Oh no...another veterinary bill coming up :( (1 Viewer)

[Michael*K]

Less than a week after the "road atlas incident" it seems now that I'll be taking my female Lab in for x-rays. I had her in a week ago because she was limping. They manipulated her leg and couldn't "feel" anything wrong. We decided to go with the conservative approach with some anti-inflammatories instead of x-rays. However, after racing around the backyard tonight after a tennis ball, she couldn't put any weight on her rear leg. Hopefully it's just a sprain or strain instead of something major like hip dysplasia (sp?) My pooch has me on the fast track to financial ruin!

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--Mike
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[Julian Reville]

German Shepherd: 21.7% dysplastic
Labbrador Retriever: 14.2% dysplastic
These figures from a sadly out of date Orthopedic Foundation for Animals brochure; 1974 to 1993 statistics; but the percentages probably haven't changed much.
Might I suggest you look at pet health insurance?
P.S. All the other vets I have talked to say their business is way down right now, I know mine is, due to the poor economy and the WTC attack. Believe me, we need the money.

 

[Scott Dautel]

Michael ... I feel for ya & I certainly hope it's not what I just went thru.
My best bud is an 8 year old female lab. Last spring she was out back on her usual squirrel patrol. She came to the back door limping & refusing to put weight on one of her hind legs. It didn't improve after a few days so I took her in. The Doc did a manual manipulation of her knee and was certain she had severed her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament - also a common football/skiing injury in humans). He explained to me that this is quite common in larger, active dogs ... particularly retreivers. There are really only 2 choices for repair. 1) replace the ACL with a wire in the knee or 2) perform a "fibial head transposition" surgery, which means cutting moving & pinning a bone in the lower leg to provide knee support.
As bad as it sounds, he recommended the latter for my girl. That was 5 months ago & I went with his recomendation (approx $1000., BTW) Recovery was approx 3 months, she's now running again and all is well. Very mild limp occasionally after an active day & I try to restrict jumping (for both of us). I also have her on a glucosamine supplement daily to prevent stiffness.
The things we do for our beloved pets ...
good luck, Scott
[Edited last by Scott Dautel on October 02, 2001 at 08:27 AM]

 

[Paul Bond]

Our oldest, a White German Shepard did the ACL thing about 6 years ago. We had the operation, and she did just fine. Shortly after she had pretty much gotten completely recovered, she came back from a run limping on the OTHER leg. Yep. She'd torn that one. Money was kind of tight right about then, with the boy in college, but we pulled in our belts and had that one fixed too. At 13, she gimps around quite a bit, and its beginning to look like she may not be with us much longer, but I don't regret a penny we spent on her.
Paul

 

[Michael*K]

Well Julian, it looks as though your Illinois colleagues will be getting some business, so they can continue making their mortgage payments.

Preliminary reports show no hip problems on the x-ray. I have to talk to the vet in person tonight, but he told me on the phone he suspects a partial or complete tear of the ACL, because there is swelling and the joint seems loose.

Right now he wants to send her home with some stronger anti-inflammatories for five days just in case it's a strain or something is pulled. But he said he expects that she'll have to come back to have the ligament replaced. One of the other vets told me this morning when I dropped her off that the ligaments are replaced with some sort of synthetic fiber. Guess they don't use cadavers like they do in humans. Anyhow, I didn't ask about cost (I'm sure I'll find out tonight) but based on Scott's estimate, I'd say $1000 is probably going to be the starting point (these guys are good, but charge at the high end of the scale, from what I understand.) $$$ are a little tight right now, but that's what credit is for, I guess.
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--Mike
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[JasonS]

Please do not complain about the vet bills. Just think of it as you're doing something nice to help your dog. We recently had to euthenize my lab, and it was definately one of the most depressing things I've ever had to do.

 

[Michael*K]

I'm not complaining...just disturbed by the frequency with which I'm making payments.
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--Mike
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