Last year we made the wise decision to get our pups, Abby health insurance. To give you a background, Abby started as my moms dog whom we've had since she was a puppy. Sean my husband was a cat person when I met him. Along came Abby and Sean had a change of heart and Abby and Sean are inseparable. Sean walks her every night 1-2 miles, allows her to sleep on his head at night, and make sure she's very well taken care of not to mention that she attends every family holiday at his grandmas, and grandma even has a special couch cover for our little pups. My mom got married to a wonderful man who lived in San Diego and they do a lot of traveling. It was then made apparent that Ms. Abby needed a new home. Without a second to ponder, we had a new dog that was coming home with us.
So going back to the health insurance, we wanted to make sure that she was fully taken care of and that included health insurance. We knew she was getting older, and was prone to quite a few health problems (hips and heart). We signed her up last year and our plan included a teeth cleaning. Essentially it paid for her premiums so it was nice.
She's also entitled to a physical with her plan and all vaccines. Her annual came up and today we had everything set up.
Sean dropped her off this morning, and not even an hour or so after she was dropped off I was getting a phone call about some issues. Sean was letting me know that her blood work all came back fine, but her heart murmur that was detected about 6 months ago, was a lot more prominate this time around and they didn't want to put her under to get her teeth cleaned without doing a chest xray and viewing her her heart could tolerate it. They wanted $350 out of pocket for the xray. After much contemplation I was about to pull the plug until it dawned on us that hey, if we upgrade would it be included? YUP! Indeed it was. For an extra $10 a month, we're covered. Thank god, b/c with her issues now, it's only likely that she's going to need more in the future.
So while doing her cleaning they also discovered that her upper k9 teeth were loose and that there was bacteria in there making them loose. So we got another phone call....was giving her meds ok? Sean and Abby being pals, of course the answer was yes. If it was left untreated by her next cleaning she would have to have those teeth removed. Hopefully this treatment works. She got injections into her gum so I'm sure her gums hurt.
After work I went to go pick her up and I talked to the kind doctor. She advised that Ms. Abby has a slightly enlarged heart, supplied me with a CD of her xrays, and advised to watch for fatigue and coughing. If things get worse, we would have to visit the cardiologist to get an ultrasound to see exactly what type and how bag things were.
Upon checking out they handed me a sheet listing all the charges and what I was responsible for. Our $1100 bill was reduced to a meer $115. THANK GOD!
Today put into reality that our little pups isn't so little or young anymore. She's aging just as we are. Hopefully she'll be with us for many more years to come.
For now she's exhausted, sore and still very groggy as she lay motionless on her pals lap keeping him warm. Hopefully tomorrow she will perk up.
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