poor riley
most of you guys don't have to deal with this, not yet anyway.
my dog has a partial tear of a ligament in his back left leg, and a complete tear in the back right. the only fix for a torn ligament, apparently, is surgery. i actually questioned the necessity of the surgery after talking to the specialist and finding out how much it was going to cost.
my question is, do you, or will you have a buffer zone for money spent on a "pet?" i quote the word 'pet' for the reason that some people tend to go to; they usually feel that the animal is more like a family member than a pet.
i love the dog and generally treat him like our child, so there was no question, initially, that we would have the surgery done. but then i've talked to family and friends about the cost and the procedure, they disagree with me.
recovery time is roughly 14 weeks...we'll probably have the second surgery between 12-16 depending on financials...the dog is going to be miserable for nearly 6 months...the overall cost? $3k per leg. i guess we're not getting wood floors for the condo next year..
after learning about the price i told the specialist that i felt petty for bringing it up, but i don't even know what kind of dog he is... i knew that my previous dog, a boxer/pitt mix (my dog chev) wasn't going to live much longer than 8 years...but not knowing what my dog riley's general life expectancy is, at 2 1/2 years old, is it worth $6,000 to get him in normal working order (running/playing/comfortable), or should we just do the one leg and accept that he's always going to have a limp with another complete rupture always looming on the other leg? (terrible sentence)
if he were 7 or 8 years old this might be an easier decision.. probably not, actually.
because i don't have any kids yet, it's hard to not think of him as one, with the exception that we don't need a babysitter when we leave the house. also, after seeing the first surgery, it makes me feel terrible that we would have to put him through this again in 3 months.
we had the first surgery done last thursday on the right leg, since it was the complete tear. here are pictures for people that dig that sort of thing.
the swelling and bruising are almost non-existent at this point (3 days later). but i can still hear his knee pop with every step he takes-- it makes my stomach turn.
i feel bad because i can't tell him why we did the surgery, or why his leg is in so much pain. or why the cat makes fun of him. look how sad he is..
my dog has a partial tear of a ligament in his back left leg, and a complete tear in the back right. the only fix for a torn ligament, apparently, is surgery. i actually questioned the necessity of the surgery after talking to the specialist and finding out how much it was going to cost.
my question is, do you, or will you have a buffer zone for money spent on a "pet?" i quote the word 'pet' for the reason that some people tend to go to; they usually feel that the animal is more like a family member than a pet.
i love the dog and generally treat him like our child, so there was no question, initially, that we would have the surgery done. but then i've talked to family and friends about the cost and the procedure, they disagree with me.
recovery time is roughly 14 weeks...we'll probably have the second surgery between 12-16 depending on financials...the dog is going to be miserable for nearly 6 months...the overall cost? $3k per leg. i guess we're not getting wood floors for the condo next year..
after learning about the price i told the specialist that i felt petty for bringing it up, but i don't even know what kind of dog he is... i knew that my previous dog, a boxer/pitt mix (my dog chev) wasn't going to live much longer than 8 years...but not knowing what my dog riley's general life expectancy is, at 2 1/2 years old, is it worth $6,000 to get him in normal working order (running/playing/comfortable), or should we just do the one leg and accept that he's always going to have a limp with another complete rupture always looming on the other leg? (terrible sentence)
if he were 7 or 8 years old this might be an easier decision.. probably not, actually.
because i don't have any kids yet, it's hard to not think of him as one, with the exception that we don't need a babysitter when we leave the house. also, after seeing the first surgery, it makes me feel terrible that we would have to put him through this again in 3 months.
we had the first surgery done last thursday on the right leg, since it was the complete tear. here are pictures for people that dig that sort of thing.
the swelling and bruising are almost non-existent at this point (3 days later). but i can still hear his knee pop with every step he takes-- it makes my stomach turn.
i feel bad because i can't tell him why we did the surgery, or why his leg is in so much pain. or why the cat makes fun of him. look how sad he is..