Are Dogs Only For The Rich?

[Tarser]

I have one dog and I am amazed at how much money I have spent to keep him. Every time I walk into the Vet surgery, a large chunk of money is lost even after a 15 minute consultation. Add the tablets or injections and it's not uncommon for me to pay nearly £100 a visit. Then there's the monthly insurance payments, the massive kennel fees when you go on holiday - £250 for a week!

I really love my dog but it just seems that dogs are now exclusively for the rich and as much as I would always want the companionship of a dog, I'm sure that I won't be having another one...

so not really a question, more of a moan and request for empathy!

[hc4361]

Take out pet insurance, take your dog on holiday.

[Islay]

If you have insurance how come your paying over a £100?
How many times do you go on holiday?
I only pay £22 a day all inclusive for 2 large dogs.
I don't consider myself rich but I am currently keeping an eye out for dog number 3

[Islay]

Hc we put the dogs in kennels once a year and take them with us the rest of the time.

[Tilly2]

Having a dog is slightly less expensive than having a child.

[Baldric]

He has

///Then there's the monthly insurance payments///

[hc4361]

I thought that was for liability, not vets' bills

[Zacs-Master]

We pay £70 for a weeks kennels. I think you’re being ripped off. Unless your one of these silly people who book them into a pet hotel.

[NoMercy]

Dogs do cost a lot of money and my rescue from Spain had Leishmania which Vets in the UK are not used to treating. This meant I had to buy treatment from Spain and obtain a Veterinary Import Licence to have it brought into this country. I had to contact the Vets in Spain and give his passport and microchip details before they released the medication and then pay for a friend's flight when they kindly agreed to collect the meds and bring them over.

Because of his illness I couldn't get pet insurance so had to pay through the nose for everything.

He died 13 months ago following extensive surgery and care which set me back another £2k - but he meant the world to me and I'd have remortgaged my house if I'd needed to.

I am fortunate I could afford to pay for his care. Vets bills can be financially crippling.

[kvalidir]

I've got five dogs so no, because I am certainly not rich, ( that's possibly because I have five dogs though) lol.

[Baldric]

£250, for a week in Kennels, now that is a rip-off.

[NoMercy]

I have to say when I visited Croatia nearly 2 years ago I was struck not only by what a beautiful, pristine country it was, but how well looked after the pets were. Many locals proudly walked down the streets with their well-groomed dogs, some of which were attired with lovely quilted coats and posh collars. There were no strays or feral animals that I could see anywhere, in stark contrast to Spain where I resided for over 4 years. I don't think of Croatia as being a particularly rich country - so perhaps it's down to education.

[Islay]

Which is entirely different to how the treats dogs in Serbia.

[douglas9401]

My expat relatives in Spain tell me there's an annual cull of stray dogs, NoMercy, usually when they start to form packs.

[Islay]

How has pheobe settleddown nom?

[NoMercy]

In Bucharest, Doug, unlicenced dog catchers take the poor creatures to hideous public shelters where they are executed after 14 days. Anti-freeze injected into the dog's heart, head bashed in with a breeze block or incinerated whilst still alive have all been cited as methods of "disposal."

[NoMercy]

I've got to be honest, Doug, I don't remember any annual culls in Spain. Most dogs were rescued by charities and rehomed. It's nearly 8 years since I left there though, so I've no idea what's what there now.

[KARL]

Having a dog is a matter of choice, not a necessity or a right - farming animals and guide dogs are a special case. In my eyes it is a not so different choice from having and running a mobile phone - if you choose to have one you decide the level and how you use it and accept the associated cost. If the cost exceeds what you are prepared to or can pay then if you already have one you get rid of it (at least exiting all commitments). The only difference is that a dog is a sentient being and deserves certain minimum levels of consideration (often outrageously exceeded, by choice of course) and disposal should be humane (one cannot simply dump it in the bottom drawer or nearest bin).

[hereIam]

If that's true that there is an annual cull in Spain, I am SO glad that my precious little hound came from there and was saved.

It is fairly expensive to keep a dog, but worth it.

[woofgang]

Search on galgo cruelty if you want to see how dogs are treated in parts of Spain

[hc4361]

Dogs are culled in the UK, too. The RSPCA and other rescue centres regularly kill dogs that cannot be homed, 53,000 in one year.
So choosing to home a dog from abroad is not necessarily saving a dog.