I realize this is off topic, but I consider you all family sooo--- I've been slowly trying to save enough money to get a polished SS front bumper that Ive been drueling over for some time. Well My 140lb German Shepherd named Jake, tore a tendon or ligament in his back leg, and the vet says its going to cost over $3000 to fix. The poor dog is only 3 years old so there is no way I'm /we are not going to fix it.(He's family, and we love him) We don't even have $300 but this vet has blessed us by allowing us to put $200 down, and pay $100 a month until the debt is paid. I thought this was worth posting not only because we all like dogs, but because there are still Vets around that truly care not just for there patients, but for the families that love them. Another thing is the only way I could raise that kind of money quickly would be to sell the truck, Im glad that wasn't necessary. We take him in for surgery tomorrow morning. Thank you for listening.

 

I feel for you jim, i have 3 dogs and there just like kids. Glad you have a way to work through it.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. My dog is another one of my children. good luck with everything.

Oscar

 

We had a similar issue with Moonshine "Whiskey" Rottenweiler. I am glad that your vet, too, is willing to work with you. I'm glad that it wasn't one of your human family. That could have cost ten times as much.

 

The things we do for our furry friends

 

Poor Jake! Dogs take priority around here too.

 

Amen brother. A lot of the vet's up here will also take payment's. A true sign of passion for the field they are in.

 

Jim, any pet owner knows exactly what you're going through. We have a 16 year old Terrier mutt-mix that never had any issue. My wife recently got a mini-English Bulldog puppy and in the first few months, she (the puppy) was already at the vet three times. Each time it was about $100 per visit. Knowing the hereditary/breed problems that Bulldogs have, we opted out to get pet health insurance. It's only $35/month and we have a low deductible. The insurance does cover, although not 100%, any hereditary/breed issues. Maybe worthwhile for you to check it out. I went with VPI Pet Insurance.

 

Wow!!! Let's talk about this for a second. That's a lot of money even for outpatient human surgery. How does this vet actually know how bad the damage is? Is he basing this on his clinical exam? Is the poor dog's leg just flopping in the wind, and he'll never walk again, or is this a partial tear, is the dog limping around, etc.? Is there a possibility that the dog's leg could be splinted or casted in a neutral position and given a period to heal? Ask the vet if that is an option. BTW, that's a pretty big German Shepherd.

 

Jim,
You made the only choice, there will be other bumpers but there is only one Jake. Two years ago we had to put Max down but before we did we spent a lot trying to make him better. I would do it all again to be able to rub his head one more time.
Dennis

 

Yeah Jimmy, life happens to wreck the best of plans.

I hope your dog heals soon, and at much less expense.

 

Thank you everybody. This is the only truck site I know of that a guy can throw in a thread about a dog and not only have folks understand, but respond with kindness, and include great pics of there K9 truck buddies. Jake had surgery this am so Im sitting on the floor next to him,offering whatever comfort I can. I don't understand what goes on in a dogs leg but the Vet said a ligament in his knee was completely torn and had to be replaced with some sort of manmade material, and they needed to drill a hole in the bone to anchor it, beyond that I don't know. Since you guys included pics, so did I. Its Jake and my wonderful wife of 22 years in San Francisco's Golden gate park. Dogs and ford trucks kind of go together.LOL

 

Jim,
Family comes before trucks every time! You made the right call.

Here's a look at my Shepard, "Aeryn". She's a big sweetheart

Bobby

 

OK guys, since this thread is OT and about medicine I need to vent to my FTE family, to someone, my family has already heard it all.

First, Doc, I know you might have your angle to this story and I will accept it but man when I've taken an animal into a vet it has been a rather easy and somewhat easy event. My son has the vet come out to check his cows on pretty much an weekly basis. The cow vet can walk into the barn, look over a cow, look in it's eyes and feel it's ears and diagnose the problem. If there is a twisted stomach or any other serious medical problem requiring surgery the vet will prep and operate on the cow while it's standing in the stanchion in the barn. Within a hour the cow is sowed up and ready to go.

My son has be experiencing internal bleeding for over three weeks. He was admitted into the ER twice, the first time they gave him some antacid and sent home, the second time, which was the next day, they kept him for observation and keep him in the hospital for a week. During that week he was on a liquid diet, he had scopes shoved up and down him, he swallowed a camera pill. For each of procedures he had to down a gallon of some awful tasting laxative to clean his system. They had him take the crap on day for one test, and then by the time they would give him a second test they said the effects of the stuff wasn't good enough so they made him take more the following night. Then toward the end of the week they told us they didn't have a long enough scope and he had to be transferred to the major hospital in Milwaukee. This wasn't a life saving transfer but because of liability issues they had to transport him via ambulance, so what could have been $5 in gas for us to drive him, I am sure, turned into a $1000+ taxi ride. Once at the new hospital he sat in bed for two days until they finally let him go, without doing the procedure they sent him down there for. By the time he left he was, I'm not exactly, down 3 pints of blood. I know it was a significant amount because they gave him an iron IV before he left to boost his blood. A few days after getting out of the hospital he wasn't feeling good and was bleeding again. We took him to the doctor. The doctor told us he was down more blood since he left the hospital. This was on a Friday morning and the doctor was concerned because if my son lost any more blood he would have to get blood infusions. The doctor called around trying to find someone who would help but no one had time and since it was a weekend no one would do anything over the weekend. So, they finally set up an appointment, again a the major hospital in Milwaukee for a probe with a longer scope. All they told my son was to stop eating before midnight, no mention of the laxative crap, not even a prescription for it. My wife took off of work today to take him down there at 7:15 this morning. They admit my son, prep him with a gown and IV and then they come in and tell my wife and son they can't do the procedure because my son wasn't cleaned out with the laxative. A new doctor, a surgeon, who was going to do the procedure told my wife and son that he didn't see the since in doing the additional procedure because he wouldn't be able to get to the trouble spot and the only way he thinks it can be taken care is to operate. The last I heard from my wife is they're thinking of scheduling surgery next week, dead in the middle of deer season. My son is not happy and I'm royally pi**ed.

Doc, again I apologize if I am offending you or your profession, but almost every time I have to deal with a medical problem I get a screwing. First, I have crappy insurance with a very high deductible, thankfully I have a Health Savings Account set up and it should cover my son's deductible, but I'm sure the insurance company is going to screw us.

Mainly though, I feel we have been jerked around by the medical professionals during this whole ordeal. They took forever to admit my son into the ER even though they could see he was in great pain. We took him to a smaller hospital near where we live, north of Milwaukee. They don't get the load of gun shot and stabbing wounds and auto accidents that the ERs in Milwaukee get. When they finally take you into the ER the may be 1, or on a busy night, 2 rooms occupied and you sit and wait for literally hours with nothing happening. I realize I don't know the inner workings of the ER or the hospital but I do know that with my business I don't deal with people suffering and I don't charge a minute fraction of the medical sector charges but my customers don't sit around waiting for me to do their work and they don't pay me no where near what we pay for medical services but they don't hesitate a second to scream and yell and threaten to take their business elsewhere if they think I'm not doing my job or I'm overcharging them. Also, if they think for a second I'm stalling a job to make more money they'll be right there, again, screaming and threatening. If I overlook part of my job and they equipment isn't operating perfectly I hear about it and will have to go back on my time and fix it no matter how long it takes.

I just turned 50 and we all know what that means, they want to give you the "procedure". In fact my doctor asked me if I wanted to schedule it but after what I have seen my son go through I'm not doing it. I can see it now, I schedule the appointment, drink the crap, go in for my 7:00 appointment, because I don't wan to miss any more work than I need, and then wait until 8:30-9:00 to be seen. I over the years I have become extremely impatient with doctors and their schedules. If I have a 8:00 appointment I want to be seen no later than 8:15, at 8:20 I will be at the front counter raising hell. I may not be a college educated professional but my time had a high value to me, just as much to me as the doctor's time is to him or her.

Sorry about this long rant but man, I'm really pi**ed. Oh, BTW, the hospital this morning gave my wife and son a $5 coupon for breakfast as a peace offering for wasting their time. Let's see, my wife took off of work, that cost $50, my son had to take off of work and isn't helping me get work done at my business, that's another $50. They had to drive 50 miles to the hospital, well maybe that lousy $10 worth of coupons will compensate them for the gas. At least on the bright side, the hospital is waving the fees for this morning, how nice!!

We should have had the vet check my son out during one of his weekly visits, my son's problems might have been taken care of already.

 

Well, Bob, after reading all that, I feel like I need to at least charge you a 99202 level visit.
I hope your son gets his issue figured out. Don't tell him that you posted his entire medical history on the internet.