Singing Those Veterinary Blues

Karen-in-Ohio made an excellent point, asking how families manage the kind of expenses that pets can incur. There are hundreds of small charities out there helping owners with overwhelming medical bills. If you search for "charities to help pay vet bills in -my state-" you'll quickly see what's out there. If you're an animal lover, looking for a way to help folks in straightened times, this is an excellent way to do so.  

 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Those of you who are regular visitors to JRW will remember the saga of Walker, the $15,000 cat. I was discussing the epic while a guest at Hallie’s house, and she pointed out it was more like $17,000, with the USDA certification fee, the in-cabin airline pet fees, and having to buy Youngest a brand new ticket when we discovered Jet Blue didn’t allow pets to travel IN the plane. So for now, Walker will be known as the $17,000 cat. That’s $26,265 CAD, for our northern friends.


I say for now, because I recently discovered Walkers stubborn refusal to put on weight is due to a hyperactive thyroid. Easily cured by giving him two pills a day (at the current cost of $200 a year) for the rest of his life, which should be another 13 to 17 years, if he doesn’t escape the house again and fling himself under a passing vehicle. OR I can solve the problem at one go with a radioactive iodine treatment for $1,700 - $2,000.


Dear readers, I invite you to picture my face upon hearing this.


Reds, have any of you gone to absurd lengths to keep a pet healthy? Does anyone have a veterinary tale as unbelievable as mine?


RHYS BOWEN: My daughter’s dog just tore an ACL. This involves surgery at UC Davis veterinary hospital, plus constant monitoring for two weeks, plus being confined to a small area so that she doesn’t overuse the leg. A month before surgery she tore the second ACL. That surgery will be two months after the first one. And believe me, neither is cheap. I gather the ACL tear is a common problem of the breed. My other daughter who has a delightful mutt sniffed and said, “Pure breeds!”


DEBORAH CROMBIE: Our German shepherd Jasmine hasn’t quite caught up with Walker, but it’s close–like maybe a new sofa and a trip to England amount on the good old Citibank card. What happened to her was so bizarre that I don’t think you can blame it on the breed. We will probably never know what caused the infection in her neck, and it wasn’t a sudden decision to commit to surgery or a course of treatment, it was one trip to the vet, another to the pet ER, then another to the vet, etc., etc. The good news is that after three months, even though she still has a couple of staples and still has a wrap around her neck and a soft e-collar, she’s almost completely healed. I sure wish we’d had pet insurance!


HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve never had a dog, and cats only briefly before being hospitalized with asthma and having to give those sweetie-pies up. But I get it. A pet is a commitment, a chore and a delight. Heck, we took our hamster to the vet when he came down with testicular cancer. Of course we did.



JULIA: Hallie, I'm trying SO hard not to laugh at the idea of hamster testicles...


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, my darling cat Lola lived to be 20, and in her most senior years, she was often at the vet. She would NOT get into the cat carrier to go there, though. She would stick her legs straight out wide, stiff, like a cartoon cat, and refuse. The only way to get her to the vet was to put her on my shoulder where she;d ride like a parrot. Of course, I would have done anything for her, even at the end, where she was still fine, but frail, and would eat only fresh ground turkey or chopped up fresh shrimp. Fine with me, whatever she wanted.



As for giving Walker pills, Julia, good luck with that. Lola would gobble up whatever I gave her to try to hide her pills–lamb, tuna, chicken–then swallow dramatically, then daintily spit out the pill.



JULIA: I've bought some fancy pill pockets, Hank - we'll see how well they work.


JENN McKINLAY: Oof, I’ve had some pricey vet bills when the schnauzer had his cancerous toe removed and when one of our dogs went into kidney failure while we were traveling and we kept her on dialysis until we could get back (only because she wasn’t suffering and we returned within days). I’ve always had pets and I believe as their person our deal is that I take care of them to the best of my abilities and as long as their quality of life is at the forefront of every decision. Since I like my critters more than most people, paying for their care is a no-brainer. LOL.


LUCY BURDETTE: Agree with the others–paying exorbitant sums for medical care as needed is part of the deal when acquiring a pet. After we adopted Tonka the Aussie, who was “free” because his teeth were not show-dog quality, he tore his rotator cuff three weeks into our tenure. The breeder told us to bring him back, she’d exchange him for another dog. Can you imagine? After three weeks we were hopelessly in love. So we paid for the $3000 surgery and many other procedures over the year. Money well spent for the joy he brought!



JULIA: This reminds me of the Mastercard ads: Pet Food - $30, Pet Cataract Surgery - $3000, Having a best friend for life: Priceless. How do you feel about it, dear readers?

The Grateful Days of Winter

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This is the start of the hardest part of winter. Christmas is well and truly past, the excited glow of setting new goals and planning for the upcoming year has dimmed (I see you, already skipping out on the gym) and most of the country is bone-achingly cold, covered in ice and snow, or on fire. The earliest southern gardens won't see new life for at least another month, while in the northern states, we've got three more months to get through before the forsythia blooms.

So whether you're huddled up against the cold and dark or fleeing fiery disaster,  this is an excellent time to cultivate gratitude. Studies have shown it improves your mental and physical well-being, and at the very least, it will keep you from annoying your loved ones with constant whining.

To kick up off, here are a few things I'm grateful for:

 

1970s disaster movies - I honestly can't explain this, except to say I want to watch something that's exciting and action packed, but that doesn't get my heart rate up. I tried watching Carry On, but seeing Justin Bateman be bad was just too distressing. You know what's the opposite of distressing? George Kennedy, who was in every disaster movie of the decade. The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Airport - you know it's all going to be okay with manly men like Chuck Heston and Steve McQueen on the job. (Also, they're always paired with women obviously fifteen years younger - was that a 70s thing I missed?)

 

Yes, there are 2 dogs here. Look closely.

My Shih Tzus who don't need exercise - I love my dogs all year round, of course, but it's when the weather is crappy they really shine. I have friends and family with hearty, active breeds: standard poodles and pit bull mixes and terriers. Rain, snow or impending fire tornado (have we had one of those yet?) those doggos need to move. My boys? Oh, heck, no. They were bred to sit on the emperors lap. It was probably an honor for a courtier to carry their ancestors out to do their business. Rocky and Kingsley run outside, pick their paws up in a way that clearly indicates their disgust with snow, and run back in as soon as mission accomplished. They spend the rest of the day lazing 1) in front of the wood stove or 2) by the space heater.

Not having to go anywhere - See Shih Tzus, above. I know this is the time of year lots of people start pouring over the internet version of travel brochures (an I the only one who misses those?) but not me. I don't want to get on a boat or a plane. I don't even want to go to the Hanneford for groceries, and that's only three miles away. I am in my house like a Hobbit in its hole and I like it.

 

Shea butter moisturizer - As soon as my forced hot air heat kicks in, my skin becomes dryer than Arrakis. In fact, I could use an opposite stillsuit, that wrings every drop of moisture out of the air and, I don't know, circulates it all over my body. Until some smart kid invents that, large tubs of shea butter are my best friends. I slather it on until I slide out of bed every time I roll over. Sadly, I have yet to figure out how to moisturize my back below the neck and above the waist - you know, that part where you yell, "Honey, come get my back for me!"

 

Cat recovering - Have I mentioned my daughter's cat before? When Virginia departed for grad school in The Hague, she left her kitty with me, after a heartfelt speech about how much she loved the animal, and how vital it was to her mental health, and how it would be the pet her small children would remember someday. So naturally, after this foreboding start, the cat escaped from my house and got hit by a car. Now, if it had been my 14 year old Neko (who's smart enough not to run into the road) I would have cradled her gently while the vet eased her into the next world.

But I can't do that with Virginia's two-year-old wonder kitty, can I ? So after approximately $570,000,000,000 (okay, not that much, but it has been enough to buy a mid-range used car) AND spending the past 15 weeks living in a large dog crate on a table next to my desk (have to keep the cat company, or he yowls) I'm happy to say Walker the Bionic Cat is doing much better. His surgeon thinks he'll be able to travel to the Netherlands with Virginia in early February, and if he leaps off her balcony into the canal below, it'll be her look-out, not mine.

 

 

 

 

Now it's your turn, Dear Readers. What are you grateful for in these dark days of winter?

Bonus Shih Tzu and cat jail content