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11-03-2011, 06:27 AM | #1 |
Banning Queen Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Home of the Kalamazoo Wings, MI.
Posts: 3,122
| Frustrating Pre-Dental Vet Visit :/ Princess has to have a baby tooth extracted next week so today we went for bloodwork. Well it started out bad when Princess got on the scale. From 8.4lbs. to 9.2lbs...in about 6 weeks! She's on Science Diet I/D & gets some fruits & veggies for treats with a rare bite of lean chicken-NOTHING ELSE! So then they take us back & give me the written estimate which I was told at the last visit would be approx. $225, including the labs. This, however, said $450-$590!! They said they had to do a full dental since she was already under. Every vet visit she's had they say her teeth look great. I told them there was no way I could afford that big of a difference in one weeks time. The tech took Princess back & asked the vet what could be done as I was going to cancel all together. She looked & said a few of her back teeth have very mild tarter & she'd be fine just getting the extraction. So now we're down to $250. Thank God. I want her to get a full dental, don't get me wrong, but why go digging around & keeping her under longer if it's not necessary? Am I wrong to think that? As for the weight gain I'm very upset. I don't care how big Princess is if she's healthy, but with the LP creeping up this can't help it I'm sure. And she's on the strictest diet ever, when she did get human food she held a steady, healthy weight that was about 2 pounds less than this. :/
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11-03-2011, 06:41 AM | #2 |
♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas
Posts: 22,140
| I've been paying $450.00 plus just for the cleaning in the Dallas area for years. Includes the anesthesia, IV line, meds during proecedure, pre-op testing, etc. I would go ahead and have the full cleaning if it were me as a tooth or a gum area can so bad sooo quickly and having them as clean as possible can help prevent that. It does worry me when they add things like that so quickly but if it means care I know he needs - such as full cleaning or something like that - I agree to it.
__________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |
11-03-2011, 06:41 AM | #3 |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| How much I/D does she get a day? That needs to be cut back. Also, very few fruits are ok for pancreas compromised dogs. I'd drop those altogether. They aren't very low in calories and overall probably aren't the best choice for her. Lean chicken is fine if she does well on it, but it is added calories. I'd do non-starchy veggies only until weight is where it should be. You don't have to do a dental just because mouth work is being done. I wonder if the reasoning is that since the cleaning would be done first, that bacteria would be out of the way for the extraction which would make sense. Thinking about it that way and the fact that she does have tartar on her back teeth would make me say yes, she should have the cleaning (no reason to leave the tartar there if they are going to be in there anyway). But if you can't, you can't. Go for the immediate need if that is all you can afford (as long as you realize it is going to cost you more this way - she will have to have that dental shortly and you will be redoing bloods, induction meds, IV, etc., so it would be cheaper to do it all at once).
__________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶 |
11-03-2011, 07:04 AM | #4 |
Banning Queen Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Home of the Kalamazoo Wings, MI.
Posts: 3,122
| The prices vary a lot from what I see on YT from place to place. What scares me is this vet I called about a dental quote before said $100! Don't worry, she'll never see him, but how can he possibly be so cheap? What's getting skipped? As for the food she gets about 1/2 cup of I/D dry free fed all day & it usually takes her at least a day and a half before she goes through it. Only recently I've started giving her a small, frozen Kong with I/D canned & a little chicken/sweet potato baby food in the center when I leave for work. She eats most of that, but it's maybe 1/4 cup? She looks forward to that so I think I'll keep that & just reduce her dry to 1/4 cup? The sheet they gave me says 2/3 to 7/8 dry cups or 1/2 to 2/3 can per day-which seems like a lot. As for fruits she only eats apples really, that I can think of, & it's rare, very rare. Veggies she'll eat are carrots, peas & sweet potatoes -all starchy now that you've said something. She'll also eat broccoli which is her all time fave but it's a rare thing. I have given her the gerber puffs before & they are fat free, but will wait to ask the vet next week. The tech did say part of wanting to do it all at once is because of the risk of infection. They're giving her an anti-biotic injection & said they will assess the need for oral ones at the time. I plan to get her in for the full cleaning in the next few months, but it will have to wait until then unless it becomes more urgent.
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11-03-2011, 07:20 AM | #5 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: S. W. Suburbs of Chicago, IL
Posts: 12,235
| Stop free feeding, stop the treats and cut back on the food a little. My three are all over 10 lbs and they only get 1/2 of food a day and are teapots. If she likes to chew get her a Nylabone.
__________________ “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” Mark Twain Last edited by megansmomma; 11-03-2011 at 07:21 AM. |
11-03-2011, 07:20 AM | #6 |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| When it's so cheap, they have cut one or more corners reducing safety for the dog and increasing their client base because clients like low prices. These things may include no IV fluids, injectable anesthesia only and no gas, cheaper gas anesthesia (less safe), no pain meds or antibiotics even if needed, nobody really monitoring the anesthesia properly, not using expensive equipment to make sure the animal is doing okay while under, no dental xray or the capability to do it which is a big no-no that happens all the time, etc. Yes, if you want to give the Kong, then cut down the kibble. Make sure the majority of what is in the Kong is I/D because it is complete and balanced. Also make sure she is eating it as soon as you leave. If there is some left hours later and she is licking it, it could set her off because it would be like us leaving refrigerator-only food out for hours and eating it. No need for most of the treats you listed. It's just going to add calories. It is not wrong to "deprive" her of treats. My health challenged girl gets her rx food only, the treats that are made to go with it, and the occasionally piece of non-starchy veggies bc I know they won't set her off. My boy gets his food and...pretty much nothing else except maybe some lettuce or the very occasional Cheerio. They do fine with it...
__________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶 |
11-03-2011, 07:56 AM | #7 |
Therapy Yorkies Work Donating Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Central, Florida
Posts: 3,863
| My advice is not in anyway medical, I think Ellie May gives sound advice and I always pay attention when she posts. I understand about a budget for non emergency vet bills. I don't know your relationship with your Vet. My vet would work with me (insurance does not cover many things sigh) Would your Vet do any of these ? 1. Pay $250 now, and the rest on payments ? 2. Move surgery date up until you can afford the entire cost, go ahead and pay what you have now and continue to make payments weekly/ monthly until you are paid in full. 3. Pay what you have now and charge the rest to your credit card in 3 payments ? (like automatic debit for 3 months) Maybe this will help you in the future, I helped my granddaughter set up a Yorkie 'College Fund' LOL that is what we jokingly call it. She just puts $10 a week in an account. I send her Yorkie, birthday, Christmas, Valentines etc. gifts of $ $ for her college fund. In two years she saved $3,200 for a Yorkie emergency.
__________________ Teresa & Rubin, Gracie, Abba, Ginny Joy and Julia Rose Act like a dog, be kind, forgiving, and loyal. |
11-03-2011, 04:31 PM | #9 |
Banning Queen Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Home of the Kalamazoo Wings, MI.
Posts: 3,122
| I don't qualify for Care Credit & they wont take payments. The money set aside for her is for true emergencies only. I'm hoping to just have this baby tooth removed, as it's chipped, and do that for now. Then probably after Christmas get her a full dental if they say it's needed. If it's only a little plaque that they can give me something to help correct or just not enough to warrant a full dental then we will wait. As for the cheaper vet cutting corners, I wouldn't doubt it since he's the one that basically left Princess to cure herself when she was sick. I'd asked him for the quote before all that drama. The vet now seems to be on course with what you're saying, Crystal: bloodwork, gas anesth., grd. one prophy dental, oral cancer screen, anesth. monitoring, sealants, IV fluids, pre-anesth. meds, induction agents, pain med inj., one extract, extended pain relief, antibiotic & xrays! Wow! For the weight issue I'm going to cut her back to the Kong, once a day, 5X's wk. & 1/2 cup dry or less. If she starts acting starving I may give her a few frozen green beans. Also more exercise, now that summer is over I can take her out more so that will help, too. I wish she liked nylabones but so far she's not interested. Maybe I'll try a new one. I'll reserve the chicken/swt. pot. baby food for super special occasions only. Thanks for the advice everyone.
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