A lot of money is spent on pets
– especially when they have mysterious maladies
We Americans spend more than $40 billion annually on our pets.
That’s a pretty staggering figure, and one that includes all kinds
of things
– organic pet food, leopard-spotted dog beds, catnip-filled toy
mice, guinea pig vitamins and lizard lights – plus veterinary care
and much, much more.
A lot of money is spent on pets – especially when they have mysterious maladies
We Americans spend more than $40 billion annually on our pets. That’s a pretty staggering figure, and one that includes all kinds of things – organic pet food, leopard-spotted dog beds, catnip-filled toy mice, guinea pig vitamins and lizard lights – plus veterinary care and much, much more.
Lately, I’ve been contributing more than my fair share to that total.
It all began in October, following the big rain that we had mid-month. The rain was followed by a spell of hot and humid weather. And my dog didn’t want to eat anything.
Of course, when an animal doesn’t want to eat, you don’t immediately run to the vet. But my dog, Charley, continued to be reluctant at meal time. I ended up at the emergency vet clinic on a Sunday, where they charged me $500 after not finding anything wrong.
We went home with pain meds and he seemed a little better, then a little worse. Off we went to the regular vet, who was also puzzled, but thought that perhaps an autoimmune condition that causes painful jaw muscles was to blame.
We went home with steroids and more pain meds.
Then the fun really began.
Over the course of the next day, Charley’s right eye commenced watering, then turned red, then visibly bulged out. I called the vet’s office. “Bring him in right away,” they said.
They operated on him that afternoon.
Turns out that the culprit was an abscess in his eye socket, which the vet drained. The infection probably started in his mouth after biting down on something sharp (although we never did figure out what it could have been). The infection traveled from the back of his mouth up to the back of his eye. His mouth was sore, so he didn’t want to eat. Also, the vet pointed out, the abscess was probably giving my dog a monster headache.
Charley is a miniature schnauzer who only weighs 17 pounds to begin with. Several days after the surgery, he was down to 14.5. It was alarming. And with one eye bulging madly, he resembled Marty Feldman, the actor who played Igor in “Young Frankenstein.”
In the days following the procedure, he was one miserable dog. Didn’t want to eat. Couldn’t sleep unless he was lying on the side of the good, non-painful eye. And his owner just wouldn’t leave him alone – giving him nasty medicine, and putting drops and junk in his eye.
By the time it was all said and done, I’d spent about $1,200. Every time the people at the veterinary office handed me a bill, I handed them a credit card, all the while wondering how I was going to pay for everything.
But when it’s your dog, you really don’t have a choice. He had been in terrible pain and I had to alleviate it, unless I wanted to put him to sleep. And that I couldn’t do. He is only 4 years old and hopefully, barring any more weird maladies, has a long life ahead of him.
So yes, I spent the money. And endured several weeks of nursing Charley back to health, which involved squirting antibiotics down his throat (try that with a dog that doesn’t want to open his mouth), washing out his poor eye and applying the ointment four times a day.
It took a while, but Charley is back to normal. He still has some trouble eating – I think he remembers how much pain it caused him in the past – but once I get him started, he’s okay.
He was sleeping in my lap tonight – perfectly content, perfectly healthy.
I think it was money well spent.
