<p>MommaJ, this is just what happened to us … when we took our car into the repair shop. The shop was “quite concerned” about the safety of the car and that would be really expensive to repair. When we pointed out the car had 160,000 miles on it and we weren’t so sure we wanted to keep it running forever, well their price tag changed. In the end, we paid $56.</p>
<p>Did you have a history with this repair shop, or was it a first time there. </p>
<p>Did they do a diagnostic and tell you what they thought was wrong? There are sometimes multiple things wrong, but some are on the “A” list and require repairs-- others dont matter as much.</p>
<p>** and apologies for typos above. Was trying to say that its not unreasonable to offer more than one option to a pet owner, or a car owner for that matter. Some “fixes” are more critical than others.</p>
<p>And I believe if a dog has chronic diahhrea (not reported here) there can be several causes that would perhaps warrant an xray. Dont know if this dog is walked or relieves himself in the yard. If the latter, there may have been diahhrea that wasnt noticed. Again-- there can be more details…</p>
<p>More details–the dog normally relieves herself in the yard (too arthritic to be walked more than a block), where the waste is picked up immediately–so it is known this was a sudden thing. This dog has ingested all manner of horrendous things over the years (Labs will eat anything) and just merrily puked them up or somehow digested them without a hitch. (The only other time she had the runs was when the vet (ha!) uggested a change in kibble–I mixed one-third of the new with two-thirs of the old, to disastrous effect, and wwent right back to the old food.) Unfortunately, over the last few months, she has frequently been unable to ask to go out in time, and had defecated in the house–we understand the issues with an old dog, and have been trying, with some success, to sync ourselves with her “schedule” and take her out before it’s too late (reminds me of what we used to do when toilet training the kids). But she’s slow, moves creakily, doesn’t seem to have much depth perception any more, and hesitates quite a while before she can be persuaded to take that daunting first step out of the door (we have a ramp for her for the remaining three front steps to the yard). So when this illness hit, she had no chance to make it outside, which is why it’s such a problem to keep her home in this condition. We kept her confined to a small half-bath Thursday night, just to keep the mess contained, and I almost think it was worse, since it took literally hours to scrub and disinfect the tile floor (I think the grout was saturated–gah) and wallpaper to the point where anyone could bear to go in. (I swear this animal could provide weapons of mass destruction for the Defense Department!) And of course she was soiled all over since she had nowhere to escape. It was quite overwhelming, and I think since we’ve paid vast sums to this vet for four animals over 20 years, he could have accommodated us without a crazy “treatment plan”–a plan that he was quite willing to reduce as soon as H pushed back on the cost. </p>
<p>I have no problem with tests being ordered if they are warranted under a reasonable standard of care, and certainly understand that sudden diarrhea in an old dog needs watching. What I don’t understand is why it was perfectly okay with the vet to just send her home with no further treatment or tests, but not okay to just keep her under observation in their facility. (When H posed the question just that way, he couldn’t get a straight answer from the vet.) Until I hear a better explanation (which is what I was hoping for on this thread), I can only assume that the vet saw an opportunity to make money.</p>
<p>In any event, if this is just a passing illness, she should be better, bathed, and home in a day or two. If not, she’s where she needs to be for further diagnosis and care.</p>
<p>Those are appropriate questions to ask the vet. If this vet has been quite reasonable and dependable for 20 yrs, its not likely they are suddenly trying to scam longstanding clients.</p>
<p>It sounds to me that they said “here, we can give the dog a shot and you can watch him at home, but if he is going to stay here I’d recommend we also do X,Y,Z to see what else might be going on”.</p>
<p>Maybe that was the message and it got twisted in translation as relayed second hand to you.</p>
<p>Point of reference treatment cost wise:
9 y/o cavalier spaniel
newly dx with CHF acute episode with cardiomyopathy.
Friday evening till Sunday afternoon
2 xrays
blood work
IV fluids with IV meds
Oxygenated cage for 2 days
total cost $800</p>
<p>samiamy,
Please have your cavalier seen by a veterinary cardiologist and have an ultrasound (echocardiogram). This is the BEST way to thoroughly diagnose and treat your cav’s cardiac status. Yes it will cost more, but you will get the best treatment course and care for, and hopefully prolong the life and quality of life of your sweet dog.</p>
<p>jym626- I don’t think it’s unreasonable to treat vets with some wariness. One of my vets gave my dog a vaccine shot the day she was spayed. Without telling me! Not to mention she was 8 pounds at the time and just had a procedure. I’m not saying to act like your vet is Dr. Mengele, but clear explanations is vital to doctor-patient trust and can be life-changing. When my dad’s leg was (quite literally) shattered by a car, the doctor wanted to insert a steel pin to set the bone straight. My mom intuitively asked where the pin would be secured to, since the bone was in so many pieces. The doctor paused, looked at the X-ray again, and admitted that his prescribed treatment had been wrong.</p>
<p>For $3,700, I would expect a much, much better explanation than the OP got. For starters, what each test is purportedly looking for.</p>
<p>If she’s gonna keep messing your house up, I don’t understand why you don’t just leave her outside instead of pay a large vet bill for the clinic to keep her overnight. Especially since it sounds like this (accidents inside) have been occuring for a while now, even before she had the runs. Sounds like time to be an outside dog to me. </p>
<p>If you keep paying vet bills of this magnitude, I’d put her down. But obviously, some are willing to pay more than others for their pets’ wellbeing.</p>
<p>I think we are hearing her husband’s interpretation of what the vet said. There may have been more questions to ask for answers given. We just don’t know. As for the cavalier, unfortunately if it is in acute congestive heart failure it may be too late, it should be able to be managed on either Lasix lisinopril digoxin enalapril pimibendan or other appropriate medicines of diagnosed</p>
<p>That should say once properly diagnosed by a cardiologist. All cavaliers hearts should be carefully monitored over the course of their life. Our cavalier lasted several years before ending up in congestive heart failure.</p>
<p>“We had a dog that had a major seizure type episode. We could have done dozens of tests with no real diagnosis possible. We waited and and didn’t do any tests, she was fine. Just old dogs stuff.”</p>
<p>A hundred years ago the dog would have been left outside until the illness passed (no pun intended), then washed and let dry. Nowadays people take their animals to the Vet for grooming! Unless the dog is lethargic or in pain, we ALWAYS wait a day or two before contacting the Vet. At that point we have enough information to say “There’s definitely something wrong and we need to find out what.” We’ve avoided many Vet visits that way, and not once has the day-or-two delay caused a problem for the animal.</p>
<p>^
I agree NewHope, and people do the same thing running to the Dr. for every little sniffle or ache. There is a difference between an illness that may pass and an emergency. No wonder insurance premiums are so high.</p>
<p>jym626 - That’s fair, there may have been a lot of info that didn’t make it here.</p>
<p>Whatdidyou - Being outside is tough mentally for a dog, since it feels separated from its family. It’s even rougher on an old dog who’s been around the family all its life, and might downright be traumatizing. Some of the more independent breeds can do ok, but herders, retrievers (OP’s lab), and companion dogs were bred to crave human contact. Plus, I’m not sure that the dog spraying all over the porch is that much better. You can use the hose, but then it’ll jet the feces everywhere :D</p>
<p>@Whatdidyou, I feel sorry for any pet you may own. It would be cruel, in fact neglectful and dangerous, for an elderly dog who has spent her entire life as an indoor animal to be kept outside in the middle of the high heat and humidity of August–and she’s dark brown besides, which means her coat absorbs heat. To say nothing of the possible threat of coyotes or other predators which can venture into our suburbs from nearby woods at night.</p>
<p>We almost reached the point of doggie diapers fr one of our dogs but the accidents stopped.</p>
<p>In would just suggest keeping in one area and cover with newspaper. Imknow it’s disgusting but it’s just poop.</p>
<p>I understand the frustration of oh just take dog home to we need to run thousdnads of dollars worth of tests. </p>
<p>Have had many many old dogs, sometimes it’s just old dog stuff. For me I got concerned about dehydration. But if they are drinking water should be okay.</p>
<p>With our first dog is was to the vet all the time, but we learned quickly waitng a day or two the problem usually cleared up or we had a better idea of the issues. </p>
<p>We have put pedialite in our dogs water if they have upset tummies, seems to help.</p>
<p>There are some foods that also help like pumpkin and rice.</p>
<p>I wuld never leave the dog outside however, loose bowels or not. We kept a close eye.</p>
<p>What you can do is trim the hair around the back side so cleanup is easier</p>
<p>jym26 </p>
<p>Yes she is now on lasix and enalapril, however this humid weather is not helping our poor dog. </p>
<p>Trying to decide when its time to say goodbye or keep treating.</p>
<p>Oh MommaJ, you have my sympathies. Been there. And I am borderline ocd on the cleanliness scale. My girl, a standard poodle, had bloody diarrhea for about 3 weeks last November, and she nearly died. Vet shaved her front leg to give iv fluids and realized she was bleeding under the skin. He threw the kitchen sink of antibiotics at her and said if it was cancer, she just wouldn’t get better. It’s so hard to know how far to go with the medical tests.</p>
<p>Right now, I’m having trouble with my insulin resistant diabetic cat. At the moment, we have no seating in my living room because he peed on each piece. When the sugar levels are out of control, he drinks a lot. Now I put him in his litter box just before his night time injection, and I think it is helping. </p>
<p>I’m sure living like this seems nuts to a non pet parent. I hope your pup is feeling better soon!</p>
<p>"@Whatdidyou, I feel sorry for any pet you may own. It would be cruel, in fact neglectful and dangerous, for an elderly dog who has spent her entire life as an indoor animal to be kept outside in the middle of the high heat and humidity of August–and she’s dark brown besides, which means her coat absorbs heat. To say nothing of the possible threat of coyotes or other predators which can venture into our suburbs from nearby woods at night."</p>
<p>Excuse me! I love my dogs, and they have a great life (outside). No need to feel sorry for them ;). There are plenty of coyotes around here too, but they’ve never jumped anyone’s fence in this area to attack pet dogs. </p>
<p>One of my dogs has a dark (black) coat too, she likes the sun and, sometimes, the shade. Although she has an indoor dog kennel that she can get into by way of the doggie door (although that’s mostly to escape the snow/rain) as well as some natural shade in parts of the yard. </p>
<p>@CollectivSynergy: That makes sense and is understandable. Perhaps a baby gate on the tile and/or a tarp would be a better temporary solution for a dog with the runs who has separation anxiety and can’t bear to be alone outside for the day. Personally, I draw the line at a dog who can’t hold it in being an inside dog (everyone’s different though, as I also draw the line at an inside dog who can hold it in lol). Maybe a companion pet for outside is in order.</p>
<p>Samiamy,
Please do not make any decisions about deciding when to stop treatment until you have seen a board certified veterinary cardiologist. The measurements from the echo should direct your dogs treatment. They can live comfortably and happily for years with the proper care.</p>