Doggie sick bay X two

Many years ago I did some contractual work for the State of Illinois as it considered offering a cafeteria plan of benefits for its employees to choose from.  It was interesting and fun to investigate all the possibilities.  One I included was canine insurance.  We could have used it with our third Zeiders' dog.

Had we possessed insurance for Puddy and Belle, dogs one and two, we would have lost money.  Other than a teeth cleaning or two, they made their annual visits to the vet and no more.  It has been a different story with Zoe.

It began when Zoe was only one and stepped over a hose.  Now she wasn't doing some fancy football move or fast cutting on a wet obstacle course, but in that one step she became a three-legged dog due to a tear of her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).  She had surgery at the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic and was kept quiet for six weeks.  The cost?  Over one thousand dollars.

Our regular vet retired, and the next time we visited the office,  we were assigned a just-graduated-from-vet-school veterinarian.  He struck fear into us as he described Zoe's "heart condition," which included an enlarged heart, a murmur, and more!  We immediately arranged an appointment with the doggie cardiologist at the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic.  We were reassured with good news.  Small dogs have large hearts (well, I could have told him that...only he meant "on x-ray"), and her murmur was only evident when she was stressed and her rate was elevated.  That unnecessary visit cost us a couple of hundred dollars.  We changed vet clinics because Zoe said, " Let the new guy practice on someone else."

Things settled down for a while, until Zoe tore the ACL in her other back leg.  We followed our vet's (two female veterinarians own this office) advice and didn't have it repaired.  The vet had done the same with her dog.  Zoe quickly bore weight on it and was doomed to arthritis with or without the surgery.  Although she never remembers she has limitations and has to make it home, she still wants to strike out on a big walk and thinks nothing of a carry back.  Her hind legs may not be the best formed in the neighborhood, but she does have a cute little bottom that sashayes down the sidewalk.

Now she is almost eleven, and the years are catching up with her.  She has recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure and early kidney failure.  Worst of all, she is suffering from a large ulcer on her left eye.  She had one last summer in the right eye, and it healed.  We thought little of it.  This time it started to heal and then got worse.  Time to go...see the doggie ophthalmologist... at the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic.  Are you seeing dollar signs?  It was an impressive consult that included treatment...and a contact lens.  The lens was $70 and the appointment over three hundred.

Oh why, oh why, didn't we consider doggie health insurance???

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Snickers (who is Lana and Kent's dog...but has stolen our hearts) has been having serious digestive issues.  She has been to...the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic Emergency Room once and to her regular vet (same clinic we use) almost daily for over a week.  Finally her diagnosis has become clear--pancreatitis.  Poor baby, she's "sicker than a dog."  (Now, how did we ever get that figure of speech?)  I bet Lana is pondering her lack of doggie health insurance too.

Imagine if these two were little old ladies instead of dogs.  Can't you see them rocking on the front porch talking of little else but their ailments?  Trying to top the other with the severity of their complaints?  Snickers would be talking about her bowels and not being able to enjoy the foods she used to love, and Zoe would be saying that was nothing compared to having an eye that hurt, having to wear dark glasses, and being mistaken for Stevie Wonder.  Then they'd both rock for a while longer and chat about the possibility of universal health insurance.

It's humorous to consider that scenario, but that isn't the way I view either of these dogs.  They will always be babies to me--vulnerable, unable to "tell where it hurts," dependent.  No matter what the cost, they'll be cared for medically until their passing or until their bad days outweigh the good.

Now, for the end of the story.  What does a physician do after he retires?  He runs doggie sick bay--giving out spoonfuls of water, lying down so "the girls" will rest, leading them on short walks.  His compassion knows no bounds, but his view of his financial spreadsheet still brings to his mind that issue of insurance...