Pet injury/vet payment

[mrskal]

Filing in a week or two, my dog has hurt her leg, hoping it is not too bad, but she has not put it on the floor since 4 this afternoon. I dont even know what she did, just came in from being outside for 5 minutes with the leg up and not using it at all. I am obviously going to the vet in the morning, possibly the emergency vet tonight, as I can see she is in some discomfort. I am just wondering how any payment made to the Vet will effect anything with the BK7. I know how expensive this could turn out to be, I work with pets in my career and people can end up paying a lot of money for surgery etc... I, of course will spend what I have to on my girl, but I am just curious how they might treat this since it is a pet. Thanks

[DebtHater]

While I am not an attorney, I wouldn't think taking your pet to the vet should be held against you. It wouldn't be a preferential payment as you don't currently owe them anything. It should only be an unforeseen expense.

I hope all works out well with your dog.

[newbie2]

Not a preferential payment. You are paying for a service, not an unsecured debt.

[mrskal]

Thanks, off to the vet.

[Flamingo]

My question is if you plan on putting this on a credit card that is going to be included in your Chapter 7... ????? You mentioned you have no idea as to the cost and do you have cash on hand to pay for these services? If you are using a credit card and you plan to file in a few weeks including that card in your filing, your intent was to use the card knowing you will not be paying the bill and that is fraud.

It's hard to figure from your posting that you will be paying cash for the vet's services or charging the services. I certainly hope it is the former or you will have a lot of explaining to do to your attorney and trustee.

Best of luck to you and I hope all works out for your dog and it is nothing serious.

[Morgon64]

What if she has no cash?

Not treating an animal that obviously needs help could be construed as abuse.

Seems like a rock and a hard place to me.

[mrskal]

Should have stated it, cash. I have not used a credit card in 18 months. So, it is not as good as I would have hoped for, she has a fully torn ACL, so of course that means surgery. Luckily, my vet is super reasonable, and one of the best. I know of people that have paid 2-3k for this surgery. It will cost $750 if I can get about 4 lbs. off of her before the surgery. If not it is $925. I am assuming the difference is due to anestesia (sp). That should not be a problem, just going to cut out the treats, and lower her food just a tad, she was getting a bit to much anyway. Anyway, I do have the money for it, but since it is such a large amount, will that mean anything? I need to spend down some of my money anyway, but I was not planning on this for sure. Thanks for all your help!

[Exployer1234]

That is a great price for the surgery. I have three Shar pei's and I know it can be expensive. My vet will not work out payments at all, and just walking in the door each time cost me 250 on up. I would just save your paperwork and explain to the trustee why the surgery was needed. I had to bay over 500 to my vet right before I filed and the trustee never said a word.

[researchmode]

When I stopped paying my credit cards I finally took care of myself. I bought two $400 packages from my chiropractor and several $40 individual (non package) treatments. I also spent $150 on my husband's teeth and about $120 on mine. We also spent about $200 getting him an eye exam and glasses. I got my well-woman visit and we both did other checkups/checks that we had put off.

These things didn't get brought up even once. Medical care for any member of the family is important and necessary. It's not like you're getting your puppy a boob job. =-P

Side note: today at my 341 meeting a lady gave her reason for getting into bankruptcy was that she had to have very expensive surgery on her cat, who is "like a member of the family to us". The trustee accepted that answer as valid, or at least didn't make any comments to indicate otherwise.

[mrskal]

Thanks everyone for your responses.