Heart Worms and Cost of Veterinary Services.

I took Rowdy to the vet a couple of days ago, to check to see if the heart worm treatment he had last year cured him.  It was good news and he is no longer infected.  I got some more preventative  medicine to keep him that way.

I am finding that the cost of veterinary services vary greatly, and the vet I used for the treatment was much more expensive than the one I used for retesting. 

After they called to tell me that Rowdy was due for retesting, I got upset with that first clinic.  Everything was fine until I inquired about the cost.  Due to greatly reduced hours at my work during this Covid19 crisis, I need to save every penny I could.  They told me it was $17 for the test, but he also has to have an exam that cost $39.  This is a total of $56.  But, they told me if the two are combined that I would receive a discount for doing both and only have to pay $46.  I thought that was okay, but then they informed me that he also was due for his shots and the total of it all would be about $89, plus the cost of the heart worm preventative medicine.  I told them that I couldn't afford all of that now, so I would agree to the $46 for exam and test and that I intended to get him his shots later.  Then they informed me that without the shots, the price would be at the $56 price and I would not get the discount.  All of this was told to me in this order, so I got the $46 price before adding the need for the shots.  So if I got everything including the medicine and shots, the total would have been somewhere around $125.  I got internally angry about this, feeling like I am being ripped off and when they would not let me do the exam and test for $46, I told them I would do something else and politely hung up the phone.  Though this clinic also did large animals, this vet is a town or city vet office, just outside of town.  Seems like they want to charge human prices for veterinary services.  I'd hate the see what the cost of working on a large animal would be.

I then called a country vet and was able to get the test for $25 which was higher in cost for the test, mot including the preventative medicine, but no other charges.  The six month preventative treatment was a little more expensive, but it also included a flea prevention treatment in it.  So the total was about $75, saving me about $50 and I won't have to buy flea treatment for him. 

This savings is money I needed now and I still was able to get Rowdy taken care of.  I have a feeling that many businesses may price themselves out of business, during this downturn in the economy.

Ole' Dead Eye

Rowdy had some problems after his heart worm treatments.  He suffered some left side paralysis of his face.  He lost reaction with his left eye and it kind of had a dead appearance, hence the dead eye title to this post.  He also stumbled around or fell sometimes when he moved too quickly and walked with his head at a tilt. He would turn his head excessively to see, when he jumped off of the deck and his depth perception was off.  His eye and his face seemed to come back close to normal and he quit falling, but then a few weeks later his face did it again.

The Vet said that some dogs get a paralysis like this that is related to something called Homers Syndrome.  Many times this is only temporary and will go away on its own in several months, but it could also be related to a brain or spinal tumor, that takes a CT scan to detect.  If this is the case his symptoms will worsen over time.   

Now, his eye seems to be okay but his face on the left side shrunk and it pulled his nose to the left a bit.  It captured fairly well in this picture as you can see his face is a little off.  It has been like this for a couple of months now.  I tried to capture the dead eye look with several pictures back when he had the eye problem, but he looked normal in those and it didn't come across in the photos.  So far it hasn't got worse but only time will tell.      

A Butt Mohawk

When Rowdy got his heart worm treatments last spring, On the first treatment, they shaved a spot on his rear for the treatment.  The second treatment a month later, they shaved a second spot for a double treatment, one on each side, which gave him a butt Mohawk hair cut.  I went around saying how cool my dog is, with his butt Mohawk.  It was like this for a couple of months before hair started growing back.  He now looks normal as it is all filled back in.   

The Second Heart Worm Treatment

Rowdy completed his second heart worm treatment yesterday. This treatment consisted of two shots, one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. They give dogs the shots first thing in the morning and then watch them all day for any adverse reactions.

This treatment was much harder on him than his first one, because of the two shots. The first shot just made him restless like the first treatment did, but the second shot gave him stomach tremors for hours into the night. I felt so sorry for him and held him close to m, giving him comfort for extended periods of time. At least by this morning he was better and the tremors had quit. He's still not feeling very chipper, but he is somewhat returning to normal.

Though everything seemed to turn out okay, I was still pretty apprehensive about taking him for his second treatment for fear of serious problems. I am so relieved that he is feeling better.

One thing I wasn't too happy with was that they wanted to keep him overnight for observation between the shots. I did however manage to talk them out of it and brought him home with me. He was much more comfortable and calm being in his own home and it was not a problem taking him back and forth, because I live only five minutes away from the clinic. Another problem with leaving him overnight was the fact that there would be no one at the clinic. Instead, one of the Veterinarian's wives watches them on a monitor at their home. So what good is keeping him there with no interaction or comfort, plus the fact that they would have charged me an additional $25 for his stay.

A Hitch In His Get-Along

A couple of times this month, Rowdy had got a cramp in his front leg after he jumped up from a lying position. The first time it happened, he couldn't put his leg down and he looked at me like, 'What happened to me?' I called him over to me and rubbed his chest and leg and soon he was all better.

The second time it happened, I again rubbed his chest and leg and he was normal much quicker, than when it happened the first time.

I kinda think it my have been caused by the steroid he was on. Or maybe it is just because he is getting older. Since I have no idea when his actual birth date is, based on when I got him and now, I believe him to be about 10 years old, which is 70 in people years. He's older than I am now!

Turd Cannon

In keeping with a previous post back in February of 2018, titled Fart Rocket, this is probably my version of Paul Harvey's Rest Of The Story.

Watching my dog poop is certainly is NOT one of my favorite past times. Since I have to keep Rowdy calm, walk him on a leash and not let him chase anything while he is on his heart worm treatment, it is a duty I must perform. So, hump over and expel is a daily chore.

A couple of weeks ago, I took him out for a Wee-Poo, which is what we call his bathroom duties and he sniffed around for a place to go. Finding his ideal spot, he hunched over and proceeded to go normally till he was done. Of course I'm thinking of jokes, like calling him Sir Dumps-A-Lot, or maybe renaming him Egypt, because he leaves a lot of little pyramids in my back yard.

Well, he moved over to another part of the yard and hunched over again. I thought he was done before, but apparently not. Since I use a retractable leash, he was about 10 feet away from me, when all of the sudden two turds shot out of him and landed a foot behind him. Then he slightly adjusted his body and shot another one about two feet behind him.

I thought 'Wow, a turd cannon. No more beans for him. If he ain't careful, he could put an eye out with one of those things.'

Two Squirrels and a Rabbit

Trying to keep Rowdy quiet during his heart worm treatment has been a great chore. He gets excited over everything and before I know it, he gets in a dead run, if only just to go to the back door to go out to do his business. I constantly have to call him down and tell him not to run.

This morning, when we went out for a potty break, there were two squirrels and a rabbit in the yard. He quickly spotted them, but I had him on a tight leash so he couldn't chase them. I so badly wanted to sick him after them, probably just as much as he wanted to chase them, but I held him back.