Pet Trauma Trauma
Aug. 11th, 2009 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aWe've been doing the vet dance with Cobweb. Two years ago, when we got Lucy, she started losing weight, but it's really picked up in the last year. She's down 3 or 4 pounds (from an unhealthy 13 or 14) in that time, and that sort of downward trend just isn't good or normal in an animal.
So, we did some blood tests a few weeks ago, then some more blood tests, and nothing turned up. Kimberly talked to the vet about a next step and the vet suggested an ultrasound, and was very insistent that the weight loss wasn't normal. So we took Cobweb in for an ultrasound today.
We still don't know the results, as the vet left before calling us today; hopefully we'll hear from her early tomorrow.
Fortunately the finances of this haven't been bad. We've spent something like $800 on tests, but we got kitty insurance for the cats two years ago (thanks Lucy!), and hopefully that should pay for 80% of the costs past a $100 deductible. The main purpose of the insurance was for exactly this situation, where a vet didn't know what was wrong and wanted to run (moderately expensive) tests to find out; this way we never have to decide whether the cat's life is worth those tests or not.
Though the finances aren't stressful, and I'm trying not to be stressed about what the results are (though I fear they won't be good), I was largely traumatized today by something that happened at the vet.
When we were picking up Cobweb this evening, we heard that an emergency case was coming in. One of the staff went outside to wait and the next thing I know he's just booking through the room, literally moving faster than I've ever seen anyone move, with a thirty-or-forty-pound dog in his arms. The dog's head is just lolling about bonelessly as he blasts past us all. A minute later a woman comes in and she's just screaming and wailing, pretty much as upset as I've heard anyone before.
So there we are, spending another five minutes or so getting checked out and getting our cat back, listening to this woman wailing a couple of rooms over, and knowing that her beloved dog is a couple of rooms beyond that and is probably dead or damned closed to it, from the way that staff member was reacting. Between sobs I hear how the dog got choked on its collar, and I start toting up how many minutes a dog can be not breathing and still OK, and if there's any way this woman could have lived that close. I'm suspecting not, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. The clerk who was checking us out says, "I'm about to start crying too", and I can feel what she's saying, because the misery's hanging heavy over everyone.
After today's experience, though, I have no doubts that that pet hospital is the best place we could take our pets if there was ever an emergency, because the staff there clearly really care and they clearly don't fuck around when a pet's life is at stake.
Man, I wouldn't want that job though. Especially not when the clerk tells us that it's been busy, and that was their fifth emergency today.
Haven't really been able to concentrate tonight, so no reading or review writing as planned. I instead did the one thing I can do when my head is all over the place, which is oddly enough program. So the RPGnet Gaming Index got a couple of nice new features related to rating articles because of a pet emergency in Berkeley. Ain't that how life is sometimes?
So, we did some blood tests a few weeks ago, then some more blood tests, and nothing turned up. Kimberly talked to the vet about a next step and the vet suggested an ultrasound, and was very insistent that the weight loss wasn't normal. So we took Cobweb in for an ultrasound today.
We still don't know the results, as the vet left before calling us today; hopefully we'll hear from her early tomorrow.
Fortunately the finances of this haven't been bad. We've spent something like $800 on tests, but we got kitty insurance for the cats two years ago (thanks Lucy!), and hopefully that should pay for 80% of the costs past a $100 deductible. The main purpose of the insurance was for exactly this situation, where a vet didn't know what was wrong and wanted to run (moderately expensive) tests to find out; this way we never have to decide whether the cat's life is worth those tests or not.
Though the finances aren't stressful, and I'm trying not to be stressed about what the results are (though I fear they won't be good), I was largely traumatized today by something that happened at the vet.
When we were picking up Cobweb this evening, we heard that an emergency case was coming in. One of the staff went outside to wait and the next thing I know he's just booking through the room, literally moving faster than I've ever seen anyone move, with a thirty-or-forty-pound dog in his arms. The dog's head is just lolling about bonelessly as he blasts past us all. A minute later a woman comes in and she's just screaming and wailing, pretty much as upset as I've heard anyone before.
So there we are, spending another five minutes or so getting checked out and getting our cat back, listening to this woman wailing a couple of rooms over, and knowing that her beloved dog is a couple of rooms beyond that and is probably dead or damned closed to it, from the way that staff member was reacting. Between sobs I hear how the dog got choked on its collar, and I start toting up how many minutes a dog can be not breathing and still OK, and if there's any way this woman could have lived that close. I'm suspecting not, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. The clerk who was checking us out says, "I'm about to start crying too", and I can feel what she's saying, because the misery's hanging heavy over everyone.
After today's experience, though, I have no doubts that that pet hospital is the best place we could take our pets if there was ever an emergency, because the staff there clearly really care and they clearly don't fuck around when a pet's life is at stake.
Man, I wouldn't want that job though. Especially not when the clerk tells us that it's been busy, and that was their fifth emergency today.
Haven't really been able to concentrate tonight, so no reading or review writing as planned. I instead did the one thing I can do when my head is all over the place, which is oddly enough program. So the RPGnet Gaming Index got a couple of nice new features related to rating articles because of a pet emergency in Berkeley. Ain't that how life is sometimes?
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Date: 2009-08-12 06:23 pm (UTC)