How much would you spend to save your pet?

The proof is out – some Kiwis are barking mad about their pets.

According to Southern Cross Pet Insurance, almost one in five New Zealand pet owners say there is no limit to what they would spend on their animal before they considered euthanasia.

It found the imagination has no bounds when it comes to how some dogs will encounter disaster. There was the hungry labrador retriever that needed treatment after eating a 5-kilogram seal carcass, and the german shepherd-cross that cut itself jumping through a cat door.

Supplied According to Southern Cross, 18 per cent of Kiwi pet owners would not spend more than $500 to save their animals.

Then there were the "dozens" of pets that ingested "all manner of things", including a broken wine glass, rat poison, ear plugs, carpet, and half a kilogram of grapes – which can cause renal failure in dogs.

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According to Southern Cross, which looked through its pet insurance claims and released the oddest, 18 per cent of dog owners say the sky is the limit to what they would pay in order to save their dog.

SUPPLIED Western needed $2000 of surgery almost as soon as owner Moana Young bought him as a puppy. "I just had to save this dog's life," she says.

For 28 per cent of us, the answer was "not sure", while 34 per cent set a limit of $1000 or less.

Central Vet Hospital owner Nick Pallin said vets were recognising more and more that pets were an "intimate part of the family".

"People will honestly treat them like they're kids or family members, and want to do anything possible to make them better or remove pain. Pets are sometimes called fur babies, and to some they literally are."

SUPPLIED Patch and owner Jenny Dittmer. Two years ago, Patch had an $8000 operation to remove three-quarters of his penis after vets found pre-cancerous cells.

Pallin saw people paying up to $10,000 to ensure their pets were pain-free and healthy, and treated a number of repeat visitors.

One was a dog that kept coming in with small stones in his bowels, which needed to be removed.

"His owner worked out he was getting stones out of the garden, leaping on the trampoline, bouncing up and down and swallowing them. The problem was only solved by the trampoline being removed."

SUPPLIED Patch is now feeling much better.

Despite the operations costing up to $2500 each, the owner was quite happy to keep bringing the dog in.

Wellington Vet Group veterinary director Allan Probert said he knew of people who had spent up to $20,000 on dog or cat hip replacements.

"When I started 30 years ago, cats only lived to about 12, now you get cats 18-20 years of age," he said, which was from a combination of better medicine and an increased willingness to pay for it.

He regularly saw clients spending up to $500 getting their guinea pigs' teeth done.

"Surgery on chickens is anywhere up to $400. People love their pet chickens. And with pedigree animals and that sort of thing, the sky is the limit, really."

PATCHED UP - FOR $8000

Aucklander Jenny Dittmer had no hesitation spending $8000 to get three-quarters of her horse's penis amputated.

Two years ago she noticed her 13-year-old gelding Patch had a swelling, later diagnosed as pre-cancerous.

A surgeon recommended the amputation. "He was left with a little stump, but the other horses don't tend to laugh at him when he wees, so it's all all right."

Her costs were covered by her pet insurance, but she said she would have forked out anyway, she said.

"I would have found the money no matter what, I couldn't not do it."

"I JUST HAD TO SAVE THIS DOG'S LIFE"

When he was just a puppy, vets gave Western a 5 per cent chance of survival.

Just hours after new owner Moana Young picked up the labrador-husky cross, she discovered he had worms, a blocked intestine, and later kidney and liver problems.

Despite the grim prognosis and a lack of pet insurance, Young, of Pahiatua, was willing to pay a vet's bill of $2000 to give him extra time.

"I just had to save this dog's life.

"At the end of the day, if it was one of our kids we would. Why not do it for an animal that doesn't have a voice and completely relies on you to save its life?"

Western was given only six months to live. But now, Young says, "he's 10 months and bonnie, and full of energy. He's a survivor".