Sssssoooooooo.....
Belle's teeth have not been improving, and she is in more pain than I can manage with the leftover 3 year old Torbutrol in the 'fridge.
So we took Miss High and Mighty Princess Belle in to the vet for a dental consultation.
I knew I'd be dealing with the weekend vet, so I was really only hoping for a little pain meds and maybe antibiotics to tide over until we could schedule a procedure with our regular vet.
So the weekend vet says, 'Oh yeah, it looks like she has
neck lesions. If that's the case, there is probably a pocket full of bacteria sitting underneath the teeth.... but the "good news" is that they are easier to take care of than a full tooth extraction'.
She then goes on a lengthy explanation about the difference on how they handle a "crown zip" vs. a complete extraction. Now, I generally catch on pretty quick, but I know that she is unfamiliar with us, so I let her prattle while my mind wanders...
Then this pops out of my mouth; "hmmm... if she loses most of her teeth, I'll have to do something with her food". (daggum it! inside voice!)
To which she instantly replies, "Oh it'll be no problem, they handle wet food just fine!"
Obviously, she did not read our file.
I smile and my husband chimes in with me, "No, we feed a raw diet."
And I continue, "I was thinking about her boney meals". (gah! I just can't seem to help myself.)
Suddenly she seems a little flustered, "oh. errr... what kind of bones do you feed?"
"Chicken"
I will give her a little credit, she did
try to contain her consternation... it was just a
fleeting look of horror.
I smile again, "They're actually fairly soft when raw".
"Well," she says, desperately trying to regain her footing, "I guess you could chop them up, or put them through a blender" (wow, this girl is a real problem solver!).
Looking at her thoughtfully I say, "Oh, I do chop them up already, was just thinking if the boney bits will aggravate her gums with no teeth".
"Or!" she exclaims with an air of sudden inspiration, "You could leave out the bone and substitute with some wet food. You know, for the taurine."
Now it's my turn to look a little confused. "I'm not worried about taurine, I feed them hearts every other day."
This time she is less successful in hiding her surprise. "I'm... sure a blender would get it all fine enough."
I smile and nod, and Hubby chuckles. (bless him!)
So, to get back on track, I ask about antibiotics, and she says; 'Oh, I don't think we need to do that, unless you are unable to afford the procedure and we have to delay beyond a week'.
hmmmmm.... Didn't she explain at the start that there is probably a pocket of bacteria campin' out under the teeth?
I let it go.
So she rustles up an estimate for us... $1150
For a
basic dental, with slight padding for the likelihood of surgery.
My instant reaction was, "Holey crap! there's no way!"
And her instant reaction was, "If finances are tight, you could try Care Credit."
I shake my head stubbornly, "I don't like to use those guys".
She doesn't even bother to try to hide her surprise at this, "Oh?! But they offer a 12 month, no interest -- why? ---". (I think I stopped her with my "stubborn look"... I admit, it can be intimidating. I inherited it from my dad.)
She tries one last rally, "If you're thinking of putting it on a credit card, it's a good option".
I stare at her silently.
"Let me go see if that estimate has printed up, and we can go over it". She flees.
I turn to my dear Hubby with my "O. M. G." face. He looks back at me and shakes his head, "Let's see what the breakdown is."
The vet returns with the printout, which I take and peruse while she babbles on about how she included this and that, so the estimate is high, and if we want to cut costs she recommends doing it with the bloodwork, because they could conceivably do the procedure with a simple bloodworkup as long as everything else looks good....
And yes, I do believe she said all of that without taking a single breath.
So, I'm looking at the breakdown and something catches my eye. "Rimadyl?", I blurt out.
"Yes," she assures me breezily, "it's an NSAID. We give them an injection and it stays in their system for 3 days, then it clears out."
Alarms are going off in my head, but I can't remember
exactly why this is unsettling me. I just have this feeling....
I turn to Hubby with "that look". He turns to the vet, "We need to take this home and discuss it." (bless him, bless him!)
I chime in, "What can we take home to give her for the pain in the meantime?".
"Well," she hems, "I could send you home with a couple days worth of
Buprenorphine drops."
"I've never heard of it, and believe it or not she does better with pills."
Now I guess it's her turn to be stubborn, "Well, it's really the only thing I can send you home with."
So I tell her that I've been giving Belle a small dose of the leftover Torb.
"Well," she hems again, "I could send you home with some Torb., but it only last for about 45 minutes, where the Buprenorphine will last for 8 hours".
I nod reluctantly, "Okay then, we'll give it a try".
We wrap up, and go out to pay our $42 consultation + $30 meds bill.
*sigh*
.