What We Do For Our Pets

My dog Bugsy has seizures. I've talked about him and them here before. Yesterday it was time to go buy more meds for him from the vet. Two bottles, enough to last less than six months, is almost 150 bucks. Then there is the blood work, the ER trips in the middle of the night if he has a bad one that won't stop with the meds I have here--thankfully those are very few and far between, maybe once a year. In fact, knock on wood, it's been over a year since we had to call the vet out after hours for him. I had to call a couple of weeks ago about two in the morning, but by the time I got her on the phone, the seizure stopped. She talked to me a few minutes, waiting to see if it would start back, but it didn't. I felt awful for waking her, but she was really nice about it. Phone calls are free. Even at two AM. (Smile)

Still... I know even the cost of his meds and yearly tests are a whole lot of money to us and to most people, but hey, what else is plastic for? (Smile)

Hubby went with me to the vet to get Bugsy's meds this time. On the way he mentioned that he had told a friend where we were going and what the meds cost. The friend said he would "take that dog out in the woods and shoot it before he would spend that kind of money on it. That it was just a waste and the animal would be best put out of his misery."

Bugsy isn't in any misery, I can promise you that, as long as he doesn't miss his meds and gets them every day, he only has a seizure once in a while...sometimes none for months, and he is perfectly healthy and happy the rest of the time. Well loved and spoiled. I make sure he's almost never left alone, and if he is I try to make sure it's never for more than an hour at a time, just in case he has a seizure. If he has one, it usually takes a dose of extra meds to bring him out, sometimes a shot, so he has to be watched. If anyone is being inconvenienced, it's me, and I don't really mind.

The only other option is to simply take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. If he was sick and couldn't get better and suffering, I could understand. But I can't look into those lovely brown eyes and tell them to kill him over money. I guess I just don't see why others can't understand that. It's not just hubby's friend, I've had friends, even family, tell me almost the same thing. People say I'm nuts to put out money like that, and to tie myself down for a stray, a mutt. It used to hurt my feelings, but it's got where it makes me angry instead. Maybe I shouldn't feel either. I guess we all say things without thinking sometimes. Maybe if they don't have a pet, they just can't understand? Of course some of these people have pets, so I don't know. Guess I just wanted to vent. (Smile)