Life is Not Always Easy....or Cheap Either

I've mentioned before that our dog, Jake, has some horrible anxieties having to do with storms or loud noises.  He's been that way since we got him from a Kentucky no-kill rescue shelter.

 

He's also had HORRIBLE bad breath since we rescued him three years ago.  As George Carlin said, his breath was so bad it could knock a buzzard of a sh*t wagon.

 

The shelter told us that their vet thought he had some digestive problems.  And our vet's office thought the same thing, although no tests ever confirmed that.

 

Recently, I decided to change vets.  The one we've now selected is a Christian office.  While it's not necessary for us to always do business with Christians, we do enjoy knowing that our beliefs are similar.  We don't expect, for instance, to be cheated by this new vet's office.

 

The location closest to us is a small one.  Their larger office - about 12 miles away - is much larger and open for more hours.  That location also has a boarding facility, training yard for all kinds of training, and a no-kill shelter.  I also discovered that they have a service for people who have senior and/or sickly pets but want to go away on vacation.  They'll have one of their vet techs actually pet sit at your house rather than having them stay at the boarding kennel.  (I'm sure that's costly, but it's a nice service nevertheless.)

 

When we arrived at the vet's office, I was immediately impressed with the way they handle animals.  As one vet tech attempted to take blood from Jake, the other one held him and kissed the top of his head, just like a mother does with her baby.

 

Because Jake is aging and not getting over his anxieties, but rather seeming to increase them, the vet prescribed a daily pill as well as one to give him when there's a storm looming or we're expecting people in the neighborhood to start setting off fireworks.

 

And then there was the stinky breath problem.  It turns out that Jake doesn't have any digestive problems at all.  What he has are rotting teeth in the back of his mouth.  I feel so badly that this wasn't discovered earlier - by the shelter where we got him or by the former vet's office.  If it had been, then maybe instead of having to pull as many as four teeth, we might have only had to pull one at that point.  Grrr.

 

With all the shot updates and all the tests done, Jake's bill came to about $275.  Thankfully, this vet's offices offers discounts for first time visits and has coupons (that come in the ValPak mailings we get), so it brought the cost down to just under $200.

 

Next month when Jake see's the doggie dentist, his bill could be anywhere from $300 to $500, depending on how many teeth need to be pulled and what other problems he discovers.

 

Sure wish I could bill the shelter and former vet for some of that cost.

 

The new vet's office explained that today it's important to brush one's pet's teeth just like we do our own - daily or even 2-3 times per day.  As one who has had dogs all of her 59 years of life and cats on and off for 15 years, that's not something that I'm used to doing.  They explained that in the old days our pets all got real bones to chew on, on a regular basis, and this kept their teeth and gums healthy.  Today, even if we're big meat eaters, most of us buy cuts of meat that have had the bones removed and our animals don't get to chew them.  I guess that the bone/treats we do give them don't do the job as handily as those real bones did.