Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[Denim Deb]

I think we need to wrap you in bubble wrap some days.

 

[pinkfox]

lol, well i am a sagitarius and we are as a group well known for our collection of bumps and bruises LOL...

making grilled cheese for lunch...and watching he puppies learn to play...theyve reacently found their growls (and the joys of "solid" food)
they get wet food mush in the mornings, which ruby enjoys because she gets to clean them up, thats repeated around 9pm too...
and today they were introduced to soaked kibble...which aparently is super nommy
and the joys of biting eachothers ears and giving a shake, and smacking eachother with paws lol.
I LOVE this stage!
and little zeus is the first to start practicing his bark

 

[pinkfox]

PRAYER/GOOD VIBES/HEALING requests begged for...

My parents 10 yr old cocker is Sick.
mum told me yesterday and the first thing i said based on the symtoms was a blockage....
mum didnt think so because charlies not a "chewer", but he is a kitty box grazer...
told her keep him hydrated, no food and take him to the vet monday...

well this morning he threw up again BUT instead of us tbeing bile and water it was "stuff" a brown yick mush that smellet like poop...
Now...this i know well because thats the same smell and look dozer has to his puke when hes been eating duck poop...

anywho...they took him to the emergency vet
whats wrong with that you may ask...
well the E-vet is a rip off merchant..., they took him, said they THINK its a blockage (yeah they actually listend to me lol) explained the symptoms. the tech came in took vitals said his color was good, vitals were strong and no temp normal...
vet came in said "his temperature is high and hes severly dehydrated" (my dad was a nurse, the first thing i told him to do was the pinch test every few hours, he knows how, i also told them how to test the gum (a severly dehyrated dog will have pale gums and when you press gently with the tip fo the finger itll take forever to go from WHITE back to pink/color..., his gums are completly normal color, not only according to dad but the tech too, the vet telling them he was sevvely dehydrated before she even got her hands on him...)
anyway...she starts listing off everything she NEEDED to do (cath him blood work ect...) and not once did she mention the FIRST thign that should of been on the list...x-ray...
instead she wanted to waste time checking kidney function when the dog is PEEING normally but ant keep down food and hasnt pooped in ay, yeah shure sounds like kidneys to me...

she whent off and came back with a procedure quote which made my dad freek out, she wanted $4000 to do all this stuff...
mum read the qute off to me and when i tod her and da what they were, ad was PISSED...
they wanted to do a snap test...the snap test is an $87 blood test for HEARTWORM...none of his symptoms suggest heartworm...
they wanted $200 or lactated ringers, PLUS $200 for the iv to give it to him (lactatedringers is essenitally a dextrose filled saline solution...aka PEDIALYTE!)
they gave him an anti nausea med and charged 30 times the cost of the medication, then gave him a medication that they told mum was a pain med...cost of almost $100...the medication was actually an ulcer/heartburn medication...ommonly known as PEPCID...yup $100 for a dose of ppsid...
then they quoted the xray...no in ct xrays USUALLY cost $75 per veiw, they wanted 2 veiws...a grand total of $200...
but wait it gets better... they wante an ADDITIONAL "x-ray diagnostic fee" of $100...yup, they want $200 for the xray and another $100 to look at it and tell you what they see...
$500 for "miscilaneous vacines and injections" (this dog is utd on shots...) and $800 for "miscalaneos diagnostic testing" (aka, were not sure what were tesitng for but were ust going to do them anyway...)

there was more stuff on there that made me want to go back to ct and smack them...

anywho, dad say NO, mum aske what they can do to see him through until morning so the e-vet gave him sub q fluids (then told them "but it wont help" (WHA?!?!?! sub Q fluids wont help SvERE dehydratio but this dog isnt SEVERLY dehydrated, he is dehydrated...but not severly enough that sub q wont help...) gave him the anti nausea meds and "pain killer" (pepcid) and charged them $200 for the privledge...

dads taking him to the regular vet in the morning...told him to wait and get the results of the xray FIRST, they will want him to stay because they will iv him up and rehydrate him via iv for the day (and keep anit nausea meds in him, no matter what the diagnostic is) but they want a "we thing its this because this is what we see" before they leave him there...

im 99% certain its a kitty litter blockage...
im HOPING though its just a simple tumy virus...

either way, its going to be expesnive and hard...
charlie is 10yrs old, other than a single back issue hed not been sick a day in his life.
hes got years ahead of him, our last cocker passed at 13...
charlie is a puppy mill rescue and one of the sweetest most mellow and easiest going dogs in the universe...

So if we can get lots of good vibes, prayers ect heading charlies (and my parents way) it would be greatly apreciated.

 

[Dawn419]

Tons of good vibes and heading to Charlie and your parents!!!

 

[lazyday]

I am praying

 

[pinkfox]

thanks guys, waiting to hear from dad who had him at the regular vet this morning...*fingers crossed* that its just a nasty tummy bug and not going to cost them $1000's they dont have...

 

[pinkfox]

well dads back form the vet, Charlies in for iv fluids and observation

xray showed nothing but alot of gas and an enlarged liver (which means some kind of toxin build up) and blood in the rectum...
theres no definitive answer yet, but the vet seems to still be thinking blockage as shes planning possible barium and ultrasound.
blood in the rectum could be anything from a small tear to a puncture to something sharp...to just the result of him straining. dad sai he trie to poop this morning and was looking "brighter" which could mean whatever it is is finally moving if it is a blockage, or if its a virus he could be on the tail end of it...
but from what the vet is planning it does seem like blockage is on the brain.

there going to get him rehydrated do a complete blood count (try to rule out a tumor and see if theres an obvious infection causing the liver enlargment (its odd because hes not running a fever, his temps and vitals are all normal and generally enlarged liver comes with at least a low grade fever...
if the barium/ultrasound doesnt come back with anything obvious it could mean exploritory surgery, but theyd rather not just open him up to look around and hope they find something, instead theyd rather know theres something there get him open done and closed quickly...

dads frustrated, hes made it clear theres only so much hes willing to put cash wise into a 10 yr old dog...(completly understandable as they just dont have that kind of money) but hes feeling better this morning when the vet charged him $200 for almost the exact same things the E-vet quoted $1000 for yesterday... (xrays, interpritation, IV ect) and the total of $4000 quote is now an $800 quote (doesnt include cost of surgery should he need it, but all the rest of the stuff the e-vet wanted to charge a total fo $4000 for the reg vet is looking at $800...for the exact same stuff...a more than $3000 diference...talk about taking advantage of desperate people.

anywho, thats all we relay have for an update right now...
the verdict is currently a kitty litter blockage.

todays plan might involve working on that brush pile in the goat pen...and mabe scrubbing some more gourds, got about 15 left to do...did 15 yesterday, so that gives me a total of 30 to create with...
ill never scoff at the price of pre-cleaned gourds again LOL. takes forever to properly clean these things :/

got plenty of outside stuff to keep me busy the next few weeks...want to take apart move and rebuild the veggie beds, tidy the garden, work on that brush pile... ect...
but right now im kinda feeling lazy!

 

[SSDreamin]

Hope this vet can figure things out without having to open Charlie up. Seems so wrong for the emergency vet to gouge people so badly, but DH pointed out that the emergency rooms for people technically do the same thing - $18 for 2 Tylenol?!? Still feels wrong to me!

 

[pinkfox]

exactly, they tae serious avantage, an yes i now there a business and they have t pay their staff (and given there e-vets their staff are paid more because they work "undesirable" shifts...
but other thanpaying their staff a little more theres NO reason for prices to be THAT much marked up...our regular vet also has to pay rent, pay electric, pay for equiptment ect...so why should the emergency vet be legally allowed to mark things up so much more than the regular vet...
your average drug markup is 5x (so buyign a pill direct would cost you $1, buying it at the vet would cost you $5)
the evet mark up is 15x (so that same $1 pil will cost you $15...WHY?!)

Same for procedures, vets work out their prices based on the cost of "labor" (your vets average per hour pay plus your techs averae pay per hour) plus the actual cost of supplies (anethesia, sutures, iv ect...) then they factor in a portion of thier average monthly bills to cover rnning the machines, the lights ect...then they mark up ntopo of that by a set percent..just like when your buying retail you knwo your paying a markup (which is on average anythign from 2x to 5x the amount the store paid wholesale)

E-vets take thos emarkups and multiply them by on avereage (an this was from an emergency vet clinic, im sure its ifferent in ifferent areas but this was when i was working for an e-vet) the average markup is up to 5x the average vet mark up...
so a proceure that costs $100 at your regular vet can cost 5 times that at an emergency vet and thats the low average, some things are marked up 10 x with drugs being marked up on average 15x...its insanity and i perosnally think there taking advantage of people who DONT know better who are scare and worried about thier family member (because people who drive to an e-clinic are not the type of peope who dont give a rats ass about their pet lol)

for me its similar to funeral homes..they can mark up a million times an know that the maority of people arnt going to "shop around" and so will pay the ridiculous fees because whats the other option? well your loved one can sit in a freezer untill you pay us the money...taking advantage of people in an emotional state. emergency rooms are the same...your in pain/sick/whatever and before theyll even do more than take your blood pressure theres the lad from accounting looking for your "co-pay" its like "umm im ying here, my arm is falling off and i think my chest is about to explode..."well mam, that sucks, and im realy sorry but i need a credit card for your co-pay before we can go any further..." what you gonna o, ask for a roll of ducttape and tell em its ok, im sure my arm will be fine untill morning hen i can go to see my regular dr...nope your going to suck it up and pay them because youve got no other option...

emergency vets are the same...they knwo most people arnt going to question that $600 catheter or $500 "miscelanioues injection" fee, they now most people arnt going to take thier sick/potentially dying dog an say "its ok we'll wait untill tomorrow...most are going to suck it up and just pay it.

Thankflly my dad was anurse and something "didnt feel right" to him and thankfully my parents do trust my jugment when it comes to the animals, and dad aparently even said to mum, you know what, i think gemmas right about the blockage, and something oesnt feel right, im retty sure we can do this at home...
they could do ALL the maintence work themselves at home (and im pissed because dad asked them to sen him home with iv fluids and a needle (he was a nurse and ive shown him how to give sub q fluds in the past, theres NO reason they couldnt have sent him home with a bag and a needle so he could give charlie sub q every few hours in the night...no reason legally they couldnt either, its perfectly legal to aminister subq's at home to an animal...but you cant buy the fluids or neeles without a script.)

anywho...yeah...i have a great deal of respect for vets (an medical professionals) and i unerstan they are also a BUISNESS and they need to at minimum break even to keep runnign and they are human buisness people they WANT to make a profit...
but i have NO respect for ANY professionals that take avantage of emergency situations in orer to make more money...its downright low and irty behavour and those people dont deserve respect. an evet shoul charge a little more to covere higher saleries...but for everything else...their cost is the exact same as a regular vet...so why can they legally charge $4000 when the exact same estimate at the regular vet came to $800?!

sorry, rant over...
im currently still in the dark as to whats going on...no wor sicne this morning about his condition, which is frustrating, but mum and dad cant tell me anything they dont know and the vet cant tell them anythign they ont know...and they have to fit charlie in in between patients that were already booked...so its just a waiting game (the problem is the longer the waiting game oes on the more it costs for observation, fluis ect and the higher the risks become if it is a blockage (the longer the blockage stayed the higher the risk of infection, liver amage, sepsis ect, an the higher the risk of things like infection means a higher risk with the anesthesia ect...
i understan them not wanting to open him up for no reason...but the waiting around just incase its not a blockage, is just as angerous an expensive as exploritory...lest if they id exploritory and found something they could remove it and be done...

i hate being so helpless, but this has shown me one thing about myself...i sitll have all that knowledge in my head lol.

otherwise, nothing going on today.
E gave me an old cage that rustedthrough so toay i pulled the top off an the floor out, and im trying to figure out a way to repair it...it would be perfect as a meaty or potentially with the divider in it as 2 quail cages., its orgionally a bir breeer cage.
so im thinking if i can remove the realy rusted through wire and then take a wire brush to the rest i could probably patch the floor wiht some left over bits of harware cloth, paint the entire thing with anti rust enamal paint (theres a few bird safe ones) ive got my first quail cage

but beyond playing with that for a little while nothing going on...
just waiting on news from the parents on how charlie is oing...

to top it all off...toay is daddies birthday...what a lovely birthday gift huh?!
hes frustrated with work, he wants to move but the job offer he was planning on (he was told "theres a job waiting for you") hasnt yet worke out due to a hiring freee an no iea on how long thats going to last...and now this...

seems like eveyrone sgetting a goo swift kick on the tush this month...
just hoping it means september is going to rock for us all!

 

[lazyday]

will keep up the prayer's for your parents dog.