I just returned from the vet with Max. I gained two new bottles of pills, a huge anti-lick collar, and some "Yuk" ointment in case the collar doesn't work. I lost $150. Well, $180 when you count Charly's thyroid medicine. Yes, thyroid medicine. We also give Charly and Max daily fish oil capsules and Glucosamine; Charly gets them for arthritis (according to the vet's chart, he's about 75 in human years) and Max for a genetic joint problem. Max also gets special (which means "expensive") food.
When it comes to dogs, "free" as in "free dog", ain't necessarily cheap. No wonder Tom and I are always so broke!
Last week Max lost his appetite and didn't want to go on our morning walk. I started checking his legs and feet, and when I got near his left front paw, he curled his lip (he's not a good patient like Charly!) I gave him one of Charly's "happy" pills for pain, held off on the walks, and he seemed to get better.
But on a walk Saturday afternoon, he started to limp again, and would often stop to lick his paw. Tom and I agreed it was time to let the vet look at it. Sigh. We could picture our money sprouting wings and flying away...
The vet isn't sure what's wrong...Max might have a small fracture...it could be a snake or scorpion bite...maybe a thorn. All that is clear is he's licked it raw, which has just added to the pain.
Max is lying quietly in the laundry room right now, surprisingly not trying to rip the collar off of his head. It won't fit through the door to his dog house - that's why we let him in the house. He looked so pitiful trying to force his way in through the small opening. Daniel is sitting on the floor down there reading, keeping Max company, keeping an eye on him. We'll have shiftchange in a little while.
We gave Charly the option of coming inside, but he walked in, looked around, and headed back out. He's an outside dog, a country dog, through and through.
Poor Max...
