I completely see everyone's point of view, I really do, and I do have to say that I am very thankful that we have the health care system we do in Canada. We are blessed.
I hope that none of you think that I'm harping on vets. I understand that they have costs, and they do deserve to make a living as well. I wasn't trying to say that they shouldn't charge so that they can't stay in business, and they did have to fork over the money for a college degree in veterinary medicine, which isn't cheap.
I do have to address this part, and Synn, I hope you understand where this is coming from.
When we decided to have kids both of us were working. In fact, back then, I made a lot more money than my husband. I was 27 when I got pregnant with Jared. We were financially secure, we had our own home, 2 cars, both paid for, and the help and support of our family. My parents only lived 5 minutes away from us, and they helped out a lot, not only physically, but financially. The one thing we really didn't give much thought was that I'd be out of work for 4 months after Jared was born. It was going to be a tough 4 months, but my parents agreed to help. Then, when I was 2 months pregnant, the company I worked for bought out another company. The staff of the new company was going to integrate with ours. As a result, half our people, and half their people, would have to be let go. I had told my manager that I was pregnant, she told the CEO, and when the cuts came, I was actually asked to the CEO's office, and he told me point blank that I would be one of the people to go, and the only reason was the fact that I was pregnant, and the timing of my pregnancy would make things very hard for them. I could have sued their arses, but they offered me a severance package, I stayed at my job until 2 weeks before I had Jared. So, when Jared was born I had 4 months mat leave (65% of my wage) and then for almost a year after that I had severance, full pay (and I made very good money then), full benefits, etc. After the severance I qualified for unemployment (65% of my wage) and Rod got promoted at his job, so we decided that I'd stay home again. I was asked to go back to my job, but I declined, and looked for part time work instead. I had just started working part time with a home builder, doing their books etc. I started in October, my mom found out she had cancer in November, my dad died in January. I took a month off when my dad died, but I stayed at the job, and then found out that my mom was terminal. They called me into the office, said that they were happy with my work, but they were going to do me a huge favor and let me go so that I could spend the last weeks my mom had with her.
Long story short (and boy do I have the gift for gab), we really couldn't afford to have a baby when we had Jared. We were in a better position when we had Syd, but still not ideal. In fact, I have to say, if Rod and I had waited until we could afford children, we probably still wouldn't have any.
But my main point is this. Children aren't euthanized if they can't find a home. If a teen gets pregnant, you can bet that there are people lined up waiting to take that baby as their own. It's not the same with dogs, but for some reason we make it almost impossible for the average income family to afford a pet.
That's why we have so many "This is wrong with my dog, and I can't afford a vet" threads. Most people don't have thousands of dollars saved up just in case their dog swallows a chicken bone.
You all know that I'm a huge advocate of only allowing breeders to breed. Stop the puppymills, the backyard breeding, have stricter laws for breeding your pets. If someone isn't a registered breeder, then they should have their pets spayed or neutered. That would literally eliminate the problem. But I also think that vets should offer payment plans for extremely costly surgeries. I'm not saying they shouldn't charge, but at least give pet owners a chance to save their pets lives. I know that the majority of pet owners would make the payments, and be so very grateful, but most vets won't even consider allowing a payment plan, not unless you've been with them for years.
I don't know one person personally that could afford a $2000 vet bill if something should come up tomorrow. I know I can't.
