zosianicola's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I want to be a vet when i grow up Vets are said to make poor salaries because people are not willing to spend a lot of money on their pets' health, and there aren't insurance companies to take advantage of. i am sure this information is obsolete. I'll bet that people's attitudes about vet bills have changed, and we know there is pet insurance now. But WE don't have pet insurance. When we got the puppies we sat down and calculated how much the insurance would cost, and figured that we knew how much it costs to keep a dog healthy because we had just had a long-lived dog who had health issues in her last 3 years. And we knew we were buying puppies who were certified against the common poodle problems, the 4 most common poodle things. Still we forgot to factor in the hybrid vigor thing that Izzy had. We figured the insurance wouldn't save us any money, but we didn't figure on puppies who require surgery. Mydog has "osteochondritis dissecans", a malformation of the cartilage in his left shoulder, much in the same place where I have shoulder bursitis (see, we become like our dogs and vice versa). It is a flap of cartilage that is loose from the epiphyseal growth plate, just flopping around and creating inflammation and pain. it is easily treated by surgery. They just go in and take out the flap and since he's a puppy the chondrocytes from around the lesion will grow in and fill up the space. It's not even going to cost that much to fix. And the lucky duck dog will get to have a 5-day fentanyl patch (my own experience with fentanyl was one of delirious release and joy until the vomiting started). A FIVE-DAY FENTANYL PATCH??? I fear the vomiting part. I hope I was unusual... The causes of osteochondritis dissecans are "multiple" and/or "unknown", but it occurs in active puppies between 4 and 8 months. Are there inactive puppies? It is more common in multiple-dog families, because of the active play. We have that! it's also more common in dogs who play on concrete surfaces---we don't have that. The tendency for it may be congenital, so our breeder probably knows about it. One web site says it may be due to a high-protein diet, which we have, but can be prevented by feeding puppyfood for big breed dogs, which we do feed them. Another web site says it may be due to high calcium in the diet, which Mydog would have more of because of the water in SA. I guess I will stop trying to blame myself or the breeder cuz what is the point? It's easy to cure and not too expensive, but the pup is going to have to be kept inactive for a week or two, which means keeping him away from his brother, which means having them take turns in their crates over vacation. Which isn't fair at all. 8:42 a.m. - 2006-12-20 ---------------------------------------------------------
a substitute activity - 2007-07-17 |
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