How Far Should We Go to Save Our Pets?

This is a country in which 93 percent of we owners describe our pets as members of the family, where 70 percent of us sleep with our dogs and 78 percent with our cats, in which nearly three-quarters of married pet owners report greeting their pet before their spouse when they return home. It is a culture in which, according to one New York study, women report feeling "significantly" more intimacy with the closest pet than the closest person in their lives.

Given this remarkable relationship, how do we approach these life-and-death decisions? Is it as far as our credit cards will stretch? Is it the pet's quality of life? Or our own quality of life?

(Photo: Boswell, a 2-year-old goose undergoing cancer treatment at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton. Though he was an $8 purchase at the local feed store, his two major bouts with cancer - a tumor in his trachea and now osteosarcoma (a fast-moving and painful bone cancer) in his leg - have added up to perhaps $20,000 worth of surgeries and treatments.)

There are kidney transplants for cats, brain surgery for dogs. Cancer treatments - including operations, chemotherapy, and radiation - for all creatures, including rabbits, lizards, parakeets, fish, and ferrets. Pacemakers are routine, as are CAT scans, PET scans, and MRIs. Along with the cutting-edge equipment, the level of expertise and specialization among vets has grown, too.

So - how much would you spend?

Source: the Globe Magazine