Thursday, February 19, 2009

Jilly's Doggie Retraction

Well, now I feel really bad. It turns out Putty truly is sick and not just being his usual neurotic self. He woke up this morning and appeared to be having muscle spasms in his right shoulder. He was also still really listless. So, I called the vet first thing and we took him in. Now, I find veterinary care fascinating. It appears that animal illnesses are much harder to diagnose and often vets will treat what they "think it might" be rather than subjecting the pet (and their owner's wallet) to many costly tests. If you or me were having muscle spasms and difficulty getting around, you can be sure we would have every test imaginable to find out what was wrong. But, with a dog, it's more of a crap shoot. And, since your paying out of pocket, the vet is usually less likely to order tests because they are concerned about the cost.
Of course, when your pet is a member of the family like ours, we authorized all the tests. We still walked out of there with a very fuzzy diagnosis and a whole bunch of medication. And my wallet was $431 lighter ---OUCH!
It appears that Putty may have an infection under the skin on his right shoulder called "Cellulitis." It's obvious he has some type of growth in that area, but they really can't tell what it is without surgery and that would be 'crazy expensive' So, we are going to treat it with antibiotics and pain meds and see what happens.
So, now I'm broke, my dog is high on the equivalent of doggie Oxycontin, I still don't know what's wrong with him and I feel like a heel for joking about him being so pathetic in my last blog.
I need to do pennance or something. Pray for Putty and me too.....:-)

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