The newest addition to the household is Louie, a nine month old Pit Bull.
Louie came into the clinic as a drop off. History was hit by car yesterday. I'm like really, HBC yesterday? Either he's not very bad off or the owner has no $$. Louie walked back to the treatment area on three legs, wagging his tail and licking everyone he passed. The owner had authorized x-rays (thank God!). Too bad that Murphy's law of veterinarians states that nice young dogs have to have bad things. I was hoping for a pelvic fracture that would heal with cage rest. But no, this is what I found instead.
That is a proximal femoral fracture that requires surgery to the tune of ~$3,000. Talked it over with the owner. Owner tried to get financing, but was not able to.
Next option: leg amputation. It would keep Louie from living with a painful, non-healing fracture. Dogs are born with three legs and a spare, after all.
Owner was unable to afford the several hundred dollar cost of leg amputation. I could hear in his voice that he knew where this conversation was going. We couldn't let Louie live with that amount of pain for the rest of his life.
This is where people start hating on veterinarians. Why don't you just do it an let him pay later? Or make payments? Or just do the surgery for free? Don't you love animals?
I've let people make payment arrangements before. It doesn't work. 95% of them are never seen again and we never see a dime in payment from them. Another 4.9% now believe that they can charge anything they need and end up increasing the amount they owe faster than they are paying on it. And every once in a while, a rare person actually pays off their bill in a reasonable amount of time.
I'll clue everyone in on another fact. Veterinary clinics are SMALL BUSINESSES! We have to bring in enough $$ to keep the staff paid, the lights on and pay for supplies. Payment plans do not do this! Neither does doing expensive surgeries for free!
You can walk into an ER and get treated for free because Medicaid (aka the government with our tax dollars) picks up the bill. Medicaid does not pick up the bill for your pet to be treated for free. Too many unpaid bills = vet clinic out of business.
I'll get off my soapbox now.
Anyway, I hate it when men cry. The owner didn't break down or anything, but I could hear the tears in his voice. And sometimes I'm a sucker. Certain dogs and cats just tug at my heartstrings. The owner ended up signing Louie over to the clinic and I took Louie home with me. A veterinarian friend of mine placed a pin and wires (not the ideal treatment, but I don't do any orthopedic surgery and I draw the line at $3000 surgeries on rescue dogs).
Now we cross our fingers and pray it works. If it doesn't, well, dogs are born with three legs and a spare. :-)
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