Today Caleb took our dog Bear (I refer to him as "mutt") to the vet to see what's wrong with his back leg. He's had troubles with his back limbs a few times, once when we moved to Oregon, once when he got hit by a car. This time however, there seemed to be no starting point. No one incident. One day we noticed that he wasn't putting any weight on his back leg. That's it. He never acted like it hurt, never ceased to bring us the ball, or whine to puh-LEASE go outside and play. Apparently this is the "Aussie Way", acting like tough dudes so they can continue to be as active as they please.
The vet said, after listening to Bear's long history, that it was probably best to take an x-ray to see if it was his hip or knee that was bothering him. Caleb told me this over the phone while I was at work, and I wondered if my exagerated eye roll could actually force my tired eyes up into my brain. Of course. An x-ray. I am not ashamed to admit that the first question I asked was how much that would cost us.
It wasn't a pretty figure.
"Building life-long relationships with you and your pets"
(Translation: We took all your money, so you can never forget us)
Does anybody else find these charges to be a little crazy? $92.50 for a shot? $175 for two x-rays? That a new Ipod people. And the mutt totally owes us one...
But...this IS Caleb's baby, so we conceded. Or rather, Caleb conceded and I went along with it. So they sedated him, pumped him full of dye, and took the x-rays. It wasn't his hips but his knee, and thankfully nothing was torn - yet. It is NEARLY torn, so it's swollen and painful. Thankfully surgery isn't necessary until or if it gets torn. So they handed over our droopy drooly mutt, gave us some pills, and told us to keep him calm and relaxed for 10 days so his knee could heal.10 days. Relaxed... Calm...10 DAYS?! ARE THEY KIDDING?!
I thought for SURE the pills were a sedative. Of course! Keep him sedated for 10 days to heal his knee! Yes! I could handle a sedated dog! Bring on the drool!
Oh. They're pain killers. Hmm. So.....how do we keep this dog still (ish) for 10 days? Honestly, I'm asking. Oh, they had some suggestions, "Put a treat in a Kong!" or "Put a treat in a Kong!" or even better, "Put a treat in a Kong!" They obviously don't know this dog. That will keep him entertained for MAYBE 10 minutes. Maybe. 5 is more realistic. Last night Caleb threw the ball outside with him for a hour. And NOW they're telling us to keep him still? Don't get me wrong, I understand why and know it's definitely necessary, but Bear is not going to see that logic. Which means we will be subjected to his moans and groans for 240 hours straight. That's 14,400 minutes.
Maybe the vet should have prescribed US a sedative.
So let's make the best of the situation, right? Let's exploit the dog! That's what I do best.
1 comment:
The beginning of your post was beginning to sound like when we took my Greyhound in to the vet to have a look at her leg. He wanted to do an Xray and it turned out to be bone cancer. She was put down one week later (see the post here: http://yourinternalexpert.blogspot.com/2006/06/commencing-countdown.html).
Luckily though, they didn't charge us that much. California is so darn expensive!
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