Topic: Even Stray Dogs Can Be Expensive

[bill440cars]

        You see, We had only one dog (old Kandi), cause her buddy (and mine) Kevin died a few years ago. Poor old Kandi is getting up in the years (about 15 yrs old now) and some friends live out where folks have a tendacy to drop off unwanted dogs and cats. There were these 2 kinda small dogs (male and female that were thought to be, at least part, part Rat Terriers) and they took them in and were trying to find a good home for them. One of their neighbors is the kind that would shoot any strays that come on his land. Well, we just had to go over and see that these dogs were like and, next thing I knew, we had 2 dogs (the male was solid black and the female was a chocolate brown) The wife had names for them almost instantly (Hershey would be the male and Cocoa would be the female), big surprise. Things were going pretty good. Kandi didn't have a problem wih the new dogs, long as they didn't try to take her food. Molly (the big Calico) and Joy (my solid black big cat0 weren't too happy abut the new dogs. Joy kinda got over her problem with them, Molly hasn't yet and probably won't. Things went on for about a month and I noticed that Cocoa was getting a bit plump and was starting to have a problem jumping up on things. We made an appointment and took her to the vet to find out that she was with puppies and was about a month along. Well, we always have had our pets spayed or neutered (whichever applied). We were assured that "taking care of the" situation would be no problem and of no danger to Cocoa, so another appointment was made, it was done (to the tune of $215) and we brought her home to recover. The next night, she pulled 2 stitches and we had to take her to the "Emergency Clinic" to find out that it might end up costing as much as $800- 900. Ended up costing $620 that time and we had even more recovery time. I watched her like a hawk! And she made it fine this time. So, our little stray Cocoa had run up a tab of $835.00. Now, about Hershey! We decided to wait a little bit before we had him taken care of. Both dogs are about a year old. I was out back, doing yardwork, when I heard Hershey yelp and was kinda dancing around. I went over and found a Copperhead snake (about a foot long and about a 1/2" in diameter) had bitten the dog on the left front paw.   I had a shovel propped nearby and I chopped that snake into little pieces and buried it in seconds! Called the vet and in about 45 minutes, we had been to the vet, got him looked at, got 2 shots and a couple of medications to give him and was back home (to the tune of $101!) Man, these 2 stray dogs (that we wouldn't take anything for) have run up a pretty healthy tab ($936)  and I don't think we have spent that much on several of our animals all together. These 2 ARE pretty cool dogs though. What can I say? I'll get some pictures soon as I can and post them in the pets thread.      

[oldbiker]

I bet you've had a thousand bucks worth of love and pleasure from these dogs.

[bill440cars]

I bet you've had a thousand bucks worth of love and pleasure from these dogs.

          You know, even though we've only had the 2 dogs about a couple of months now, they have given us a lot of pleasure! Each time we were told about the cost of a visit, we kinda cringed but paid the bill. We sure couldn't have done the alternative.

           You just do what you gotta do and move on. We've had lots of pets over the years and having to spent very much on them (so soon), is a new thing to us. But you just DO IT and take them home t recuperate.

[bill440cars]

Out of all my pets, it seems that the free ones end up with the vet bills. We have a Quaker parrot we found flying around outside, he is now a breeder and has made us some cash. He has an attraction to getting his toes injured. Fighting, being stupid, sometimes we don't know how he does it. He has racked up some vet bills. I would hate to add them up.

We are good at avian first-aid now and only take him to the vet to get antibiotics prescribed.

          It's funny (not the Ha! Ha! kind of funny), how things work out, in relation to our pets. If Cocoa had not have been such an active dog (jumping and running around), she would not have pulled those stiches and caused us to take her to the "Emergency Clinic" that night. But, she is and she did and we paid for it.

 
           On a good note, Hershey' paw only swelled slightly yersterday and, this morning, he was up and is more active while using his paw more. The paw hasn't swelled any more and he's putting it back on the ground more. In fact, he's almost back to his usual run around bounce around self again. He was really in pain yesterday. Last night, he was whimpering and sounded kinda like (at times) he was kinda of crying a bit. I have never heard an animal sound like that before. That snake bit must have really caused him some pain.    But, he's on the mend and that's good.

[fuzzybutt]

yeah, our critters give us so much, a couple of vet bills are ok. dont know what i would do wihtout my boys (5 male cats) i get so much inconditional love from them.

[bill440cars]

yeah, our critters give us so much, a couple of vet bills are ok. dont know what i would do wihtout my boys (5 male cats) i get so much inconditional love from them.

          My wife has reminded me about 2 other of our pets that cost us pretty good, but she didn't say anything to me about the cost, so I didn't know about the actual outlay of those 2.  One was a cat (Matilda) who came in one night and was obviously in pain. I went to pick her up and her right rear paw was just kinda dangling. Somehow, she had broken it. She had to have a rod with 2 clamp pieces to keep her leg lined up til it could heal (and she was shaved around that area. Then, in the meantime, she got ear mites and she shook her head s violently that she bursted some blood vessles in her ear. She had to have THAT area shaved and they ended up cutting up a tennis ball and taping it over her ear, to keep her from messing with it. Wife says she doesn't remember how much that was. Poor old Matilda has been dead for about 6 yrs now. That was the main one.

         I think these 2 dogs that we got recently, have attached themselves to us quicker than any others have. It's really something how an animal can become so special in our lives. All of ours have been strays, except for 3 (1 dog from Little Rock Humane Society, 1  dog from a neighbor's litter of puppies and 1 dog from my youngest Brother-In-Law. They have ALL been special in one way or another.   

[fuzzybutt]

all of my cats but one have been rescues. gus, the youngest was feral when i caught him to get him his shots and neutering, thinking he'd NEVER make a decent indoor cat (i never let my cats out, ever) i called the vet that afternoon to see how badly he was tearing the place up since he had never been inside a building in his life. turned out they had given gis the run of the place, he was so calm and mellow. that wild, feral cat turned out to be the most docile one i have lol.

[bill440cars]

all of my cats but one have been rescues. gus, the youngest was feral when i caught him to get him his shots and neutering, thinking he'd NEVER make a decent indoor cat (i never let my cats out, ever) i called the vet that afternoon to see how badly he was tearing the place up since he had never been inside a building in his life. turned out they had given gis the run of the place, he was so calm and mellow. that wild, feral cat turned out to be the most docile one i have lol.

          Doesn't that figure, that Gus would do like that, since you were expecting the opposite? We had a cat that was just your average size cat (not very big and kinda smallish actually). Her name was "Scooter" and, I took her to the vet with no idea that she would act like she did. I sat there with her, waiting to see the vet and there was no problem or indication that there would be a problem. We were called in and we went. The vet came into the room and attempted to just touch Scooter. Well, that cat came UNGLUED!!!!! And she let out a SCREAM that silenced the whole place. I mean the there were dogs barking, some cats meowing and folks talking, but NOT after Scooter showed herself!
After a little bit, a lady up front asked the receptionist, "What was that?" The receptionist told her, "You know that small cute yellowish cat that that man had? That is what that was!"  From that point on, I had to go to the vet, get a pill (to sedate Scooter), and give it to her BEFORE we could take her back to the vet for anything. I'll ALWAYS remember that.    

[cleveland]

Pics man!  Where are the pics?!

[bill440cars]

Pics man!  Where are the pics?!

         Yeah, I'm gonna have to get some pictures of them, huh.

[cleveland]

Yes you do.  I HAVE to see what a thousand dollar dog looks like. 

[bill440cars]

Yes you do.  I HAVE to see what a thousand dollar dog looks like. 

          I'll tell you one thing for sure, after her pulling those stitches and having to be redone, that little dog didn't do ANYTHING without me trying to make sure that everything stayed intact! Sure didn't need a "return trip" to THAT place! You'd never guess that she has that much in her.   The only alternative was to have her put to sleep and we weren't going THAT route, not at her age and all. We became attached to these 2 almost immediately.

[fuzzybutt]

this is asparagus (gus the theatre cat for you musical fans) the "wild feral cat" t hat had never been in a house before his first vet visit. as you can see he needs to relax, he's all wound up like this all the time

[bill440cars]

this is asparagus (gus the theatre cat for you musical fans) the "wild feral cat" t hat had never been in a house before his first vet visit. as you can see he needs to relax, he's all wound up like this all the time

           Must be a "cat thing", mine do that sort of thing also.