You know, sometimes life happens...

[hudsoncat]

Yay for Rupert! Sending positive thoughts your way for continued good news.

These decisions are so tough. We lost our 10 year old Jack Russell in the fall, I had fully expected to keep him for much longer based on JRT life expectancy, but it wasn't meant to be. We were faced with a decision on whether or not to do surgery. The surgery itself only has a 50% success rate, and 80% of the dogs who survive surgery pass within 6 months. Both a first and second opinion told us he was not a great candidate to for surgery, and his surgery survival rate was much lower than the general 50%. We choose to make him comfortable for however long he had left. Turned out to be 5 days. Five great days!

But one of the things I remember most from that time was a conversation with a co-worker. Co-worker mentioned that they assumed we made the decision because of the cost of surgery and not wanting to spend that money on something that had a high chance of not working. In that moment I realized how wonderful it was money had no real consideration in our decision. After the basic, "it costs $X and we have $X saved in the Pet WTF fund," money never entered DH and my conversation because having a healthy savings and savings rate and generally being frugal (outside the dogs, they're a bit spoiled) allowed us to make the best decision for our dog rather than being forced into a decision based on finances.

[AZDude]

Glad to hear everything is good so far. My parents dog had cancer and they sent him to doggie chemotherapy and he eventually got better. 1 bad year for 2 good years after that. I don't know how much it was, but at least in quality of life terms, it seemed worth it.

This is also why I have considered pet insurance for my dog, just so I could put a fixed cost on the peace of mind of never having to decide if we can afford healthcare for our dog.

Anyway, good luck to you and Rupert.

[G-dog]

How are you and Rupert doing @FreshPrincess ?

I hope all is going well.

[FreshPrincess]

Thanks for thinking of us.  I'm still waiting on the results of the biopsy.  I gave them a call this morning and they hadn't gotten it back yet!

How are you and Rupert doing @FreshPrincess ?

I hope all is going well.

[G-dog]

Thanks for thinking of us.  I'm still waiting on the results of the biopsy.  I gave them a call this morning and they hadn't gotten it back yet!

How are you and Rupert doing @FreshPrincess ?

I hope all is going well.

We had a biopsy that took awhile to report out too. Seems they took a first look and were not comfortable drawing conclusions and so examined more samples.

How is Rupert doing? A previous dog had a major surgery and was held at the vet longer than expected (not eating). They called me in to see if I could get her to eat (nope). They. Finally figured out that the pain reliever they were using wasn’t doing a good enough job. They switched the med and things got better.

Usually the problem is that the dog feels great, and your attempts to restrict activity become a battle.

[FreshPrincess]

Life update:  Rupert's stitches are out and he is doing great!  We got the call on Friday... the surgery removed all the cancer and he is going to make a full recovery!  My best buddy is going to be just fine and I realized I had been holding my breath until we got that great news.

We definitely feel like one of the lucky ones and are so grateful our story turned out this way.

Thank you again for the well wishes and thoughts, prayers and hugs.   Life is good and we've already rebounded and started saving again - June was just a blip on the radar and he was worth it.

[Slow&Steady]

I think I have been holding my breath with you. Your story and doggy took me right beck to when we found out about our buddy having cancer.

Glad to hear that your guy is going to make a full recovery, and doesn't need yucky chemo!

[okits]

Yay, Rupert!  I'm so glad he is well. 

[G-dog]

Greatness about Rupert - give him a nice ear scratch from me.

[Retire-Canada]

Life update:  Rupert's stitches are out and he is doing great!  We got the call on Friday... the surgery removed all the cancer and he is going to make a full recovery!  My best buddy is going to be just fine and I realized I had been holding my breath until we got that great news.

We definitely feel like one of the lucky ones and are so grateful our story turned out this way.

Thank you again for the well wishes and thoughts, prayers and hugs.   Life is good and we've already rebounded and started saving again - June was just a blip on the radar and he was worth it.

That's great news congrats. :)

[Hargrove]

Congrats!

I had a cat who was pretty old who had kidney failure. Wasn't sure I could do the subdermal injections he needed to buy him an extra while, but not only was it easy, it was like he knew what was happening (he never ran). He was like that. As long as I didn't put him in a pet carrier, he would even sit very calmly in the car on the way to the vet. Only option they gave him was adopting a second cat and doing a kidney transplant for money I wasn't anywhere near back then.

For others re: vet bills - vets are expected to specialize in almost every field at once for all sorts of very different animals, and becoming one is very expensive. Those bills aren't buying the practitioner as much as you think.

OP: one thing I don't understand... you said you had FI plan of 6-7 years and started almost a year ago, and did very well, and had pet insurance. Were you expecting to spend an enormous amount, or is your pet insurance for a very small amount...? The reason I ask is that if the pet insurance is capped at $1000 or a few grand, you may want to see where premiums get outrun by stock returns and just invest the money (and have more to spend on the animals or anything else).

[DirtDiva]

Is it just me, or does Rupert look a tiny bit like Burt Reynolds from the early 80’s?

Get well quick, Rupert!

[EnjoyIt]

Good boy.

[eviebrown]

Hire a bathroom remodeling contractor worth my money because it provides me affordable services and worked according to my needs. I estimated the cost of remodeling around $15 but the remodeling services have done all quality work within $10.  It was a surprising thing for me because I installed all advanced accessories in my bathroom with advanced faucets according to me and my family needs. As per my experience, hire a contractor to remodel a bathroom is worth for me.

[Bucksandreds]

Get a Smith & Wesson today for Rupert.   Get a new dog tomorrow at the shelter who’s on death row anyways.  Win-win.  And you $tay on track.

Jesus, dude. What's wrong with you?

If that's supposed to be a joke, try re-calibrating your sense of humor.

And if not, just because we're anonymous doesn't mean it's OK to be mean.

Wasn't a great choice of words by poster but there is a decent point to be had. Saving a healthy dog that is about to be put down and letting a sick one not suffer is not a terrible choice. Maybe take the sick one to the vet over using a gun but my dad used a gun on sick/dying animals and they had no clue and it was instant. You do know how a cow is slaughtered for the burger you eat, right?

[Just Joe]

Yay Rupert and OP! So happy for you.