Saturday, January 14, 2006
Looking for a new vet
Maverick has been limping. I am ashamed to say that it's been off and on since before Thanksgiving. I was in denial, driven by visions of large vet bills. Very large vet bills. Maverick helped me in my denial. It was easy to deny he had a problem when he's been his happy self, interested in food, chasing squirrels, and jumping up trees. But for the last week, the limp went from intermittent to constant. I had no choice but to take him to the vet.
The first thing they did was put him on the scale. 106 lbs. Oops...This bad dog owner let her lab gain 13 lbs in 7 months. It will be less kibble and no treats for Maverick.
Unfortunately, Maverick's favorite doctor (the one who smears Turkey baby food all over his hands and lets Maverick lick it off) wasn't available. We got a younger doctor. We'll call him Doogie Howser. I am not sure who was more scared of this appointment, Doogie, or my Doggie. The second Doogie walked in, Maverick growled, and tried to climb into my lap. I had to muzzle him. The nurse was happy she didn't have to do it. She stood across the room peaking out from behind Doogie's shoulder.
Maverick wouldn't let them examine him with me in the room, so they left. A few minutes later, Doogie came in. He thinks that Maverick injured his knee. It's possible that he tore some cartilage, and they want to do xrays of both his knee and his hips. Apparently xrays require general anesthesia. He didn't say why, but he did say that would cost $700.
After picking my chin up off the floor, I asked, "Well, if it cartilage, will you be able to see it on an xray?"
Doogie hemmed and hawed and said, "Well, um, no." Riiiiiiight. So, I asked about plan B. Doogie went on about an anti-inflammatory drug with nasty side effects (phrases like liver damage and kidney failure were uttered) so he wanted to do a full blood panel. I asked him to consult the chart to tell me when the last one was and what the results were. It was last May. He was healthy as can be. So, I passed on the blood panel. You know what they said?
"Well, dogs age 5 years for every single human year."
I thought back to when I was about 8 years old, sitting on the playground with my buddies, trying to figure out my age in dog years. Back then, we thought it was 7 years. We were all excited that if we had been dogs, we could already drive a car, vote, and stay out past dark. How cool would it be to be a dog! Or not.
Back to the vet...I passed on the blood panel. Maverick is only 3 years old. If he were older I might consider it. I had to sign a waiver to get the medication, and I left only $95 poorer than I went in.
So now, Maverick is still limping, and he has a stomach ache from the medicine. I need to find a new (cheaper) vet.
The first thing they did was put him on the scale. 106 lbs. Oops...This bad dog owner let her lab gain 13 lbs in 7 months. It will be less kibble and no treats for Maverick.
Unfortunately, Maverick's favorite doctor (the one who smears Turkey baby food all over his hands and lets Maverick lick it off) wasn't available. We got a younger doctor. We'll call him Doogie Howser. I am not sure who was more scared of this appointment, Doogie, or my Doggie. The second Doogie walked in, Maverick growled, and tried to climb into my lap. I had to muzzle him. The nurse was happy she didn't have to do it. She stood across the room peaking out from behind Doogie's shoulder.
Maverick wouldn't let them examine him with me in the room, so they left. A few minutes later, Doogie came in. He thinks that Maverick injured his knee. It's possible that he tore some cartilage, and they want to do xrays of both his knee and his hips. Apparently xrays require general anesthesia. He didn't say why, but he did say that would cost $700.
After picking my chin up off the floor, I asked, "Well, if it cartilage, will you be able to see it on an xray?"
Doogie hemmed and hawed and said, "Well, um, no." Riiiiiiight. So, I asked about plan B. Doogie went on about an anti-inflammatory drug with nasty side effects (phrases like liver damage and kidney failure were uttered) so he wanted to do a full blood panel. I asked him to consult the chart to tell me when the last one was and what the results were. It was last May. He was healthy as can be. So, I passed on the blood panel. You know what they said?
"Well, dogs age 5 years for every single human year."
I thought back to when I was about 8 years old, sitting on the playground with my buddies, trying to figure out my age in dog years. Back then, we thought it was 7 years. We were all excited that if we had been dogs, we could already drive a car, vote, and stay out past dark. How cool would it be to be a dog! Or not.
Back to the vet...I passed on the blood panel. Maverick is only 3 years old. If he were older I might consider it. I had to sign a waiver to get the medication, and I left only $95 poorer than I went in.
So now, Maverick is still limping, and he has a stomach ache from the medicine. I need to find a new (cheaper) vet.
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I'm glad to hear that in Doggie v. Doogie, doggie prevailed. My OB's dog (older than Mav.) had hip displasia or something and ended up having surgery, but for a while was on a raw foods diet and that seemed to have helped a bit. While a raw food diet is expensive (and probably not very pleasant for vegetarians to prepare ), it's cheaper than surgery or high costing meds. Of course, I don't even have pet fish, so what do I know??
Interesting idea. We did give Mav some raw food once, and it didn't agree with him. There was quite a mess for us to clean up. No surgery for him though. He doesn't need that leg.
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