you have been given some suggestions already and I just wanted to comment about paying for the operation. We are in a similar situation in that my MIL took on one of our own dogs and has had her for about 2 and 1/2 years. She seems to be pretty sick at the moment and we are expecting a huge vet bill that neither my MIL or we can afford. I also feel responsible for the bill cause she was our dog. I am going to offer to pay for 1/2 the bill, just a suggestion that maybe you could pay 1/2, 3/4 or whatever to help out your parents?
Unfortunately costs of vet bills are rising. I work in emergency at a specialist centre, and if you were to have that surgery with a specialist orthopaedic surgeon it would be over $4000. So to me, $1800 is a reasonable price. The cost of veterinary fees are going up because the costs of drugs, treatments and expectations of clients are going up. Procedures have changed drastically, 13 years ago when I first started vet nursing, we didn't have to be as skilled nurses, they didn't even offer a uni course, it was just 2 years part-time at tafe and TBH the course was ridiculous. Now its a 4 year course either through Uni or through specialist education centres. Yet, the wages still are quite low. For a nurse with 10 years experience and fully qualified the award rate is around $17.50 an hour.
So the costs of veterinary bills are going up because the skills are going up and it less of a backyard job anymore and more of a specialised career. HTH
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