My dog, Texas, has been not eating his dog food for about three weeks. He’ll eat, just not HIS food. 🙂
I thought at first it was the heat, but he’s been dropping weight the last week, so I took him to the vet, because he shouldn’t be dropping weight.
Friday we went, they did a blood panel, and said that often it is the heat that will make one not eat (I knew that).
Today I talked to them- he had an elevated White Blood Cell Count and low Platelet level.
I took him in and they found a softball-sized tumor in his abdomen.
They do not know what it is.
They do not know if it can be removed.
He is being very stoic, but he’s obviously in discomfort.
I was shocked at how much an exploratory surgery will cost- around $1300 and they won’t know until they get in there if it can be removed and what sort of growth it is. I was also shocked to see what 2 *NON-DIGITAL* x-rays cost me- $142- I could have had 5 digital x-rays done on a horse for that cost.
If they get him in there and they can’t remove it, they’ll simply not wake him up.
I am utterly distraught.
I do not know what to do.
I don’t want to do surgery wondering if they can’t remove it.
I understand that if they can, he could go on to be very healthy and live several years more.
I also understand that he could grow another tumor and we’d have to start this whole process all over again.
I don’t want him to suffer over my selfishness.
Sorry about your “baby”…I remember when Cutter started throwing up and becoming more and more jaundice….he had to have his gall bladder removed and an obstruction removed from his bile duct….almost $7000 later he was fine, but before we went through all that I wanted to know for sure what his quality of life would be after the surgery and if he would still be the same feisty little ball of fur. It’s really hard to decide what to do…
Very sad–love the big Texie dog, and you face some tough decisions. I don’t know what I’d do, but maybe call another vet or two to see if you’re getting the best surgery fees possible. When Bear needed eye surgery, I was quoted $1700 and shopped around–got it for under $500 by not doing “the specialist.” It was well worth the $45 bucks I spent on the 10 minute consultation with another vet.