Kaya and Ziggy
Bittersweet.
This is the word that best describes this weekend. As Ocean approaches his one-year birthday, he is going through so many changes. Last week, he started using a cup as mom began weaning him from breast milk. The changes for Ocean means more freedom for Mom, as I get to drink more than one beer at a time and also got to dye my hair for the first time in two years. It’s an exciting time for everyone. Dave and I celebrated our anniversary by running in the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day, and we enjoyed our first “real” road ride the day before (a 50-miler from Sedalia to Palmer Lake and back).
Unfortunately, with the highs came the lows. Our black Lab, Kaya, decided to chew up a piece of Dave’s rubber bike mat and got a piece of it lodged in his small intestine. We immediately knew something was wrong when he refused his breakfast on Saturday morning. Since his vet was closed during Memorial Day weekend, we opted to take him to the Animal ER by our house. Because he was quite dehydrated, he remained in the hospital for two nights so that they could keep him nourished via IV. After two sets of x-rays, we confirmed that surgery would be the only option available to us.
It was an agonizing decision. After paying the high costs of Animal ER, we were now faced with the additional costs of a surgical procedure, plus the uncertainty behind the results of surgery, since there was a chance that they could get in there and discover major damage in the intestines. Kaya is 12 years old, so fairly old but not so old that we could make an easy decision about his future.
Dave and I stressed over the decision all weekend long. Do we pay the high medical costs or have him euthanized because we can not afford them? What does one do? Kaya is a typical lab, so he eats random things all of the time (socks, books, and now rubber mats apparently). What if we spend all of this money to only have it happen again, which is a definite possibility. After visiting Kaya at the ER, and seeing how excited he got when he saw us, we decided to take our chances with the surgery. How could we walk away from him? In the end, we decided we couldn’t.
Kaya’s surgery is today, and we hope all will go well. We brought him to Planned Pethood, as they offer an affordable alternative (only 25-30% of the cost of a specialist). We have been very fortunate thus far with our dogs’ health, but it prompted us to wonder. As a pet owner, do you think a maximum amount of money should be set on medical care?
