Ask:
Go see my latest sad blog post. If anyone has $800+ laying around.. I call dibs.
Answer:
I'm sorry about your poor dog. $800 seems a little outrageous to me. Don't beat yourself up about thinking about a nice backyard and patio furniture. You can be sad about your dog and still want nice stuff.
Answer:
My dog's name was Charlie too! Oh, I miss Charlie! Sorry about the news. That's a tough one.
On another note. Your blog is GREAT! Very fun to read.
Answer:
Gosh that's too bad...didn't your vet tell you about heartworm when you first got the dog? It's preventable. Just curious...
If it were me...I'd pay for the treatment. Our pets are all major parts of our family. I would give up a few material things to 'fix' them. But we're all different. Granted if I had to choose between feeding my kids and fixing a pet, I would feed my kids but other things...well, again, we're all different.
$800 doesn't sound like that much to me considering he's in serious shape right now...kwim? Medical care for animals can get so costly. Hopefully your dog can be placed in a family that can treat him, most shelters can't afford to treat it.
Answer:
Have you talked to your vet about doing a payment plan and explain that you are building a house and all and had not budgeted for something like this. I know around here the vets will work with you. and if you have been taking him for his regular check ups and all this should have been caught earlier on so he wouldnt be in this position. But I can say yes its expensive but well worth it my parents rescued a dog that had been under treatment for heartworms and he lived a very healthy life for 7 years until he got a tumor and had to be put down cause it progressed so rapidly it went from nothing to basketball size in less than a year. So before you make any major descisions talk to your vets first cause some of them also offer vet type loans to give you time to pay it off.
Answer:
If it's treatable, and he is not so old that he can't live many more healthy years, and you can afford it, I'd pay it. Of course, we took our cat Peabody in last week as we noticed he was losing weight and his irritable bowel syndrome symptoms were getting worse (imagine lots of cleanup). It was $400 just for the exam/tests/meds. He is supposed to go in this week for more tests (biopsy), and then we can START a treatment plan. So I'm a little more in the "I'd pay anything to have my sweet pea healthy" mode. We have had him for 10 years today. I've paid over $1200 on 2 previous cats who didn't make it. If I can get a better outcome for Peabody, I'll be happy. Not about paying the money tho. Never mind the sewer guy coming over tomorrow to snake the sewer drain in hopes of getting rid of that awful smell in the basement. Keep your fingers crossed we don't have to have the basement floor opened up or the lawn dug out to find a sewer leak.
Sometimes the humane society has a vet that offers lower cost treatments. Can you try that?
Answer:
I don't know if they have room or will take a dog with heart worm but I would call and try here
also there may be a fee to turn him in to them since it is a no kill facility.
Answer:
I'm sorry to hear about Charlie. I hope you can figure something out.
Answer:
Keep giving your dog heart worm meds monthly (so other dogs dont' get infected)
We just lost our dog to heart worm this last fall----but guess what?
SHE LIVED 8 YEARS WITH IT!!!!!!
She tired a lot easier but overall, she was no different than our other dog that didn't have it.
BTW- we say she died from the heartworm but she was nearly 14 years old and our other dog was 14.5 years old and he just died about a month and a half ago (collie/shepard mixes). Our older dog DID NOT have heartworm--so they likely just both died of old age!
Answer:
Whats involved in treating heatworm? We've given any of our dogs heartmworm pills to prevent it. If you do decide to treat your dog........you could always make a dog run in your yard so your dog doesn't pee and poop on your new lawn. Just a thought.