What Were They Thinking?
Recently we had some new clients come in with two bouncy Golden Retriever puppies. Littermates, brother and sister. We went through the series of vaccines with them, seeing them every couple of weeks until they were all set.
Now the time is upon them to have them spayed and neutered. Appointment all set, made a few weeks ago.
Owner called today. They just can't spend the money on it. They don't know what to do. They don't want to reschedule. Could be it's the holidays and money is tight. It could also be that they've heard through the grapevine that Dr. X down the road will do it for $130 each (mind you, that's with no IV catheter and minimal pain meds, but we won't go there. Scroll down for the spay/neuter speech).
But what I want to address is this: These people have gone out and purchased two purebred dogs. Golden Retrievers sell for anything between $350-900 in these parts. They bought TWO. So, did they not realize that meant vet bills would be doubled? That surgery costs for sterilizations would be doubled? Did they even think?
Sometimes I wonder where people's minds are. To me, acquiring a pet is a lifetime commitment. The first year is the most expensive, usually, due to the frequent visits to complete the vaccine series and for spay/neuter surgery.
I can only shake my head at the things people do. What were they thinking? My guess is that they did not.
Now the time is upon them to have them spayed and neutered. Appointment all set, made a few weeks ago.
Owner called today. They just can't spend the money on it. They don't know what to do. They don't want to reschedule. Could be it's the holidays and money is tight. It could also be that they've heard through the grapevine that Dr. X down the road will do it for $130 each (mind you, that's with no IV catheter and minimal pain meds, but we won't go there. Scroll down for the spay/neuter speech).
But what I want to address is this: These people have gone out and purchased two purebred dogs. Golden Retrievers sell for anything between $350-900 in these parts. They bought TWO. So, did they not realize that meant vet bills would be doubled? That surgery costs for sterilizations would be doubled? Did they even think?
Sometimes I wonder where people's minds are. To me, acquiring a pet is a lifetime commitment. The first year is the most expensive, usually, due to the frequent visits to complete the vaccine series and for spay/neuter surgery.
I can only shake my head at the things people do. What were they thinking? My guess is that they did not.
posted by Dr. Snark @ 8:30 AM
2 Comments:
At 7:18 AM,
The Princess Mom said…
I don't understand why people buy purebred dogs in the first place, but that's neither here nor there. We got Jack the Wonder Dog at the Humane Association as a one-year-old, paid for the vaccines and neutering when we got him and he was even already potty-trained! I could do without the $14 nail trims every other week, but I digress...again... ;-)
At 4:14 PM,
Anonymous said…
Yeah it maybe be too expensive for them right now or they may plan on trying to get a littler or two out of them to cover the cost of the original dogs never even pausing to think if they should be breeding them in the first place.
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