Another month, another visit: The Doggle Saga
July 19, 2011
Poor Doggle.
He’s going to have to live past 22 at this rate to amortize the amount we’ve put into him this early on. We had to take him to the vet again because he’s exhibited some joint pain and I wanted to be sure there wasn’t an injury that was readily apparent to the vet that I was missing.
It turned out that while the pain was quite real, the vet couldn’t be sure whether it was a joint or soft tissue injury without manipulation under sedation and x-rays. He was in far too much pain to relax for that exam, but given his slow improvement throughout the week, I decided we would opt to treat with pain meds, ice and R&R for a few weeks first before committing to $500 worth of diagnostics.
Either way, we needed a good pain medication while he recovered even if it was just a minor injury because his discomfort hadn’t faded after a couple of days, even if the symptoms had improved a little.
If he noticeably declines in the next few days, or at any point during his prescribed bed rest, then we’ll just take him in immediately.
Happily, he loves his meds and doesn’t mind the icing at all. Strange pup.
Tallying up his tab:
This visit: $106
Doggle Chariot, split w/PiC because honestly, PiC’s been considering a new-to-us car for years: $5000
Month One: Coming Home: $835
Yep, you’ve reminded me of one of the reasons we don’t have a dog. I don’t know how we managed to have such healthy dogs when I was a kid, but I’m certain my parents didn’t shell out money to vets until it came time to put one to sleep in its very old age. I know that with specific breeds things like hip dysplasia are common, but with mutts this may or may not be less of a risk. I honestly don’t know that much about dogs anymore. Except they are cute and they give a lot of love and satisfaction. Good luck with the recovery.
Poor little guy. I’m glad he’s on the mend and I hope he’s back to his cute doggle self soon!
And you are hilarious – love the first sentence of this post. 🙂
Poor Doggle! For what it’s worth, when Maverick was gimpy earlier this year, shaving a few pounds off of him did the trick. In fact, that is the easiest way for me to tell if he has gained too much weight – his limp comes back. Darn dog is so fluffy I have a hard time noticing, otherwise! Here’s hoping Doggle mends fast, and Charlee the snake-bitten wondermutt sends her well wishes, too.
Yes, dogs are expensive but they show such good love. They’re ALWAYS happy to see you, tail wagging. I Loved snuggling with my doggie. I hope the pup recovers back to 100% 🙁
Be patient.
Walt the Greyhound slipped and fell on the tiles shortly after he got here — guess he hadn’t figured out that the floor was slippery. He wrenched something so badly he could barely stand and couldn’t eat, and for a while the vet and I thought we were going to have to put him down. This went on for two or three weeks with no sign of improvement, and I’d made up my mind to do the deed.
As a last-ditch effort, the vet prescribed prednisone.
It worked! He started to show some improvement within a day or so. Within a couple of weeks, he was back to normal and never had a recurrence.
You never know, while you’re both at work, what’s going on. Doggle could have jumped on the furniture and fallen off, which could wrench a back or leg muscle painfully.
Dogs cost more at the end of their lives. Think now is expensive? Try after 10 years of having them and deciding what to do.
I still haven’t added up our vet bills for the last year of our dog’s life. We had him for 8 years and I loved him dearly.
awwwh poor doggle. i hope he feels better soon.
[…] he came home with a hurt back, a reprisal of last year’s limping pain, only worse because this time he’s actually vocalizing pain when he sits down too hard, […]