Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Pooch

Here is Thunder all $355 of him. He is still a little doped up from the sedation. He has something wrong with his mouth. I noticed that the chow hound was refusing treats and that, well, never happens. His food dish also sat full longer than usual and he started whining when he was eating. I couldn't get his jaws pried open to get a looksy so I took him in. The vet couldn't get him to open up either and he was running a fever. The vet said she could sedate him to get a look and asked if I wanted her to go ahead and do it or get an estimate. I made the mistake of getting an estimate. $250 low end $305 high end.
We have had Thunder for about 5 years. He was my baby until my baby came along. He was as spoiled as she is. He now doesn't get half the amount of attention, he is fussy about his food, he steals the girl's food, the neighbor boy antagonizes him, he sheds like a demon, no body seems to care except for me and he is still here. I still like to sit on the couch when I can and pet him. What price can you put on your pet?
I stared at the estimate, holy cow that is a lot of money that I do not have. What would J do, why am I asking myself that, I know what he'd do. What is my price? I thought about this even before the estimate came and it was $500. Could I put him down, I don't know.
The thing of it is, after $355, they still don't know what is wrong with him. I've got some antibiotics and some pain meds which I have no idea how I'm going to administer and I now wait for a lyme's test to come back. How my couch potato would have received lyme's is beyond me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have Bear, the $1,000 (oh, yes . . . you read that right) Lab. I inherited him along with my husband when we got married, and as much as having him is like having a 3rd (and 4th and 5th child), I know I will be heartbroken when he dies. What is it about animals?! I hope the antibiotics do the trick for Thunder!

Denise said...

Oh the poor thing. I know exactly how you feel we went thru the same thing when Natasha was so sick in November (because we were ready to put her down) when my MIL said that she would pay for testing! and she is back to normal now! (then I think OMG we almost put her down..she is 13 it was hard to know if it was time but I guess it wasn't....BUT it is hard to know what to do especially when money is the factor....spend the money or put them down such a HARD HARD decision and you will always wonder "did I make the right choice" hang in there hopefully he will be better in no time.

Michelle Leigh said...

It sounds about the same as me. Sarge is our first baby and he is so darn neglected nowadays. I feel bad daily for not giving him the time we used to. Daily walks, plaing with him, dog bones, etc. We have Tucker too which we got 4 years ago and he was a full grown pup when we got him. Not quite as attached but I still feel for him. Oh, and the damn cat that pisses on things. I can't bear to get rid of him either.

Ok, so my point is, I'd probably anty up as much as it takes for the dumb animals. My heart would ache too much knowing I didn't do whatever I could to make them healthy. I sure hope the meds help that cute pup of yours.

Julie said...

I hope Thunder feels better real soon, I just wanna give him a big hug....

Anonymous said...

Poor puppy dog!!! I hope he feels better soon!

When we first got Tucker as a puppy,he literally got sick on the way HOME. We brought him to the vet when days later he was still puking and having diahrea (sp?) (the lady we bought him from said, "bring him back and get another one then" but I was like "hell no! I'm already attached!"). Anyway, he cost us about $550 to buy but we call him our $1000 Lab becuz just mere days after getting him, we shelled out about $400-500 more at the vet trying to find out what was WRONG with him! But my point to all this? I couldn't have asked for a better dog. He is the sweetest, gentlest most LOVEY dog I've ever encountered in my life! I can't wait to see how he acts when the baby is born. :-)