provided for our children, but I also know that having him is a safely measure. There have been a lot of burglaries in our area, I am often home alone, and feel much safer knowing my dog barks his head off, sounding much more fierce than he really is, if anyone approaches the house.