Thursday, February 18, 2010

Accepting Optimum treatment for Dodger...ahh maybe not.

Yesterday the boys and I took Raven in for her booster shots, and I took Dodger in to get a cursory exam, and discuss some end of life care decisions for this loveable pet thathas been part of our family since 1997. I was willing to pay the 65 bucks for this exam for Dodger, after talking to the Vet about the 2 different scenarios of Dodgers death, 1. We find her dead one day or 2. We bring her in to have her Euthanized....here is how the conversation went..

Me: "Yeah she has definitely slowed down and has some stiff joints, like most 12 1/2 year old dogs. We tried OTC joint pills for a while, what would you recomend?"

Vet: "We need to do a panel on her so we'll need a blood sample, also we'll need to do XRays"

Me: "Uhhhh, how much would that be, and is it necessary in this case?"

Vet: "Well we need to diagnose her, it could be a number of things, and we really would need that panel, it would be around $300 for the xrays and panel, and $150, for just the panel, also I recomend prescription anti inflamatories which are $25/bottle"

Me: "I am thinking no on both the xrays and panel, can we give her anti-inflamatories that are OTC"

Vet: "Yes you can give her a 325 Mg aspirin in the morning and also at night"

Me: "OK I think in this case that is what I am gonna go with"

Vet: "Yes I can feel her spine is a little knotted here and she has arthritis"

Me: "OK I'll start giving her the aspirin"

Vet: "Her ear is gunked up so we'll clean that"

Me: "OK, thank you doctor"


So I saved $300 bucks, and only had to pay $122 for their care........Good ole Dodger though went on a 2 mile walk two nights ago and did OK so she's got a good nother year or so (:




3 comments:

dole2obama said...

Big guy-
Where were ya when I was in the hospital at UCLA? I'm still paying off those bills!

Grandma Dee said...

Garrett, your approach seems like the best one. Kinda silly to take x-rays to tell you stuff that you already know. Would be different if Dodger was 8 years old and had a treatable cancer. Something about growing old gracefully. And, Dodger is doing it. I love her!
It is never easy to think that your pet is suffering. She's a trooper.
Love,
Grandma Dee

Pauly said...

Last year we found out our older dog had cancer. We decided to go for the milder treatment, but it still cost us an arm and a leg. She's doing great after 16 months so it paid off for us. So what exactly is Dodgers diagnosis?