Morality in veterinary medicine?

There are many people who have a problem with the increasing number of money and time spent on veterinary medicine. These people are not advocating animal cruelty, but believe there is something wrong with a society where an an imal's life is treated like it is worth more than a person's life. A woman from Zimbabwe commented, “ I am constantly appalled by the manner in which pets are treated, especially in the Western world. Do you all not think that there is something wrong when a person treats a pet better than s/he treats another person? ” In 2002, pet owners spent $522 million on surgical vet visits for cats and dogs in the United States alone. This increasing trend is due to both the new technologies in veterinary medicine and the attachment and value owners place on their pets as family members.

Pet owners and veterinarians must take into consideration the issue of cost versus quality of life after surgery. For many animals, undergoing stressful surgery can shorten their lives or even result in death. At a veterinary hospital in Miami , a key ligament was severed in the rabbit when the hip was dislocated and the hip could not be reset. This left the pet owners with two options:

•  to leave the joint alone with the femur rubbing up against the pelvis which would cause a lot of pain until some scar tissue helped reduce the friction or

•  to perform a femoral head osteoectomy in which the femoral head is cut off, sinovial fluid and a new capsule are allowed to form around the new, smoothed end of the femur and the result is the creation of a ‘false joint' in the hip.

This second option is more expensive, yet pain would only persist after the surgery for about 48 hours. However, many doctors are uncomfortable with using anesthesia in a rabbit because it is difficult to intubate. In the end, the issue was one of cost v. quality of life. Some people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a rabbit that was bought for less than twenty dollars. However, is this the right thing to do when it is known that rabbits can manage fairly well on 3 limbs even if they must bear the pain and may suffer arthritis later in life? Or should risks be taken with surgery even though it could result in death? Difficulty lies in people's responsibility to assess the pain animals experience and make a decision based on assumptions. Where does one draw the line when contemplating extreme surgery?