I have been crying much of the day. One of my little dogs, Frodo, has blown out a disc in his back. This has happened twice before. Once when he was two, and again a year ago. The incident when he was two was a sudden onset blow-out, most likely because he slipped and twisted the wrong way. Several hundred dollars later, a couple of months on bedrest and a year of recovery seemed to put him to rights. At six (last year) it gave out again, only this time it was a progression that took about a week. Over that week he steadily got worse until he could not use his back end at all. Again, several hundred spent at the vet and on medications for almost 3 months (the medications cost around $150/month). At the same time both my other dogs needed vet attention as well. It ended up running a couple of thousand dollars. Fortunately I had a litter of pups to sell at the time and was able to cover almost everything including Frodo's wheelchair (he recovered once again and got use of his legs back) only having to make a couple of payments toward Ginger's dental surgery.
Now I am out of work and have been for several months. There will be no Christmas in this house, but that's ok. I live alone anyway and family will just have to understand.
But Frodo's back has gone again. This time there was no injury and the process took around a week again to fully take away use of his rear legs. He is in a great deal of pain. I couldn't afford to take him in, but I called and asked if I could get the medications that he was on last time. I took the last of my money to get them for him.
He is laying on his side yesterday and today and I can see the spasms hit him, causing his front legs to extend, but when I touch them he draws them back. He is still able to do his business and has not lost control of his bodily functions. I called the vet again and explained what was happening and asked if there was something more that could be done for him. They said they could add another pain medication so I got a friend of mine to drive me down to get them for him (I lost my vehicle after being out of work a few months. I had already asked on the telephone if I could bring him in and make payments to them to get him seen.... they refused. It's cash up front here in Cranbrook... at ALL the vets.
I found out that, even if he is so bad he needs to be put down, no one will help without cash up front. They will (and they said this when I asked) just let him suffer, and me helplessly watching.
Anyway, when I got there to get the meds they said they could add to what he is taking, they refused to give them without making an appointment and bringing him in.
Understand that I have NEVER had a vet visit anywhere in this town without it costing me close to $200. And that does not include any bloodwork etc that may be needed, but would include medication in Frodo's case. But not x-rays which will be needed again in Frodo's case.
So, in my opinion, the almighty dollar wins out over everything else. I wasn't asking for them to do anything for free.... just to give me some time to pay for it.... but without the cash up front, forget it.
I thought they cared about the animals, but now I can see that they don't give a damn about anything but how much they can make off someone.
I expect the coming days will be full of tears, as today was/is. If you are prone to prayer, please pray for my little Frodo. He is my buddy and I am at a loss over what to do now. Thanks
No comments:
Post a Comment