A while back I had a pretty bad run. I’d experienced some deaths in the family and was living in a town where I knew almost no one. Some days I would come home and collapse into a heap, and without fail, Jordy would be there nuzzling her head into my shoulder and stay with me for hours. It sounds crazy, but she really was there for me when I needed her. So when the time came to return the favour, we didn’t hesitate.
About a year ago my boyfriend and I returned from holidays and noticed Jordy, who is now six, had an angry-looking rash across most of her body. We took her to the vets, not thinking much of it, but after three months of irritation and her paws swelling up to the point of her not being able to walk, we knew we needed a second opinion.
Luckily, we found an amazing vet who immediately ran a series of tests, and we soon learned that Jordy has glucagonoma with hepatocutaneous syndrome, a serious disease that is so rare only eight other dogs have been previously recorded as suffering from it before Jordy. To treat the condition, she has twice-daily shots, supplements, pain relief, and a nine-hour weekly intravenous drip of amino acids.
The last year has consisted of so many ups and downs, tests and operations. And as any dog owner would know, with that many visits to the vets it didn’t take long for the costs to build up.
Being relatively young, my boyfriend and I are certainly not well off, but we also don’t have kids and both work full-time. So with a few lifestyle adjustments we were able to make sure that we have money in place for Jordy’s medical expenses. It’s a decision we’ve copped a lot of criticism for from friends and family who can’t understand how we could “waste”, as they put it, so much money. Suffice to say, we’ve spent the same amount as we would have on a house deposit in helping Jordy back to health.
But the truth is, we don’t regret a single thing or cent we have spent. And while we have gone through this long, expensive and exhausting process, we’ve also had people sympathise with us and agree they would do exactly the same if they could for their pets.
With seven in every ten Millennials now owning a pet, there seems to be a generational shift when it comes to how we are dealing with our animals. We’re spending more time with them, and more money than ever before, with the average pet owner now spending roughly $13,000 on their furry friends over the course of its lifetime.
This week our vet presented us with our last treatment plan that comes in at $500 a month. This is on top of her already $230 a week drug cost.
At this point, we are financially stretched and given the rarity of Jordy’s disease, there’s no set guarantee that the treatment will work. But as I write this she is cuddled up to me and snoring, and I know that there is no better place to invest our money than unconditional love.
