We only get mainly state pension so if Taff needed anything major we get council tax benefit & would be eligible to use the PDSA. we use the vet for routine stuff - boosters etc. so we don't abuse the PDSA. He's not bothered if he has a piece of string or a hand crafted leather lead. In fact the last two leads I've used have been ones I've found in the park. ( how anybody can lose them & not realise is beyond me though He's not interested in toys - except for his balls & I get them a pack of 2 for a pound. We might be nearly skint but he doesn't cost us much & the joy of having him makes that little bit worthwhile.
We certainly couldn't afford the high insurance fees every month for something that might not happen & if it did they might not pay out.

That's very true when we had ours insured we had been paying for years and never claimed anything then Duncan hurt his eye on a branch and we still didn't claim it was less than the excess anyway, few months down the line he started with the allergies and costs started to rise so we put in a claim and they turned us down saying the allergies and eye injury were previous to when we had him insured ! We had him 3 years by that point so had insured him all that time and the allergies just came out of no where so we had no knowledge of him being allergic before we insured him.

We paid hundreds of pounds over the years probably thousands and that one claim stopped us trusting them big time.

It's not being interpreted as a personal attack at all and nowhere did I say that.
Sometimes we all post without knowing the nitty gritty of each others lives. I didn't post my comment as an attack on you but to highlight why she was being so sensitive to everything you said.
Time out

Wasn't it suggested yesterday that one of the points of having a DEBATE section was so that fragile members or those easily offended could avoid it?

I think it becomes a tad personal when it is asked several times over what gives ME the RIGHT to post asking such a question!

In all honesty Tang I can see it from both sides which is why I have attempted to continue with the debate, that in itself does not stop me feeling for Malka in her current situation. A bit of empathy and lightness of touch is all that's required. If that's not possible you could of course just ignore her but I don't believe for a minute you don't empathise.

It's good we have a charity like the PDSA glad to hear they do what they say will certainly make me think of them when we donate this year.

I understand what you are saying Tang but it's the same old same old, we make plans and then life gets in the ruddy way. When we got Ailsa we had no idea what lay ahead of us and that insurance wouldn't cover her in the eventuality of her HD becoming a problem. Had we known all that we wouldn't have taken Jake on either, choosing to spend any money on her. As you know the end result was us spending lots of money on an operation which worked but exacerbated another problem which ended her life..... my point is we didn't know any of this when we took them on....then, we had enough money for most eventualities but then we didn't- $$it happens - if I had sat down beforehand and thought what if this, what if that- I would have ended up with nothing at all.....however, I have to say that I doubt whether I will be having another dog again, simply because of the possibility of future prohibitive costs.

Hi NSGirl. I think your post sort of sums up what I was trying to say.

Using my own situation as an example, Syd developed bone cancer and he wasn't insured. To all intents and purposes he was fit and healthy with a total zest for life. We were given options such as amputation and chemo. I didn't reject those options because he wasn't insured, I would have rejected them if he was insured. I made my decision based purely on what was right for Syd, vet fees never came into it. I fully accept other people's right to take all the available options even though the eventual outcome would have been the same. It just wasn't for us.
Insurance is not the 'be all' it's often proclaimed to be.

Yes and I do sometimes wonder if some of us put our dogs through more because they are insured, neighbour for instance has been treating her cocker spaniel for about 6 months, painful debilitating treatment that has a 20% chance of working, if she wasn't insured she has admitted she would not be doing it ! I always look at mine and want to spare them as much suffering as I can but somewhere along the line she has lost that and encouraged by the vet is putting daphne through quite an ordeal.