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The Pet Project
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It is my mission to help pet owners find the information they need to raise happy and healthy pets. Send your Questions to: thepetproject@zoomshare.com September 2008
Special Edition Brought to you by: Top Knot Professional Grooming &Pawsitive K9 Consulting 9 Doric St. Unit #3 Ajax, Ont. (905) 683-0066Lucky Little Rascal: On a seemingly normal Wednesday evening I noticed that one of my 10 week old puppies, that I recently bred, was very bloated and uncomfortable. Upon further inspection I realized that this was something that needed veterinary attention, and I called my vet. I am very fortunate to be close to my vet as I am a professional groomer, K9 behaviourist and a breeder of border collies, and rent a unit space in the animal hospital. My vet informed me to bring the pup in. She looked the pup over, took the usual readings like heart rate, temperature and respiratory rate, and decided to take a few X-rays, thinking that the pup had probably eaten something that was either disagreeing with his stomach or was causing a blockage. The X-rays didn’t show a clear picture of what was going on so she gave him some barium, which coats the intestinal tract making it easier to see on an X-ray. As the barium needed to work its way through the digestive tract, I was told to take him home, keep him separate from his siblings and keep an eye on him. I took him home and set him up in a crate in the kitchen. At 11:00pm I was just about to go to bed and took the pup outside for one last pee before bed. Within 30 seconds of being put down on the grass to go to the bathroom the pup fell over on its side and started to seize. The seizure lasted around 30 seconds. After the thrashing subsided I gently picked up the pup and placed him back in his crate while I went to grab the phone book for the number of the Emergency vet. The pup then had another seizure while I was dialling the Emergency Vets number. I grabbed up the puppy in a blanket and jumped into my truck and rushed him to the Emergency Vet. The office was empty as I rushed in the front door. The girl behind the reception desk took the pup from me and rushed him into the back to see the Vet. After a few minutes the Vet came out to talk to me. They had placed an IV hook up into a vein in his arm and gave him a shot of Valium in order to prevent any more seizures. The Emergency Vet informed me that they wanted to keep the pup over night for observation and gave me an estimate of costs. The estimate of cost was over $700! They wanted $130 and change for just coming into the clinic, around $30 for a rental of an IV pump that wasn’t even hooked up to him, $20 and $30 for rental of a crate for him to spend the night in. $20 for a plastic piece that was supposed to be for distributing the IV fluids that he wasn’t receiving, $50 for X-rays that were already done a few hours previously, $130 + $25 for blood work that they believed was necessary, and $94 for the possible use of medication while he was in the clinic as well as taxes and other fees. Seeing as I breed and sell these pups for only $500, there was no way that I could justify spending that amount of money on the pup. I informed the Vet that I had no money. That any costs I would have to put on my credit card and that I could not afford no where near that estimated cost of $700. Although the Vet showed concern for the pup, I was a little put back by the Vets asking how much I could afford to spend on the pup and how close to my limit I was on my credit card. I was honest with the Vet and informed her that I could not afford to spend nowhere near $700 on this pup regardless of how much I loved him and wanted him to get better. She then started to go through the list of charges and started to tell me on how we could lower the costs. Taking out X-rays, and blood work, as well as the rental pump fee, (that was not being used), and stating that because I had taken the pup into the Vet already this evening, that the initial cost of the visit would be reduced by %50. The cost was then reduced to $390 instead of the original $700. I was still not keen on this price and informed the Vet again that I had NO money and I needed to sell these pups in order to pay some bills. I also told the Vet that I was not happy about the idea of leaving the pup over night and that I just needed him to be stable until the morning when my Vets office would be open. She then suggested that we give him another shot of Valium and send me home with some more that I could give him rectally if he was to have another seizure. I agreed to this and she set off to get the medication. I was starting to feel a little better about the situation when the Vet came back to me and stated that she did not believe that sending the pup home with me was a good idea and mentioned that he was crying in pain and that we may need to put him down. I couldn’t believe my ears! Only a few hours earlier the pup was running around my backyard with its siblings and parents, wrestling and running around and now here we were in the emergency vets office at midnight discussing having to put the pup down! The vet said that she did not feel confident about me taking the pup home and wanted to keep him over night. She now told me she would only charge me the initial visit fee of $132 +tax, but I would have to leave him over night. I finally agreed but said that I wanted to see him before I left. I followed the Vet into the back room where they had placed the pup in a kennel crate on a blanket. He was definitely out of it and was whining and crying. The Vet came over to me and stated that she didn’t like the fact that he was still crying despite the Valium shot and that this was not a good sign. She then stated that she believed we needed to put him to sleep because he was in so much pain and it was unfair to him. At this I burst into tears and did not respond to the Vets comments. She then left him with me. I stood there petting his head and talking soothingly to him for 20 minutes while he attempted to get up and move around while crying and whining. After 20 minutes of listening to him cry and hearing the Vet tell me that they wouldn’t be able to listen to him cry all night I decided that maybe putting him down was the right decision. I told the vet and she fetched a blanket to wrap him in that I could hold him on my lap while she administered the drugs that would end his life. The Vet closed the door to the little room we were in and asked if I was ready. To this I said no. I was not ready, I couldn’t believe that this was happening, that I could potentially be putting a puppy to sleep that just might be able to make it through the night and get better. Just then the pup wagged his tail and struggled a little on my lap. Trying to get up and move around. The Vet took him from me and placed him on the floor. The pup moved around a bit and then lay down on the floor, obviously still in pain and uncomfortable, but showing some struggle for life. I then asked the Vet if she was sure that all the crying was from pain and not from the fact that this was the first time the pup was away from its littermates and could be scared, drugged and in pain. The Vet then told me to take him home and that if he had another seizure that I should then bring him back in and we would then decided what needed to be done. I paid my $132 + tax and took the pup home. I placed the pup in my bathtub in my ensuite of my bedroom with a bunch of towels and tried to get him as comfortable as possible. All the time praying that he would just make it through the night. By 2:30am the crying subsided and I was able to fall asleep. I woke at 6:00am to silence. I lay in bed praying that I was not going to walk into the bathroom to a puppy passed away in my bathtub. I slowly got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. There, in the tub, sat the puppy, tail wagging and after seeing me, trying to jump out of the tub licking the air in my direction. I couldn’t believe it. He not only had made it through the night, he was now acting like nothing had happened and he was perfectly fine. Later that morning I took the pup into my Vet, where she did more X-rays and looked him over. Everything seemed to be fine and whatever it had been had passed. It was obvious that he had eaten something that he shouldn’t have, that was either toxic to his system or had caused a temporary blockage in his digestive tract. Both of these could have caused the pain and bloating he was suffering from and be a reason for the seizures. Thankfully he is much better now and is running around with his siblings and parents like nothing ever happened. When I first walked into the Emergency Vets office they needed a name for the pup. I told them his name was Rascal, because he was a Rascal and obviously got into something he shouldn’t. I have since changed his name to Lucky, because he is darn Lucky to be alive. After this experience and sharing this story with others, more stories of Emergency Vet visits came out of the woodwork. Stories of simple allergic reactions that only require some Benedryl costing over $400, and emergency surgeries priced at over $4000, that once taken to the owners regular vet, cost less then half the price quoted by the Emergency Vet. This makes me think about how extreme the prices at the Emergency Vet are. The Emergency Vet is only open after regular hours when there is no other vet available. This makes them the only option if an emergency occurs in the middle of the night. If an owner takes their pet into the Emergency Vet it is because they believe that the situation is possibly life threatening. This makes the owners emotional and scared. They are then presented with high Vet bills, sometimes when their pet is hidden away in the back of the clinic, and think that they have to pay this incredibly high price in order to save their beloved pets life. This makes me think of how they are taking advantage of a pet owner in their most desperate hour. Most owners do not have much knowledge on medical issues of their pets and don’t always know when it is serious and when it is not. They rely completely on the Vets ‘professional’ opinion on their pet’s health and believe that the Vet will be fair and compassionate. After personal experience I am concerned with the prices and fairness of the Emergency Vets. They know that the owners who bring their pets into them in the middle of the night are scared and have no where else to go. Considering the stories and my own personal history with the Emergency Vet I worried of how honest and fair they really are. Their prices are so much higher then a regular vet, that it makes me believe that they know that the owners who bring their pets to them have no where else to go, and know that they are scared and desperate, and they will pay whatever it takes to save their pet. This day in age people treat their pets like their biological children. For elderly pet owners, their dog or cat may be the only company they have, and the thing that keeps them going. It is true that pets are very therapeutic and can prolong a persons life. To put someone in an unfair situation where a big bite will be taken out of their bank accounts just because their pet happened to get sick or hurt in the middle of the night is not fair. I personally believe that Emergency Vet prices need to be reviewed and possible regulations need to be put in place in order to prevent pet owners from being taken advantage of in their time of need. It is not fair to take advantage of someone just because you know that they have no other option. This is just another addition to the billions of injustices in this world. Something needs to be done, and the first step is knowledge. Share this story and your own personal stories with others. Maybe one day something can be done to prevent yet another injustice in this world. By: Sarah Hill (2008) Visit: www.humanedurham.com for details on Pets that need a Second Chance at a Happy Life. Information Articles are Available in Pet Tips Featured Articles:
and many more to come... The complete steps of Paws-itive Training are now available! Email: thepetproject@zoomshare.com for Information! (Please note: You may have to click on 'older entries' to find all the articles)
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