Posted on 08/01/2022 10:23:56 AM PDT by Salamander
My PTSD dog/best friend goes for chest x-rays tomorrow to see if his osteosarcoma has spread or not.
So very sorry.
Thank you.
I feel like I’ve been knee capped, gut punched and had my heart ripped out and shown to me, still beating.
I’m so sorry dear. I wish there were something I could do. I pray the Good Lord will heal your beloved pet.
I know how it hurts. I’ve had many a faithful four footed friend and we love them so.
Don’t bother.
They come apart and the discount stores are lousy with them now.
Nothing works as good as a raw beef bone.
Bump before I hit the hay.
Prayers sent for your dog and yourself 🙏.
I saw those on TV the other day and thought they might work to help, if they will chew them. I think I’ll get one and try it.
I buy the kneecaps instead of the bigger round knucklebones that the bigger dogs chew. The kneecaps are for dogs up to 50 pounds. Those help some and don’t break teeth like rib bones can. They also don’t splinter. They are expensive though.
Dogs are chewers and chewing moderately hard stuff helps with plaque.
There is a credit card called Care Credit that you can use for Vet bills, doctor bills, etc. and you can get approved online. I have one that I got after my JRT had knee surgery. If the bill is over a certain amount you can get it no interest for a period of time. That will give you time to sell stuff or make the money some other way and pay it off.
Even the women that work in my Vet’s office have one and they highly recommend it for emergencies. It’s advertised at the front desk. I don’t like credit cards but this one is worth having if it means saving your pup or not.
I have seen way too many fixable pets put down due to lack of money. So have Vets so that’s one reason they push this card. This will help with that.
I already have one of those, albeit a small line of credit due to a crappy credit score.
It’s what I’ve been using the whole time.
Trupanion pays their portion while I’m still at the vet and I pay the copays and other fees with the Care Credit and then pay on that card as best I can.
Since he started treatment in late February, every trip has averaged around $230 not covered by insurance and put on the card.
In the start of it, it was every week trips, one 3 days in a row trip and then a trip every 3 weeks since.
The non-covered charges have really racked up and I owe more on the cards than I have to pay them.
Yesterday they sent the amputation estimate.
It’s $6197.
That would mean $620 [plus the inevitable uncovered consultation fees] gas, etc and I just cannot see a way to do it.
I’ve hit a wall and I’m failing him after everything I did to treat him and I’m just beaten.
I hate myself.
Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t jump the gun on putting him down either. My old dog lived almost a year after her bladder cancer diagnosis by taking Peroxicam. It’s the alternative to chemo on dogs that are too old for surgery. She was almost 15. Her quality of life was pretty good for 10 months longer than I would have had her otherwise. The doctor told me to watch for not eating/drinking, bloody urine, obvious pain, and the inability to urinate. She got up one morning, after eating good the day before, and was very disoriented. She had lost so much weight that she went from over 50 pounds to 30. Still, she barked at me every morning when she got up. The day I had to take her in was the day she couldn’t keep her balance and didn’t bark at me. It was time. The main thing is, don’t let him suffer. As long as he isn’t suffering, let him live. That’s what my Vet told me. They won’t put down a dog that has a decent quality of life. They also won’t do abortions on dogs. :-)
He is not getting put down.
He’s otherwise happy as a clam and I have to restrain him from running amok all the time.
Just to be contrary, he’s *gained* weight and literally grown an inch which is bizarre, considering he’s now 5 years old and well past his normal Doberman growth spurt phase, which is normally 2 years.
Other than the limp, he is the same as ever, joyous, rebellious and determined to live life full speed, under maximum power.
When the vet techs bring him out to me, it takes two of them to hang onto him as he sets himself into his harness and charges back to me.
He is not acting “sick” by any stretch of the imagination.
My people doctor listened to what was going on with the my dog yesterday, and flat out emphatically and repeatedly said “Let his leg alone!” and he’s the one who said, back n January, I should amp ASAP.
My doctor loves my dog almost as much as he does me and he would never tell me anything that would harm either of us and he thinks I should let the dog be himself.
I think I should cut back on all the tasty food he’s been being spoiled with because he really is getting too chonky.
This hurts me worse than anything else I’ve ever had happen in my life.
I understand completely and I’m SO glad to hear you are going to let him live his life. I know it’s expensive. My husband and I are retired and on a fixed income. I have P&G stock that I can sell in a big emergency. My biggest nightmare is not being able to afford their care and if breaks my heart when I see people in that position. It sounds like you have a Vet like mine. :-) 💖 There are still some out there that really care. There are six Vets in this practice and all of them have multiple dogs that they took home after the original owners couldn’t afford the cost of medical procedures.
I’m glad yours is still acting normal and happy.
My biggest heartbreak was when my JRT got an autoimmune disease after having his knee surgery. He was 13 when he had the surgery. His other leg started wasting away and the “bad” knee and leg was actually stronger than the “good” leg. The autoimmune disease got in his liver and caused liver cancer. I had no choice but to put him down due to the pain. He made it to 14, a whole year, before that happened. We tried everything they knew to do but I won’t let one suffer. That would have been selfish on my part and there was nothing else to try. I even took him to a specialist in Knoxville. He was my 💔 dog and I will always miss him, so I really do understand. He slept in his dog bed beside my bed for 14 years. He snored and I woke up for weeks after he passed because I didn’t hear his snore.
Cancer sucks!
My own people doctor, not his vet, said let him be.
The vet said “amp now!” and sent me a $6200 estimate and wanted him there this morning at 6am.
I’m trying to find a local vet who will provide better “hospice” type meds as his oncology vet only gives feeble stuff.
Your people doctor is right. Anything could happen, or not. I saw a lady in the Vet clinic one day with a Dobie that was missing a back leg. He had bone cancer and they removed the leg. She said Dobies are prone to bone cancer so she has to bring him for an evaluation periodically. We lost a Rotty/Catahoula Leopard to bone cancer over 30 years ago. I hope you find a miracle!
I hope so, too.
The fracture surprise really kneecapped me.
Here I was asking for prayers for clear lungs and this happens.
I should have been less specific, maybe.
I have no idea what his oncologist will do if I don’t cut off his leg.
I worry she’ll refuse to see him for the lung xrays every 3 months or something.
I hate being at the mercy of people who think their decision should be mine, automatically.
I don’t know what to do, really.
I’m sort of just “shut down” right now, mentally.
It’s just to much to process and I do not want to make huge decisions while in a panic state.
I’m really sorry about your JRT.
The neighbor has a Parsons Terrier and I love her like she was my own.
She is now old and mostly deaf but still peppy.
I dread the day she passes as the neighbor is going to be broken.
He really loves that little dog.
Only you can make that decision. I know you will do the right thing. If your dog’s doctor drops you, that might be a good thing. A second or third opinion is never a bad thing. The doctor might do you a favor if she does drop him.
We have a really scary [to me] appointment with a new vet tomorrow and rather than start a whole new thread, I thought I’d just bump this one up.
Please pray they’ll be able to find a good treatment for his leg and not instantly jump to the “chop it off” choice as he stills uses it, even with a limp.
This is pretty much our last hope as far as that goes.
He is doing *much* better than I am and has been put on a diet because he’s getting fat from being being spoiled and not running wild anymore.
He’s not happy about that at all and has a wicked aim with his empty food bowls.
[I have learned to keep one eye on him and to duck, fast]
Yet another of his “incredibly atypical presentation symptoms” for OSA, which no vet has been able to figure out, so nobody really knows FOR SURE what is going on with his leg.
I am not willing to just take the words of vets who want the easy way.
My boy deserves better than that.
Prayers greatly needed for him and for me.
I am not coping well with this, at all.
/Shari
Prayers up for you and your sweet boy! I know how scary it is. I’m so glad that you found a vet for another opinion. Your boy deserves every chance. Keep us posted!
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