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Another ER run: What price peace of mind?
By Kim Campbell Thornton
December 30, 2009
For me, apparently, it’s about $100. Twice. In three days.
It’s hard not to be paranoid when you spent the first 11 years of your career reading letters from readers about their dogs’ freak accidents, poisonings, injuries and range of health problems and the next 13 years writing about those same things. I’ve gotten better about not rushing my dogs to the vet for the least little thing–better safe than sorry is usually my motto–but the girls have been in pretty good shape since Darcy’s death three years ago, knock on wood.
But in the dusty back corners of my mind, I’m always waiting for that Hush Puppy to drop. So when Harper woke me up in the middle of the night a week or two ago, pacing and panting and trying to climb onto my head, I was worried. Her behavior was completely out of character. My girls eat hearty and sleep hard. They’re vigilant during the day, but when that bedroom door closes, they’re out for the night. I took her out to potty. Didn’t help. Jerry took her out to potty. She performed both times, but she didn’t have diarrhea and she was still frantic. What to do? Had she eaten something poisonous? They’re always snatching crap up off the ground and snarfing it down before I can grab it–and sometimes I don’t want to grab it. I called our vet’s night line and asked if anyone was on call. They were, but I was informed that the call had gone to voice mail. What good was that?! What to do? Surely she was too young for pyometra. What if I waited and it was something that should have been treated immediately? The vet still hadn’t called back (the office is still trying to find out why the call didn’t go through).
So, off we went to the ER. Naturally, by the time we got there, Harper was fine. No pacing, no panting, no freaking out. I figured I might as well have her checked out. What else were we going to do at 3 in the morning? “I can’t find anything wrong with her,” the vet said. “I could do some diagnostic tests, but that would just run your bill up.”
Yeah, let’s not go there. We went back home and damn if she didn’t start acting weird again as soon as we walked in the door. I began wondering if an earthquake was in the offing or if she’d just had a bad dream about cats. Maybe we had a carbon monoxide leak or she was trying to alert us to some health problem. Nah. I went back to bed. She broke Jerry, though. He went to sleep on the sofa where she curled up next to him, right by his head. We had a little talk the next night before bedtime about not doing that again and the message seems to have gotten through.
A couple of nights later, it was Bella’s turn. Despite being on a diuretic, she usually sleeps through the night, but this time she woke up and vomited. Then she went back to sleep, so that was okay. I cleaned it up and didn’t worry too much. At least, not until Jerry woke me up to report that she hadn’t eaten breakfast. She was clearly on her deathbed. I had her in to see Dr. Hamil a few hours later.
She was fine. At least as far as he could tell without doing anything invasive. He gave her a shot of anti-nausea meds and a couple of pills to follow up. I didn’t even bother giving her those. She ate dinner with her usual voracious appetite, and it hasn’t slackened since.
I’m persuaded that they’re just messing with my head. “How much can we get her to spend on us, and how often?”
Maybe I should start reading them bedtime stories. We can start with The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
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Been there done that Kim. Panting and pacing is, as you know, not a good sign. Can’t be too careful after all a trip to the vets may just well save your pets life. Panting and pacing gets my attention real fast.
My female Doberman panted and paced and she had gas and the fear was her stomach would twist. I had her stomach “anchored” as a precaution. Better safe than sorry.
Comment by Snoopys Friend — December 30, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
Kim, we call our emergency 24 hour vet the “hundred bucks to say hello” place. Fortunately, we’ve only had to do that once. Check to see if Harper and Bella have notes stashed away anywhere on Ways to Drive Mom and Dad Nutty.
Comment by David S. Greene — December 30, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
Been there too Kim more times than not. Only now not only does it scare me that something could be tragically wrong with one of the dogs but I have a hell of a time seeing to drive at night and I hate snow covered roads. Three emergency vet hospitals are a looooong drive away.
Comment by VJ — December 30, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
Here’s the flip side, Kim. The day after we returned from a visit with my parents (read: not a vacation), my nearly 9 y.o. bulldog collapsed after being walked at 11 p.m. She had just walked up three flights of stairs, btw. Her gums and tongue were pale, she was panting. But we were exhausted. We called the emergency vet, described what had happened. Should we bring her in? Well, we were told, there could be a lot of causes, we could bring her in if we wanted, or we could watch her for a while and then decide. We opted for the latter. An hour after the collapse, her breathing was normal, though her color was still off, though it looked like it might be starting to come back. We brought her to bed with us, thinking that if she was in distress, we’d know. By now you’ve probably guessed, she passed away that night. I still feel guilty that I did not jump into the car and take her to the e-vet. I have no idea whether it would have changed the outcome…but her whole life I had pulled out all the stops caring for her, and the night I let her down was the night she died. The memory still makes me weepy.
Comment by Susan — December 30, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
Oh, I’m sorry, Susan. And it is just that kind of thing that I want to avoid. I doubt if I will ever stop making “just in case” runs to the ER.
Comment by Kim Thornton — December 30, 2009 @ 6:57 pm
This is one of the reasons I have a good insurance policy. Have not used it in 3 years, and it has a $200 deductible, but covers almost anything beyond that. I might be able to afford whatever is needed, but it is easier to make the choice when it is “prepaid”.
There is a lot of bad pet insurance out there, to be sure.
In the end, these little friends get into a lot of trouble on their own, and when the bad things happen I hope I don’t feel too responsible for it. We do the best we can.
Comment by Erich Riesenberg — December 31, 2009 @ 6:58 am
Ah, yes. We’ve been there, too, but I can’t say I’ve ever regretted taking one of the dogs in, even when writing The Big Check. The one I felt very silly about, actually, was when I sent one of the horses in to the local vet clinic after we couldn’t figure out why he was lame on his right front. Had to arrange a trailer ride through a friend, and then the horse had to stay overnight because the clinic couldn’t see him until the following morning. Vet called after the examination and said, “He’s fine in the right front, but he’s lame on the left front.” Exactly the opposite of what it had been when we took him in. No cause identified. $280. Back home again, he was completely sound on all feet 24 hours later and hasn’t had a problem since.
Our worst vet-related expense was the one totaling about $8,000 or so for a horse’s tendon-sheath infection after he got a tiny puncture wound (we think possibly caused by a thorn) while in his pasture. But that was also one of the best expenses, because it saved his life, and he’s still with us five years later, happy and sound.
We’ve owned a few veterinary miracles in our time, and it is true that I have never regretted even the big expenditures. They weren’t easy, but they were worth it.
Comment by Glenye Oakford — December 31, 2009 @ 10:44 am
Nor I. This was prior to emergency clinics in my area, but my 6 month old puppy was having trouble eliminating: it was apparently quite painful. I called my clinic just before closing. The owner vet stayed to wait for me ( maybe 5 min because I lived nearby), palpated my girl’s bowels (felt nothing) then her rectum and his face turned pale. Not a good sign. He whisked her away and asked me to wait.
Upshot: she had swallowed a very fine embroidery needle with thread attached. It was lightly snagged at the beginning of the anal opening. After administering a fast acting relaxant he was able to release it without surgery and remove it. Talk about a pain in the butt!
Nope. I don’t fool around waiting for morning. There are now 2 24 emergency clinics both about the same distance away.
Susan, I am so saddened to read about what happened to your bulldog. I feel I failed my heartdog this past October, and in doing so caused his death and can not shed the guilt. I’ve read this is a typical human reaction to circumstances beyond our control. Somehow that doesn’t help much. We do the ” I shoulda, I coulda, I woulda” game. Wish I could help us both overcome our burden of guilt.
Comment by Anne T — December 31, 2009 @ 3:15 pm