posted 08-15-2003 04:36 AM         

We're so sad because we can't afford to pay for a surgery. We've spent $600 to try to find out what's wrong with him today and they really can't figure anything out.

Personally, I think the vet may have given him too much medicine/vacination Monday when he had his final puppy shot but I have no expertise so it's just an opinion.

I am so sad I'm getting physically ill. My wife is so sad about it too. I wonder if she'll ever recover if he dies on us or we have to put him to sleep.

He was perfectly fine before that shot. The emergency vet just called me and said he was perking up a bit but his temperature is starting to drop so they're going to do some heat treatment.

We pick him up at 6:30am. I'm guessing we'll take him to our normal vet and she'll make us choose life or death.

I love you little doggie.

posted 08-15-2003 05:21 AM            

You mentioned that you can't afford surgry. I don't know if this would be on interest to you, but vets have services that work like credit cards. We had $1500 surgery on our cat who was blocked because he ate an earplug. We didn't have the money. The vet signed us up for a payment plan. If I remember, it was interest free for something like a year. It made paying much easier for us and saved our beloved kitty. (I just wanted to mention that in case you hadn't realized that there are payment options in some cases.)

I'd like to hear what happens (hopefully it's good news).

I'll keep him in my thoughts.

posted 08-15-2003 05:49 AM         

The normal vet is going to do some x-rays to see if the berrium has moved since yesterday.

The normal vet is also significantly cheaper if surgery is required.

I'll keep posting updates.

posted 08-15-2003 06:07 PM         

Just one question,, you said the pup got his final puppy shot,,isn't 9 weeks too young for ALL their shots?

Have you had the pup for over 1 week?

posted 08-15-2003 06:29 PM         

All I know is that they gave him a 5 in 1 shot for parvo and a couple of other things.
They gave him the worm medication and gave him bordetlla (nasal).

From what I understand that was his last puppy shot, but maybe I misunderstood.

posted 08-16-2003 09:12 AM         

Toby was doing better last night. A bit playful and he even went poop so we thought he was in the clear. Today he's taken a turn for the worse. The poor guy is down to skin and bones.

My wife have been talking and crying about the situation all morning.

We've basically come to the conclusion that it's financially impossible to try the operation and we're going to have to put him down.

My wife is so heartbroken. I hope she doesn't get depressed. I am too, but I have my own ways of dealing with these sorts of things.

Thanks for all the advice and support through these last couple of days.

I've left a message for the vet to call me. When she calls I'm going to tell her that we can't afford the operation and ask if she knows anyone that could adopt him and afford it or ask her if she'd be willing to barter services as I do web design and application development. I don't think I'm going to say the words to put him down though. I'll let her make that decision as it's too much for me to bear.

posted 08-16-2003 10:04 AM         

What a relief... Sarah and I got on our knees and prayed that God would just open the heart of our vet and allow her to seriously consider the offer of bartering in exchange for a website.

She has agreed. I think this is a sign from God that the surgery will be successful.

posted 08-16-2003 12:02 PM         

The good news is that we now know that there are no blockages in his system and that he seemed to be unphased by the surgery mostly.

The bad news is that we aren't sure what the problem is. The vet is giving him some motility drugs to get his innards going again.

posted 08-17-2003 12:38 AM         

I'll try and write more on it later (its late) or if you do a web search on Vaccinosis perhaps you will find a relation. A couple years ago a pup from one of our past litters almost died of this after being given a combo by the owner's vet. Pup had a horrendous reaction which overloaded the system. Funnily enough the vet failed to admit this was the cause but the vaccine company was quick to step in and pay the huge vet bills - hmmm. The other vets who saw the pup new right away this was vaccine related. A homeopath prescribed Thujia (forgive my spelling Im tired!!) and as soon as the next day this pup was returning to normal. I'll wont let any of our pups have a 5 way combo, and I actually now follow the jean dodds protocol.

I would seriously consider ever vaccinating your dog again! (options are titre testing and nosodes)

posted 08-18-2003 09:37 PM         

I am so grateful that the vet was willing to barter services.