I learned a hard lesson last week: Don’t skimp on your pet’s health care.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t skimp on our family’s health care. When we’re sick we go to the doctor. We keep up on immunizations, and preventative care. And we usually do the same for our little Cairn terrier, Molly.
But last fall, when our veterinarian recommended we have the dog’s teeth professionally cleaned, we put it off. We thought the cost – about $200, which included anesthesia, blood work, etc. – was ridiculous. That much money to clean a dog’s teeth? No thanks. Maybe next year.
Last week I noticed that our little 8-year-old Molly Dog hasn’t been eating well. She’d also been a bit shorter with the little boys. And she had the worst breath imaginable. Worse than dog breath. So I looked in her mouth, and saw she had a loose tooth.
I took her to the vet, who saw that she had three other loose teeth and signs of severe periodontal disease. I learned that infected teeth can shorten the life of a dog by causing all kinds of health issues, including heart failure. So Molly Dog was scheduled for a tooth extraction and teeth cleaning.
During the procedure, the vet found a total of eight, rotten, loose, infected teeth. The bill came to more than $500!
Now, we have an emergency fund, and Molly Dog is part of the family, so while I was horrified at the size of the bill, we were still able to pay it.
But it made me mad at myself that we had skimped on an area we shouldn’t have. If we had listened to the vet last fall, we could have saved a couple of hundred dollars and Molly Dog may have gotten to keep a few more of her teeth.
Molly Dog still has a few follow up visits, but she’s doing fine. Fortunately, we didn’t have to buy her special food, since the Vet said we could just soften her current dry dog food with water. And the good part about that is my three boys don’t eat the dog food when it’s wet. So I guess, there’s a savings there!
So lesson learned: Don’t skimp on your pet’s care. It’s a good reminder to people considering a pet, too! You definitely have to be sure you can afford to maintain your pet’s well-being. Pets give you a lot of love, but it’s a high cost per ounce!
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