Veterinary Care

[MissS]

Murphy's fever finally broke. She is feeling a lot better and wants to go for a walk and play with her toys. She went to her own vet yesterday who said "they sure made a mess of her leg." She will take awhile to heal from that still but it is not bothering her so much now as when it first started. I can't wait to take that cone off of her. She still has jaundice. She can slowly start having some of her food (protein) mixed into her pasta.

They repeated her labs and I'm waiting for the results today. That will help us to answer more questions. With the way that Murphy is behaving, I'm sure that they are coming down. How fast, I don't know.

@Moth1992 I'm so very sorry to hear this. My heart goes out to you. This is all so very difficult and expensive too. How old is your dear dog? What were his symptoms?

[LindaJean]

Great to hear Murphy is feeling better, your heart must have melted to see her eat and play with her toys. Going through these storms of life sure deepens the bond.

[AZGardener]

Great news about Murphy. I hope her bloodwork results are much improved.

[worth1]

Go Murphy.
.

[loulac]

Finally a ray of sunshine. Murphy is on the right track!

[GoDawgs]

Super duper news about Murphy! She must be a real happy dog to be home with her loved ones, feeling better, eating fun stuff and reunited with her toys.

@Moth1992, I'm sad to hear about your furry baby. Caring for our older sick babies is an avalanche of mixed emotions and like care of elderly humans, it's costly. More smoke signals to the Great Healer for your cat. At this rate I'm gonna need more firewood.

[MissS]

Murphy's labs are in. Most of her tests are dropping nicely or are even back to normal. Her ALT for some reason has gone higher, so she is still under doctor's care. She gets to come off of her anti-nausea medication and start resuming eating her normal food. This is great because she has lost 6 lbs. There is no Leptospirosis. Why they tested for it when she was vaccinated I don't know. She can start playing with her dog friends again and go on walks. She sure is obnoxious right now and needs to run off all of this pent up energy. I love it! The high numbers can't be explained but we will be watching her closely.

Thank you all for your caring well-wishes. It sure means an awful lot to me!!! This sure has been a scary 2 weeks.

[Moth1992]

Yes great news Murphy!!!! So happy!!!

Im relieved my cat likes his new prescription food. Im still super overwhelmed but feeling calmer. Thanks for the good wishes. He is 13 so not that old but still at that age where many start to go. I allways hoped he would be one of those 20 year old cats but its just life.

[LindaJean]

When our old dog Taz was sick and couldn't eat , at around 10 at night there was a knock at the door- our dog's Vet unexpectedly burst in with an armload of expensive special canned food , talking clowny baby talk to Taz.
He said " I guarantee he will like it " ; Taz loved it, and especially ate up the attention. No charge for the home visit or food. We have stayed with this Doctor for our new Bullydog Amara even though he is possibly the most expensive Vet around, but also has a reputation as the best.
After a tragic battle our sweet old boy died of brain cancer a few days before his 13th birthday , it was the most gut wrenching experience my son and I have ever gone through. I absent mindedly called Amara Taz yesterday , we never got over him.
There are great Vets that are worth their weight in gold.

IMG_4152.JPG

[WoodSprite]

I'm just now seeing this thread.

@MissS, I'm sorry you and Murphy are going through this. It's so hard when our furry friends are sick. I hope Murphy continues to improve.

@Moth1992, I'm also sorry to hear about the sad news that you received. I also had to give fluids to one of my former dogs with kidney failure. She got into a routine and knew when I got things set up to come over, lay on her comfortable dog bed and get lots of attention from me while giving the fluids and she got a high-value treat afterward. I hope it goes a smoothly for you and your pup.

@LindaJean, our past animals always stick with us. I also sometimes mistakenly call my current dogs by the names of my past dogs and cats. They are forever in my heart, as I'm sure Taz is in yours.

As far as prices, yes, it is shocking how expensive vet costs are now. This week I took two of my dogs to the vet for routine check ups and vaccines/boosters, fecal check for one dog, heartworm/tick disease blood test, additional bloodwork for both dogs and medication for one dog and the total was over $1,050. And I need to collect urine for one dog and fecal sample for the other dog so it will be more. Just the fecal check alone was over $60 which is crazy. When I worked at a vet office 30 years ago it was $9. I'm seriously thinking about getting a secondhand microscope, slides and saline solution to doing my own checks like I had done when I worked at the vet office.

We once adopted a dog and I took her to the vet the next day because I thought she had a urinary tract infection because she was peeing so much/often and looked so bad. Turned out she had kidney failure from lyme nephritis which I was told was fatal. We battled it for 10 months with lots of vet appointments, repeat blood tests, me giving her IV fluids and injections at home, special foods and various medications. She had some good days and some bad days and we are so thankful that we had her in our lives. The over $15,000 that we spent on her during those 10 months was worth knowing her. I'm thankful we had the money to do that because I couldn't always have afforded that. My heart goes out to people that don't have the funds and are forced to make incredibly hard decisions.

[MissS]

@Moth1992 I'm so glad that you cat like his new food. Hopefully his numbers will improve and he will be able to be with you for years to come.

@LindaJean Good vets are hard to find for sure. I have been to 3 of them with this dog trying to find one that I like. I liked this one we are seeing. He told me that Murphy needed another recheck in 2 weeks but that I would have to see one of the other dr's as he was retiring next week. As soon as I found one we liked, he is gone. There are 6 other vets there but they are all so very young and inexperienced.

@WoodSprite Vet care is so expensive that I don't know how so many people have pets these days. I guess that most people have decided to enjoy their pets and forgo the standard medical care because it's unaffordable. Our shelters here are filled with dogs from the south that have heartworm. Our vets dread dogs coming in from certain states. Now I understand why these dogs haven't had any medical care. Still, I think that you ought not have the pet unless you are prepared to take care of it. Annual vaccines save everyone so much misery.

[LindaJean]

That's frustrating MissS - just yesterday I went to the 6th new dentist, 5 have quit recently.
I wish Amara could knit funny dog hats, bake dog biscuits, or co star in a Jon Wick movie to pay for her doctor bills. Then it occurred to me she more than pays for her keep as constant security and love. She has pounced on poisonous spiders, and alerted us to a wasp in the house - I'm terribly allergic to stings.
I've just been kicking buying new leather boots down the road month after month , July is Amaras birthday and August is her Vet well check.
Gorilla glue works wonders on the flapping sole of old boots.

[worth1]

What could be the driving factor for these outrageous vet bills?
I can't really afford to have a pet anymore and take care of it properly.
I can't even afford a doctor or dentist even with insurance.

My neighbor has a little long haired dapple dachshund named Marbles that greets me every day if she's out and loose or if on her leash tied up she barks until I come pet her like yesterday.
Her heart would be broken if I didn't give her hugs and kisses or ignored her.
Shes never out of my neighbors sight while outside for very long unless she's in the back with the goat and sheep.

[WoodSprite]

Oops, @Moth1992, your furry friend is a cat. I apologize for calling him a dog. I got mixed up. I hope he is still enjoying his special food. My dog that had kidney failure would seem to love a food for a few meals then refuse to eat it. We had to go through a lot of different foods to keep her eating and sometimes she'd still refuse to eat for a few days. It's so hard. My thoughts are with you as you navigate the disease and help your cat.

[MissS]

@worth1 Veterinarians need to go to school longer than an MD because there are so many different animals they need to learn about. On top of that they are using the state of the art technology and treatments for these animals which I really don't think is needed unless you are going to a specialist for treatments. The vets here all seem to like to work 2-4 days. They then are charging more to still make the same amount of money per week than if they worked a full 5 days. Most vets here are just doing the normal checkup/vaccine appointments and referring everything else out to the specialists or the emergency vets.

[Moth1992]

Oops, @Moth1992, your furry friend is a cat. I apologize for calling him a dog. I got mixed up. I hope he is still enjoying his special food. My dog that had kidney failure would seem to love a food for a few meals then refuse to eat it. We had to go through a lot of different foods to keep her eating and sometimes she'd still refuse to eat for a few days. It's so hard. My thoughts are with you as you navigate the disease and help your cat.

Well wet food flavour #1 he scarfed down yesterday today is a no
Wet food flavour #2 was an ok maybe.
Wet food flavour #3 was a no way not even trying it.
Dry food was a yes. For now.

Ill hit up the other vets in town see if they rep other brands.

Funniest part is my other cat who is a super picky eater and usually wont touch wet food ( only gravy) is loving the leftovers of the gross prescription wet food. Go figure. Cats are so weird .

[WoodSprite]

I know it's hard, @Moth1992. Just keep doing your best. We ended up using people food just to get her to eat but there are foods that are not good for an animal with kidney failure so ask your vet for suggestions if you want to go that route.

[Moth1992]

@worth1 Veterinarians need to go to school longer than an MD because there are so many different animals they need to learn about. On top of that they are using the state of the art technology and treatments for these animals which I really don't think is needed unless you are going to a specialist for treatments. The vets here all seem to like to work 2-4 days. They then are charging more to still make the same amount of money per week than if they worked a full 5 days. Most vets here are just doing the normal checkup/vaccine appointments and referring everything else out to the specialists or the emergency vets.

What I find crazy is the markups. I dont think there are many other businesses ( other than american human healthcare) where its acceptable to markup 500-600%.

I know in the different industries ive worked in engineering and construction we rarely mark up above 25%. Marking up 60% could get us in price gouging legal territory, yet vets can add an extra 0 to that. Its madness.

[worth1]

@worth1 Veterinarians need to go to school longer than an MD because there are so many different animals they need to learn about. On top of that they are using the state of the art technology and treatments for these animals which I really don't think is needed unless you are going to a specialist for treatments. The vets here all seem to like to work 2-4 days. They then are charging more to still make the same amount of money per week than if they worked a full 5 days. Most vets here are just doing the normal checkup/vaccine appointments and referring everything else out to the specialists or the emergency vets.

I actually considered being a veterinarian when I was young but decided I couldn't deal with 7 to 9 years of school.

[Moth1992]

We tried subQs for the first time today at home......

He growled, bolted mid treatment and was mostly uncooperative poor baby.

Half went in and then leaked out. But I got the poking right only at the second try so im calling it a success.

Will try again tomorrow.

Poor guy. (And poor me!)