12 y/o with Pyo - Page 4

Dawulf,

Sounds like you need to make a call to Animal Control or SPCA too.  Maybe they can also help you find some vet options.

You really need to understand that you CAN NOT WAIT on this. You never know when the infection will pass from the uterus into the blood stream and gets dispersed thru the whole body. That is called going septic and Jewel will die within minutes when that happens.

Good Luck

Sunsilver, I'm not talking about spaying at 8 weeks and I'm not talking about  castrating males. If the intent is to prevent breast cancer, then, as you know, the bitch must be spayed before her first season. If the intent is to prevent pyo, then it's probably safe to wait a lot longer than that although there is no guarantee that a female won't develope pyo early. 

'You have your own car. Sneek the poor dog out and take her to the vet.'
And how exactly do you suggest I do that?

I am 20 years old... Have not lived with my mom in 11 years... still live with my dad and we live with my grandma too. I've got credit through my bank and crap, but I don't know what that CareCredit is... would I be able to get it like... TODAY? On top of that I have yet to catch back up from paying an arm and a leg for my car, two weeks before the rest of my payments were due. I would get her in in a heartbeat if she were my dog and I could. But I would not be surprised if they would call the cops on me if I did "sneak her out and take her in". I don't put anything past them any more.

There is nothing I can do except try and convince them to get her in. I've already found them a decently priced vet that would get Jewel the care she needs, but they are so damn hellbent that thier current vet knows what she is doing it is difficult. Jewel has been *slightly* improving and is at least remotely comfortable, so hopefully she will be able to hold out until I can get through their thick heads and figure something out.

I don't mean to come across as snippy, just got off the phone with mom and the closest to anything I got was "Yeah, maybe eventually."  So I'm a little pissed, needless to say.

So in a moment I will prepare to go on a mass-Google search to support my theory and start blowing up their e-mails. I can get very annoying when I want to be - maybe that will help. Worth a shot. At this point I'm a little glad I was raised by my dad...

They always have been stingy about $$$.... funny though, they are willing to spend $800 to run tests that won't do a damn thing, yet when they get the option to spend $300 to FIX the problem, that is suddenly too much.

ETA: She DOES have her appetite back though (ate 3 plates of food so far today, mom said) so that is at least something!

http://www.carecredit.com/apply/?dtc=DS3V   I didn't even think you were 20 yet. Time flies, I guess. LOL   Apply for CareCredit- or get your mom or her bf to do it if they have more/better credit.  Apply for a couple thousand; my experience is you get what you get and what you ask for doesn't apply that much. My dad got as much as he asked for (for moi, lol) whereas the rest of us who don't have unlimited income get a reasonable amount we can be expected to pay back.   And yes, it is instant in most cases. Case in point- Seven, darling that she is, was roughhousing with Cylas and all of a sudden Dallas noticed blood all over the deck and she had what looked like bones sticking out of her leg- not that it slowed her down any. I went online and applied for him while he drove her to the e-vet (naturally, it was Sunday). By the time he got to the vet, I'd already given the vet his account number and she had her emergency surgery right then, no worries.    It's a lifesaver!!!

Dawulf, is it basically a money issue with your parents? Because if it is, we can raise the money here, now that you've found a vet that will charge a reasonable fee. I'll be the first to chip in.

So your mom does not want you to challenge her choice of vet clinics or question the quote that she says she received. Sounds like your mom does not want to admit that she has been taken by this clinic. So it is a pride thing with your mom.


Ok, try to rework getting a decent quote on paper from the second vet at your mom’s vet clinic. See if your mom will give you permission to talk to the vet clinic about Jewel - privacy laws and all that. Go up in person and talk to the vet. If your mom won't give them permission to talk to you, encourage her to talk to them. Get the quote on paper (including IV). Get the quote with and without pulling teeth. Get a written quote that gives your mom alot of choices.Hopefully it will be more reasonable to where your mom and her bf won't freak out.
Ask the vet point blank to give ya'll an actual percentage recovery rate - Jewel has a ___ % chance of recovering if she is spayed. Jewel has a ___% chance of dying if she does not get spayed. If the price of the spay is unreasonable, then tell them about the quotes you have gotten from other vets (I hope you have done at least that).
If your mom does the talking on the phone, then you go up there and pick up the written estimate yourself. Be very nice to the vet, because you really don't have the full story, you just have your mom's version. Try to be unemotional when you talk to your mom. You are dealing with her pride here.


I hope that your love for Jewel will give you the strength to take action.

"So in a moment I will prepare to go on a mass-Google search to support my theory and start blowing up their e-mails. I can get very annoying when I want to be - maybe that will help." I have no idea what you are talking about.

Uterine infections are very painful, doesn't your mom understand that by not spaying her, she is having to endure horrible pain?
This is so unfair to the poor dog............

Forum folks,

We have a young 20 yr old girl Dawulf with some pretty nasty family dynamics. Dawulf has grown up the last 11 years with her father and her grandmother. Her childhood companion Jewel lives with her mother and her mother's bf. There is a history of the mother not giving good veterinary care. There is a alot of family dynamics to where Dawulf does not have alot of pull. The best interest of the dog is not the mother's and bf's concern. It is more pride, control and money than anything.The mother will probably call the police if Dawulf takes the dog herself to the vet. Dawulf is young, scared and pretty powerless in this situation. Dawulf is aware of the medical necessity of spaying. Her mother doesn't care. The mother is already telling Dawulf to come over and say her last goodbyes to Jewel. I think we need to give Dawulf support in dealing with her mother. Any ideas for Dawulf to negotiate a deal with her mother may be the best thing at this point.

Dawulf still doesn't know what was really said at the vet clinic. The mother doesn't want to go anywhere else. So maybe Dawulf could try to make things work out there. It may not be what Dawulf would want to do if she had her choice. Dawulf needs to try to get a reasonable spay estimate to where it will give the mother a chance, or an out, with her vet. We need to give Dawulf information and encouragement to manage the vet and get them to do the spay at a reasonable cost, and to manage her mother into allowing Jewel to get spayed, and to personally help pay for the spay (we can send donations). At this point, I think it is about Dawulf finding the strength and courage and taking ACTION to save Jewel.

Dawulf still has the option of contacting the SPCA. Maybe they can intervene with the vet and with the mother.


  

 

Damn, Dawulf, you project yourself as being far more mature than most 20 year olds I've encountered--and in case there's any question about it, I mean that as a sincere compliment--and the dynamic of the whole situation is like a spider web, isn't it?  <sigh> 

I wonder if the vet who is presently caring for Jewel would agree to give you a written, itemized estimate for the cost of the spay surgery if you were to stop by their office and request it...it's not as if there would be any violation of any client-doctor confidentiality (which, btw, really doesn't apply to veterinarians and their patients), after all, because they can give you an estimate for the costs of a 'high risk spay' of ANY large, senior dog that's been diagnosed with an open pyometra without it being specifically for Jewel.  Then at least you'd know what the actual cost involved would be at that clinic, and maybe if you told your mom you were paying for it (with the help of folks here), she'd get off her butt and take her in to her vet.  There is no freakin' way that just the spay can cost anywhere NEAR $2500, let alone more than that.  Hell, emergency bloat surgery for a 100 pound dog on a Saturday night was *barely* over $1000, and that included x-rays, a night's hospitalization, rechecks, a case of Hills i/d, and prescriptions for home care.

I hate to say this, but is it possible your mom is exaggerating as to what they were told the cost of the surgery would be, opting for the antibiotic treatment instead, because she and/or her boyfriend have grown tired of taking care of Jewel, and would welcome an illness taking a responsibility off of them?  Sadly, it is not unheard of for owners of elderly pets that need a little bit of extra TLC to start viewing the pet as more of a burden than a joy, and those owners start looking for reasons to euthanize the pet; sometimes they'll only accept the most minimal of veterinary care for the pet if it becomes ill, or they'll refuse any care, in hopes that the illness will relieve them of the responsibility of being the one to instigate the death of the pet...it's a way of getting out of the responsibility without family and friends (rightfully) getting angry at them for giving up on a pet that's just slowed down.... 

I hope my voiced fear is NOT what's going on here; I know it would break your heart, and it would put severe fissures in the hearts of the rest of us who've never even met her or you, because you've tried so hard to take care of her when your mom isn't but should be.  Parents should not put that kind of shit on their children, no matter how grown up the children are.

Keeping fingers and toes crossed that Jewel stays non-septic, and you're able to prevail and get her safely spayed and back in good condition again.