My poor dog

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

So... Wednesday night I get home from working, excited to have the four day weekend, and discover that my dog Muppet is acting wierd.

He's on the couch, trembling, doesn't come when I call him (and normally he's running around happy to see me). So I take him outside, and 2 steps out of the door, he stops and tries to pee. Nothing. 2 more steps, repeat. Clearly, he cannot pee.

I call the vet and they say, take him to this emergency clinic thats open 24 hours, sounds like kidney stones or a blockage. After 4 hours at the vet they say it is indeed a stone, but its in his urinary tract. Ok, lets fix it. 4 days and $2800 dollars later, he's back home and doing well. If it weren't for the scar and radar dish, you'd think he was just fine.

What I won't do for my dogs...
So, would you have paid that much for your pet?

[HarmNone]

Of course I would! To me, that's a responsibility you take on when you decide to have a pet. You become responsible for their health and well-being.

Kudos to you for taking good care of the poor little guy. He looks like he's pretty thankful...that is, once he forgives you for making him wear the radar dish around his head. ;)

[Divinity]

Aww, poor pup. Here's to hoping for a fast recovery. I would have definitely paid for anything that needs to be done for my pet. They are like my roommate, and my responsibility. If they need something, I'll do it for them.

[Edited on 11-28-2004 by Divinity]

[Brattt8525]

There is no limit to what i would spend on my animals. Only restriction being if their quality of life was was poor, then I would opt for them to be put down. Years ago my chocolate lab suddenly got sick, took her to the vet where they told me the technical name for her problem <which now I cannot remember> they hooked her up to an IV let me see her, then proceeded to tell me they could give her experimental drugs that would run into like 400 per month. She could not get excited, no running around and other then going outside to go relieve herself she was to stay indoors as to not be stimulated into "crashing" again.

I looked at my dog, looked at the vet and said she cannot be expected to live like that. This was my hunting dog, who lived to bound out of the duck blind dive into the lake to retrieve birds. She literally shook in anticipation of going out to hunt, or play fetch with her dummies. The dog was a ball of "woo hoooo"

They allowed me to stay with her and say my goodbyes, then as they put her down she was in my lap and I watched her drift off into a place where she could play without fear of hurting herself and crashing again.

I miss her, my Keisha.

[AnticorRifling]

Dude that dog is awesome I love the underbite!

Yes I'd drop whatever money I had to see my weiner taken care of, but if I knew that paying money wouldn't improve the situation or only prolong the inevitable I'd put her down. I wouldn't keep her around suffering because I couldn't let go, my wife would but that's why she thinks I'm a shallow heartless bastard.

Also I've never put a dog to sleep, I've put down the three I've had to put down.

[Brattt8525]

Oh and adorable dog SHM kudos for spending the money on that little dog. The pic of him on the couch? with the dish on his head is too cute.

[Betheny]

Poor Muppet.

Thank goodness it wasn't something more serious. My mother's Mine Coon cat, Hercules, has a 'narrow urethra' (like Hank on King of the Hill, said the vet). The problem is his urethra gets blocked, and you know how cats are, they don't own up to being sick. He almost died until my dad insisted on treating him. Which is funny because my dad was a self proclaimed cat hater. He paid 1900 bucks to have our kitty fixed.

[NihilistInc]

If I had kidney stones, I'd seriously consider suicide.

God damn that sounds like it HURTS

[HarmNone]

I've never experienced them, but I understand from those who have that kidney stones are, in fact, horribly painful. Poor little guy couldn't even cuss, which is probably what I'd have been doing. :(

[GSLeloo]

If I had the money I would do anything for my dog. But at the moment a surgery that much would be like the difference between paying the bills and not. I hate to say it but we may not have done it... oh poor ginger.

[peam]

I'm in agreement with pretty much everyone on the boards. I'd spend whatever was needed to keep my dog kicking.

I thought I was going to have to take mine to the vet on Friday. Relatives gave him people food on Thanksgiving, and he's on a strict no human food diet. He ended up squirting out of both ends. Luckily, he seems to have recovered without any medical assistance.

[HarmNone]

Originally posted by GSLeloo
If I had the money I would do anything for my dog. But at the moment a surgery that much would be like the difference between paying the bills and not. I hate to say it but we may not have done it... oh poor ginger.

Practically, it's not always possible for everyone to pay out that kind of money for a pet's medical bills. The next best thing, however, would be to pay to have the poor little creature put to sleep. It might not be the ideal solution, but it's definitely better than allowing the animal to suffer.

[Ravenstorm]

When one of my cats was three he begab to have problems with constipation. It got to the point that he was having to go twice a week to the vet for enemas. It turned out that he developed a megacolon. That's where the colon grows so wide that it literally can't push anything through it so everything was getting stuck inside. The surgery to remove 3/4 of his colon cost about $3000 as well. That was seven years ago and he's going strong now.

My cats are a part of my family and worth every penny.

Raven

I'd spend any amount of money to keep Rex and Daisy (my two boxers) healthy. Money can be re-earned, but a lost friend will never come back.

- Arkans

[Chadj]

Boxers rock.

Mine's 13 years now.. we've spent somewhere around 4k on her in medical bills.

Arkans is correct.

13 years for your boxer? Very nice, must be taken good care of him/her. Boxers really are the best dogs, nothing compares to their uniqueness.

- Arkans

[AnticorRifling]

Miniature, long haired weiners pwn.

Sure they do, they got nothing on boxers though! Rex and Daisy are clever as hell when they put their collective minds together.

For instance, one will keep head butting me to keep me busy, while the other goes and takes food off my plate. Damn dogs.

- Arkans

[Brattt8525]

Originally posted by Arkans
Sure they do, they got nothing on boxers though! Rex and Daisy are clever as hell when they put their collective minds together.

For instance, one will keep head butting me to keep me busy, while the other goes and takes food off my plate. Damn dogs.

- Arkans

:rofl: smart dogs

[peam]

I never got the boxer craze. Every boxer I've encountered has been either mean as hell or bouncing off the walls annoying.

Gotta own onw for a while, Peam. I've never seen a mean boxer in my life, but they do have a ton of energy. Usually just happy to see people. They really do grow on you.

- Arkans

PS: They really do plot against me! They'll stink up where I am sitting (my couch/bed) so I move away for a bit. I come back? Fuckers are on it. Damn.. Dogs 2.. Arkans 0

- Arkans

[HarmNone]

Please keep us updated on the little guy's progress, SHM. He's sooo cute!

[DeV]

Our family would spend any amount necessary on our dogs to keep them healthy and well. We have a Rockweiler and an Akita right now and if something happened to them there'd be no question. My black lab retriever died at a ripe age of 15 and only went to the vet twice during her lifetime. It's definitely worth the money if you love your pet and consider them like family.

[Scott]

I spent $10,500 on my dog about a year ago. I took her up to my cabin and took her along for a walk through the woods. She normally runs far ahead for about 5 minutes, then come back and check on me and then go back out again. However she was gone for about 20 minutes and I never heard her.

So I finally found her tangled in razor ribbon (apperently some kids put it out there) trying to get out to see me. She cut herself so badly..... It was so sad because she wasn't yiping, she thought she was bad because I was hollaring for her to come to me......

So I took her to the only vet open on July 4th in the middle of nowhere. It was a beat up old place. Took a ton of stictches to fix her up, then found out that it caused an infection and cut some muscles and such, so I took her to another vet since this vet had no idea what to do...... Total Cost: $10,500

I'd pay it again if it happened. However whenever she's bad I blame her for making me spend that much money on her.

That kid should be found and shot.

- Arkans

[Brattt8525]

My sister had a vet bill from hell. Apparently one of her horses named Sassy ate something that caused her to colic. She ended up having to send her to Guelph University and $9000 later they sent her home. She is still paying the bill off, but she says everytime she looks at her, the cost does not seem so high.

[Caiylania]

I'm glad your dog is doing better. For that matter, that everyones pets are doing better. My cat that I posted about is, though still walking weird. His bills are about $500 right now.

The most I've paid in Vet bills..... that would go to my horse. I got smart though. He is now health insured. $300 a year and he is covered for up to almost 20,000 in vet bills plus an additional 3k for colic surgury to be tacked on.

I would really suggest that people get health insurance for their pets. Its affordable, and you won't have to make that choice between bankruptcy and your loved pet.

[Caiylania]

p.s. Half boxer / half german shepards are the best dogs.

Evah.

My cocker spaniel died at ten and a half.

She had cushions(sp) disease which is common in cockers, and when her bones started withering away and she had ulcers, we took her to the vets who were trying to relocate her femur, they completely shattered her entire pelvis in the process.

The stupidest shit, was that before they tried to fix her up, the vet had called the previous two days and had been saying about how her condition had been improving. This was until they thought they were doing some good by anesthitizing her and relocating the bone. We had to put her down after that, and she never came off of the anesthetics because it would be too painful for her to awake after the botched up surgery.

Later this year, I took my iguana to the vets for holding while I was away in Florida. When I came back, he was in his cage in the back corner of the Euthanizing room and it brought back painful memories as this was where my family and I said my goodbyes to my spaniel.

[Caiylania]

::::::hugs:::::

That's rough man. Loosing a loved one always is. One of my cats dissapeared 3 years ago, I still hurt and not knowing what happened makes it worse.

Thanks. :grouphug: I still don't understand what the point of the surgery was considering she had latent Cushin's disease, but that's life, and the end of one too.

[Sylvan Dreams]

Unless it was a situation where one of my animals was better off being put down, I'd pay anything for their health. With as many animals as I have (5 cats, 2 dogs, 1 bunny), it can add up, but they're all worth it.

The weirdest expense I ever had though was Paxil for my cat, who experiences bouts of anxiety and depression.

[Betheny]

I think my mom is going to have to put our half Daschund-half Chihuhahua named Oscar down soon. He's so old, half blind, arthritic... he's still in good spirits and somewhat mobile, but he's going downhill fairly fast. He can't jump up on the bed, and he can't hold his bladder for very long. He also has this strange cough... but the vet said that his lungs sounded clear. It's a rattling wheeze he does every hour or so. :(

Last cat we had, Bandit, we had since I was very very young... before I could remember. When he was put down, my parents didn't even tell me, and I never got to say goodbye. I'm still a little pissed off about that. Same with our dog Princess.

[AnticorRifling]

Daschahuas are cool dogs, my buddy in the Corps bred them. Always went over to his house to help with the puppies, that and have his wife cook for me God Philipino women can cook...

[Betheny]

Oscar is such a nice dog. He never barked until my mom's German Shepherd taught him how. But he's so good natured. I never liked little dogs til I met him.

I was never a fan of ankle pinchers, myself. Though I can appreciate that some poeple grow bonds with dogs like that and it's fine by me. Nothing will ever beat my beloved Rex and Daisy! Go boxers!

- Arkans