Dog. Repair or Write off?
Discussion
Upatdawn said:
We had just lost our dog (had her 12 years) when the cat came home limping, his rear hip socket ball had been snapped off (on his leg), the choices were, PTS, remove the leg, or operate (remove the broken ball, smooth the end of the thigh bone over and fit into the hip socket), we paid £300, the RSPCA paid £200 and the cat was fine after some time recovery
How did you wangle that? Do you have to prove low income etc?
So she had her operation today, and is currently not the happiest dog in the whole world! Very sleepy and needy.
Garden rest until the weekend. A week of short, no more than 5 minutes walk 4 times a day, then extend walk length by 5 mins a week (as frequent as possible). Should be able to run in early jan, even with her banzai tendancies.
The vet stated that the traditional repair using nylon cord was likely to fail/had less than 50% chance of longterm success, whereas if he was a betting man this method would have a 90+ percent chance of working forever. He doesn't think it was a defect as such and think she snapped it crashing into a hole or ditch sort of thing. That fits with what we know.
It has been getting progressively and markedly worse since i started the topic and was clearly bothering her greatly. Her behaviour has been a bit odd and unpredictable as well which is imho being caused by the pain constantly bothering her. This was really causing me to question the wisdom of our course of action, hopefully we will be fine, forever, from this point in.
To address a few of the above points.
We rang round the charities: we're not on enough benefits to qualify from the blue cross and hospital type charities (fair enough, no real argument there), and even if we were then they would only help with the standard type repair rather than the titanium uberknee. The one guesstimated to be doomed to fail by todays expert vet bloke.
The rehoming charities would take her in if you took her there, then put her down. "We never put down a healthy dog", she was not healthy.
And they're rammed (especially with big, 'chavvyesque' mutts. They can stay on the forecourt for a long time. In todays adver, for example
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10087899.C...
Local paper, local dogs. Healthy ones being put to sleep.
Yes we're going to have to bump up our insurance. They've paid out without quibble (so far) and we see no reason to change them but we do need to up the cover. Will also check that it's for life cover as well, just in case.
6 grand on mange. Blimey. I would love to be in a position to even begin to consider that!
The vet, despite saying there was no way he could do a payment plan, agreed to a payment plan. So far thougherly impressed with this chap. Long may it continue.
Anyway, gratuitous pics time.
After: One miserable mutt.
Garden rest until the weekend. A week of short, no more than 5 minutes walk 4 times a day, then extend walk length by 5 mins a week (as frequent as possible). Should be able to run in early jan, even with her banzai tendancies.
The vet stated that the traditional repair using nylon cord was likely to fail/had less than 50% chance of longterm success, whereas if he was a betting man this method would have a 90+ percent chance of working forever. He doesn't think it was a defect as such and think she snapped it crashing into a hole or ditch sort of thing. That fits with what we know.
It has been getting progressively and markedly worse since i started the topic and was clearly bothering her greatly. Her behaviour has been a bit odd and unpredictable as well which is imho being caused by the pain constantly bothering her. This was really causing me to question the wisdom of our course of action, hopefully we will be fine, forever, from this point in.
To address a few of the above points.
We rang round the charities: we're not on enough benefits to qualify from the blue cross and hospital type charities (fair enough, no real argument there), and even if we were then they would only help with the standard type repair rather than the titanium uberknee. The one guesstimated to be doomed to fail by todays expert vet bloke.
The rehoming charities would take her in if you took her there, then put her down. "We never put down a healthy dog", she was not healthy.
And they're rammed (especially with big, 'chavvyesque' mutts. They can stay on the forecourt for a long time. In todays adver, for example
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10087899.C...
Local paper, local dogs. Healthy ones being put to sleep.
Yes we're going to have to bump up our insurance. They've paid out without quibble (so far) and we see no reason to change them but we do need to up the cover. Will also check that it's for life cover as well, just in case.
6 grand on mange. Blimey. I would love to be in a position to even begin to consider that!
The vet, despite saying there was no way he could do a payment plan, agreed to a payment plan. So far thougherly impressed with this chap. Long may it continue.
Anyway, gratuitous pics time.
After: One miserable mutt.
Looking good, points to the nurse who shaved her leg, that is one neat clip!
Hope she makes a speedy recovery
nb she is a healthy dog, she had/has an injury, not an illness. Glad the vet agreed to a payment plan, they are often reluctant as we get let down a lot and people don't pay.It happens time and time again unfortunately.
Hope she makes a speedy recovery
nb she is a healthy dog, she had/has an injury, not an illness. Glad the vet agreed to a payment plan, they are often reluctant as we get let down a lot and people don't pay.It happens time and time again unfortunately.
check up today, seems to be healing nicely.
Vet's pleased with her and the next/final check up will be x rays in jan to check everything is a ok. she was excited at the vets and consequently used the leg abit, and it all seemed ok.
dressing is off, all looks neat (and a bit sore, lots of bruising there). Sorry the picture is not very good, she was a bit of a reluctant model.
Vet's pleased with her and the next/final check up will be x rays in jan to check everything is a ok. she was excited at the vets and consequently used the leg abit, and it all seemed ok.
dressing is off, all looks neat (and a bit sore, lots of bruising there). Sorry the picture is not very good, she was a bit of a reluctant model.
somebody else somewhere else said:
If I start a thread, I'll come back to add more information as required and always update at the end. Rude not to!
Dog is ok. Now able to run off lead for short periods of time, which she loves, but we cannot let her run for too long as there is no setting between off and max, and she quickly does too much and ends up limping. About 10 mins is enough. She looks so grateful though when you do take the lead off! She'll limp or go 3 legged afterwards for a while (usually only let her run every other day to give recovery) but she can use it now without if failing under her which it was doing before, so moving forward.Fur mainly grown back, vet pleased with her follow up x-rays.
If i'm honest, at the moment i think that she'll be a bit lame for life now, but we will see. Softly softly and all that.
Aww, good to get an update, thank you. . Hopefully with time she'll be able to do more, did you ever do hydro as this is brilliant for safe exercise and strengthening.
I am considering it for my dog as all his limbs are giving up on him. I hope it'll keep his muscles good as he can't run properly anymore.
. Hopefully with time she'll be able to do more, did you ever do hydro as this is brilliant for safe exercise and strengthening.I am considering it for my dog as all his limbs are giving up on him. I hope it'll keep his muscles good as he can't run properly anymore.
bexVN said:
Karyn said:
Hurray!
(
Bex... can Jim-dog swim?! )scdan4 said:
The cost of vetinary care is currently lots. I am sure that a vet surgery costs an awful lot to run, the knowledge costs a lot to acquire and their time should be rewarded.
However, all seen recently have been driving very nice cars. Vet 1 went off on a 3 week trip to Goa, and my suspicions are heightened when a consultation starts with "she is insured, yes?" So maybe if a few more people were pragmatic less perfectly good animals would have to be destroyed, less manky uncomfortable animals would have suffering prolonged and cornwalls holiday industry would be strengthened.
<puts away sweeping generalisations>
As the owner of a fledgling business no doubt you will be prepared to do whatever it is you do for no financial reward other than to keep a roof over your head and a Findus Lasagne once a month.However, all seen recently have been driving very nice cars. Vet 1 went off on a 3 week trip to Goa, and my suspicions are heightened when a consultation starts with "she is insured, yes?" So maybe if a few more people were pragmatic less perfectly good animals would have to be destroyed, less manky uncomfortable animals would have suffering prolonged and cornwalls holiday industry would be strengthened.
<puts away sweeping generalisations>
What do you think a vet should charge?
As the husband of a practice owner I know just how much vets/nurses and equipment cost and I can assure you that they are not swimming in cash, especially when in comparison with human medicine.
Asking for insurance first is a natural question as sadly, as you have found out determine the quality of treatment available. £1700 for the titanium foam (!!) or £200 for amputation for example.
FWIW I agree that if you can't afford it then PTS is an option, an animal should never suffer and if there isn't a charity to help then that is the fairest route for the animal.
Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff