The vets only get rich off me

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Poor Daisy. She tore her ACL again. 4 years ago she completely tore her right ACL and this week she blew her left.

It cost me $3400 last time between diagnostic xrays and surgery. I called around and priced other specialist vets and I'm going to have to scrounge up the money for the same vet. They did a great job and I wont' need the pre-diagnosis exams. I was told today that its usual that the other leg goes shortly after the first.

One vet wanted - get this - $7000
Forget them. Rip off artists IMO.

I got the high end estimate at $2700 today. What really sucks is that I wont' have the money until tax time for this for her. I spoke for awhile with my vet today and he assured me that she should be OK as long as I take care of her until the surgery is done. He also said that sometimes they just irritate it greatly and it will settle down too, but I'll still need the surgery regardless. It's damaged and will continue to cause her issue. But at least I'm reassured that she'll be OK until we can do the op.

Poor Puddin' feels awful and it shows. She was carrying the leg for the last two days but today she's been putting weight on it. That tells me the ligament is still intact. A totally torn ligament will not hold the leg.

I was also informed this is very common in pit bulls. great.

That stupid ligament is the size of a staple.

[Rhubarb]

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Goodness!
What a price and I guess insurance doesn't cover her?

[Twitchin Kitten]

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No option for insurance. I got a quarterly price at $166 and I would have to wait one full year for ligament operations to use it. Kind of pointless. Pet insurance is really expensive here if you have multiple pets.

there is a service called Care Credit here that I'm going to look into.

[Twilla]

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I can front you a thousand, maybe they can take it as a down payment and let you pay the rest off in installments. I hate to hear about an animal in pain.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Funny thing is she isn't in pain like you think. The more she carries the leg the better off she is, the vet said.

I went on that Care Credit site and almost had heart failure. They want close to 30% interest on each loan they give out. They won't take the down payment unless it's half and they won't operate unless I give them the balance BEFORE she goes in for surgery. They run a lovely racket here. You'd think the dogs come first. They pulled that crap with us last time, 1/2 down a week before and it has to clear, then they take the other half the day of surgery. They don't even take her into the surgery until they have my check in their hands. Fuckers.

I'm going to apply for this thing tomorrow and see if I can get the credit. I gotta make a few more calls to the vet and get a better price closer to the max I can qualify for and the 'worst case scenario' pricing. I figure that if I get the thing I can pay it off in installments until my tax checks come back. There's also no interest the first year of payments, so that's a plus.

Thanks for offering, you're a good friend. I can't take it though.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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OK that was way too easy. I got approved and I'm going to wait till the end of today or the morning to make her appt. The application process for this thing is too simple I don't trust it! I need to make sure all the ducks are in place before I spend a dime of the money.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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OK she goes in Friday and quite possibly can have the surgery on Friday as well. I could have brought her in tomorrow but I wanted the same guy who did the other leg to do this one.

They explained how the credit thing works. It's really as simple as I described too. I just bring a form (which I printed out) to them and they fill it in and bill accordingly. Then CareCredit sends me a bill. There is no interest for the first year. So, this is good! I can pay in installments until tax time and then pay it all off interest free by the end of February (we file early). Now lets hope those pricks in DC don't pass that shit about not allowing a deduction for home loan interest! That's a huge chunk of change for us on the return.

[Twilla]

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Thats good news!

[Twitchin Kitten]

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It sure is.

She's walking on the leg today too. That tells me it's irritated and not fully blown, but it will blow soon enough if we don't do anything now.

That ligament is a funny thing. If it's fully blown, there is no way it can support the leg, but if it's only damaged and "on the way to blown", she will limp, but have no pain, but she limps because the ligament is weak and can't support the leg. I should find that photo of it that I posted when I had the old software and she blew the other leg.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Well, the vet just called and said Daisy is out of surgery, awake and should be fine to come home in the morning. He said she destroyed the knee. Her ACL was completely torn and she damaged part of the meniscus (<-sp?). They cleaned up the damaged bones and repaired ligaments and have her doped up on morphine.