One of the most exciting things about pet ownership is seeing a repair estimate with four digits and a comma. Exciting? Not really. Maybe the exciting part is remembering that you’ve been paying for pet insurance for years, though rarely using it. Or maybe the exciting part is opening that policy, digging through the small print and discovering that, yes, there is a cap while simultaneously scanning an email from said pet insurance company indicating that they are “determining if the recommended procedure will be covered.” Um, okay, but what?
Pets are mostly fabulous, aren’t they?
We currently have two dogs, one cat, and three quarters of another cat. That three quarters of a cat is missing one leg, courtesy of a fox, and represents the last time we had to dig into our pet insurance policy. That was three years ago.
In this year’s installment of “Pets Gone Wild,” Kylo (our younger Aussiedoodle) developed a minor limp that turned into a bigger limp that turned into a “well, that’s not great” refusal to bear weight over the course of a week. Obviously, that week was the very same week we were all in buckle-down mode, catching up at work after an Alaskan vacation. I spent a lot of my non-buckle-down time staring at Kylo’s back right leg trying to convince myself that it wasn’t looking…weird.
Was it rotated a little? Did it seem smaller than her other leg? Was she walking on the top of her toe? Was I imagining all of this?
The thing about Kylo is…she’s never had a bad day. Ever. It makes for a difficult patient when they simply move-on despite whatever is ailing them. While she clearly was struggling with that back leg, she remained happy to chase a ball (just throw it a little closer, please), get on the couch (if you could just help me up, please), or lounge in her pool (don’t worry about that cannonball entry).
We could tell something was wrong, but…was there really something wrong?
Yes, as it turns out.
After a visit to Animal Urgent Care and a follow-up with our regular vet, we had a visit with the Animal Orthopaedic Veterinarian last week. Yes, veterinary care has changed drastically in the last two decades and we are grateful to have access to some of the best right here in our tiny town.
Typically, Kylo is thrilled to hop in the car to go wherever we are taking her. Typically, Kylo is thrilled to hop out of the car and barrel to whatever front door we walk her to. Typically, Kylo sprints through that door packed with enthusiasm for whatever is on the other side.
This time? A hard pass from a dog that has never passed on anything in her life.
Kylo hit the doormat just inside the Veterinary Specialists’ door and slammed on her doggy brakes.
Oh, how we laughed.
We laughed because we thought it was a quick stop. We laughed because Kylo refused to move. We laughed because we realized we were going to have to get Kylo from the front door to the exam room manually and we laughed because Kylo is not a small dog and how the hell were we going to do that?
It was a fairly uncomfortable laugh.
With the help of a towel and a vet tech, we did relocate Kylo to the exam room where she refused to participate in, well, anything. It was as if she had a two-vet-visit limit and this trip, number three, caused her to disassociate. While I tried to convince the vet that this was completely not Kylo’s norm, the vet started questioning her neurological status.
Oh, yes, there’s something wrong in her head, but it’s nothing you can fix…
The vet was amazing. She got right down on the floor with Kylo and stayed for nearly an hour while poking here and prodding there, earning several offers (from Kylo) to touch the stuffy she had proudly carried into the practice. But still…the vet was concerned as noted in Kylo’s write-up:
“Emotional Assessment: The patient was very sweet but anxious and fearful during the appointment. She was unwilling to walk on the clinic floors and had to be carried into the exam room. She remained close to the owner, occasionally hiding behind her legs. She brought an emotional support toy into the appointment. Getting up in the room appeared very difficult but likely related to the stress of the floors.”
And an afternote:
“Patient was observed to readily run without hesitation once outside of the clinic setting on the lawn and cement.”
The vet, in my opinion, undersold what really happened as Kylo looked like a kangaroo using a pogo stick as the thrill of departing the clinic took over her entire body. It was that “outside of the clinic setting” moment that produced a huge sigh of relief from the vet with an exclamation of, “Oh my God; I feel so much better now.”
Yes, so do I. Well, I did. Until I saw the price of pet ownership.
The price, sometimes, is high.
It is worth it, of course.
Tomorrow, Kylo will have a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy, which is a lot of fancy words for a canine cruciate ligament repair. Because dogs can’t wear those fancy, leg-framing braces post-knee surgery, they build the brace internally by rotating a piece of the tibia to alter the biomechanics and…what the shit?!!
Anyway, Kylo’s daily swim will be off the schedule for the coming weeks as she recovers.
I do love a good argument over the price of pet ownership. These are most often found on our neighborhood social sites in the form of “Can someone give me a vet recommendation that won’t cost more than my mortgage?” Those asks are often followed by a tirade of complaints on the cost of pet care. If I’m feeling saucy, I will weigh in with unwelcome reminders that veterinarians are doctors and that doctor visits cost money, even for pets. Or perhaps, especially for pets, as veterinarians are required to be experts on anything from gerbils to horses and everything in between, not simply the two versions of the pesky human body that people doctors have to memorize.
I will always be the worst influence when it comes to a new pet.
Yes, you should absolutely get that dog or that cat, and definitely do not read Weekend at Bernie’s.
Also, get pet insurance.
You may wonder why you continue paying for it every single month for no apparent reason until your dog or cat comes up with a situation in which to use it.
Our carrier? Embrace Pet Insurance and, no, they are not paying me to send you their way.
Big shout-out, as well, to our local Zoomin Groomin, Hanover, for coming out on a holiday weekend to get Kylo prepped for surgery and for taking pity on Finley’s FOMO-triggered need for her own day at the spa.