BIG Budget buster, VET :(

[Chris]

Somehow at about 2 this morning my daughter heard the dog getting sick. She is a 2 year old black lab. Dh went to check and found that she somehow got into the paintballs and ate about 50 of them .
Called the ASPCA and they said they can be toxic to dogs (65.00 for that phone call), so off to the vet. They gave us an estimate of 900.00. They had her vomit more, she's got an IV for fluid but seems to be doing well thankfully. I just got off the phone with them and spoke to the nurse who said they will recheck her bloods at 4 and if they are good she'll be able to come home. She said right now she's on her back getting a belly rub!!

Obviously she is worth it but damn, what a bummer. When hubby left at 3 to go to the vet, I started looking for stuff to sell on Ebay to help offset the expense.

 

[kjs1976]

Paintballs! WOW! Dogs will really eat anything, won't they!

Sorry to hear about this! Thoughts and prayers that the pup is ok long-term!

Good luck on EBAY!

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I believe that they have fish oil in them so they probably smelled good to her. Hope she recovers soon.

 

[pixiewings71]

Your ASPCA is charging you $65 to ask them about paintballs??? That's insane!!! I don't even think anyone would answer if I called our ASPCA at 2 am tho.

Poor doggie, I hope she's OK! Good luck on eBay!

 

[NonScents]

Your ASPCA is charging you $65 to ask them about paintballs??? That's insane!!! I don't even think anyone would answer if I called our ASPCA at 2 am tho.

Poor doggie, I hope she's OK! Good luck on eBay!

There is a special Animal Poison Control center where you can get a medical consult about possible toxicity of medications or items your pet has ingested. They charge a fee for this service and is available 24/7/365.

 

[aceys_h0ney]

Sorry about your dog! Good luck on Ebay! Hope the pup is better soon!

 

[wdwaholic]

Your ASPCA is charging you $65 to ask them about paintballs??? That's insane!!! I don't even think anyone would answer if I called our ASPCA at 2 am tho.

Poor doggie, I hope she's OK! Good luck on eBay!

yup i had the same experience with them when my 1yo Standard poodle drank some bleach-I called them and before they would even talk with me they wanted my cc# to charge me-basically they told me that I should flush him out with water and milk-he might have some runny stools but should basically be ok-i guess if I was thinking clearly I could have found the same info online but I was a wreck and with DH yelling at me for leaving the cabinet open I just went ahead and paid it-live and learn
hope your fur-kid is doing ok.Labs are like Houdinis!! they can break into or out of anything,especially if there is food involved!!

 

[doggydoc]

Glad your dog is doing better.

Just to let everyone know if your dog has a microchip or you get it chipped (I highly recomend it) you can register them with Home Again for about $16 per year. With this membership you get access to a vet hotline for FREE! They can also answer questions beyond poison control, may save you a trip to the emergency clinic sometime. One call to the hotline and you have paid for about 4 years membership. Something to think about.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Glad your dog is doing better.

Just to let everyone know if your dog has a microchip or you get it chipped (I highly recomend it) you can register them with Home Again for about $16 per year. With this membership you get access to a vet hotline for FREE! They can also answer questions beyond poison control, may save you a trip to the emergency clinic sometime. One call to the hotline and you have paid for about 4 years membership. Something to think about.

Thanks for this info. We are registered, but I didn't know this... DH probably does. Thanks!

 

[SaveTheSeaTurtles]

OMG - paintballs ! I am very glad that the dog is doing well now and happy that you obviously love him so much !

It is hard when an expense of that size comes along, though. We had a big vet bill once last year that was totally unexpected so I know how you feel. After it happened to us, I was thinking long and hard about getting pet insurance for future possible problems but we didn't end up doing it - kind of like rolling the dice and thinking the chances are slim of it happening again.

Sorry this happened to you. Soon it will be a distant memory - and you will find time to smile at Fido when you think of him happily chewing up all those paintballs..

 

[Pembo]

Our 1 yo golden has had 2 surgeries in the past year for swallowing socks. I feel your pain.

I guess I feel ?lucky?, our animal ER answers any question over the phone for free.

 

[ceecee]

Our labs have the Home Again chip and I didn't know either! I had to call the 24 emergency vet when our lab ate 86 Hershey kisses (A nursing home project my girl scout troop did...they were on a spoon wrapped in toille) They were in a bag on a bookshelf, labs obviously can stretch quite far! She unwrapped most of them so only got a small amt of foil, but the chocolate is poisonous! They said she would be very hyper but that amount for her weight should be okay! She was very hyper, but fine after a day of diarrhea. They didn't charge me either, so I guess I was lucky.

 

[NiftyJ88]

Vet bills are just wonderful surprises. One month before our last Disney trip, our rescued mini-poodle got his pee-pee part stuck in the out position. A little minor surgery and $600 later, it was fixed. Then 2 weeks later, he apparently became quite anemic suddenly, had a seizure, went for a blood transfusion and died, less than 2 weeks before our dream all out trip to Disney leaving us a $1400 vet bill. During the 18 months we owned him, we spent over $7600 in vet care.
I feel your pain!

 

[java]

Thankfully my Lab is too lazy to eat anything other than food- but if it is food watch out.
I'm glad yours is feeling better- paintballs can you imagine the rainbow poop you are going to be seeing for a while.

 

[Tiggs14]

We also have a 2 year old black lab and know all too well how much trouble they can get themselves into...

I'm glad she's doing better

 

[Kay1]

Vet bills are just wonderful surprises. One month before our last Disney trip, our rescued mini-poodle got his pee-pee part stuck in the out position. A little minor surgery and $600 later, it was fixed. Then 2 weeks later, he apparently became quite anemic suddenly, had a seizure, went for a blood transfusion and died, less than 2 weeks before our dream all out trip to Disney leaving us a $1400 vet bill. During the 18 months we owned him, we spent over $7600 in vet care.
I feel your pain!

Wow. Have mercy! That's a terrible shame and the worst I've read on the DIS. You sure do feel OP's pain, and then some.

OP, sorry about this. Hide the paint balls!

 

[disneymom3]

Crazy what dogs will eat. And then to keep eating them! Right before our trip in Jan, our cockapoo jumped into what my son swears was mid air and ate a rib bone right off his plate. She gulped it down in one swallow. Her being little and rib bones with a tendency to be sharp, we took her in for xrays. $400 xrays! She was fine adn digested the whole darn bone!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

again for going through with it. My friend works at a vet and a lot of people don't when it's over a few hundred for a pet to live, they just put them down and that's heart breaking to me. I know some people simply don't have the money but that's usually not the case. So for you.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

My vet will allow payment plans for large amounts such as this. Did you look into that?

 

[TheRatPack]

Then 2 weeks later, he apparently became quite anemic suddenly, had a seizure, went for a blood transfusion and died, less than 2 weeks before our dream all out trip to Disney leaving us a $1400 vet bill. During the 18 months we owned him, we spent over $7600 in vet care.
I feel your pain!

When I did Dachshund rescue, I had a placement that went to a teacher friend of ours....the poor little doggie was in to everything and ate part of a towel. It caused and obstruction and they did surgery and got it out....for some reason later they had her back at the vet and she died while being put to sleep? They had spent a lot on her too so sad. I'm sorry about your poodle.

Thankfully my Lab is too lazy to eat anything other than food- but if it is food watch out.
I'm glad yours is feeling better- paintballs can you imagine the rainbow poop you are going to be seeing for a while.

We had a dachshund eat crayons once.....the poop was actually quite artistic LOL Not something I'd necessarily want to display though

again for going through with it. My friend works at a vet and a lot of people don't when it's over a few hundred for a pet to live, they just put them down and that's heart breaking to me. I know some people simply don't have the money but that's usually not the case. So for you.

We have heard a lot of this at our vet too. Our oldest dachshund (10) has an eye problem that causes her pupils to stay dialated. It doesn't cause her pain, and thankfully we live in a very dark house (plus they sleep for 18 hours a day LOL)....so we are okay with it...as is she. She's been down in her back a couple of times too, but again...she does great with some crate rest and meds to decrease swelling...etc. Last time we went to the vet with her about her eye, he mentioned that it might be a brain tumor pressing on something and that we could pay for surgery which was a couple thousand I believe he quoted.....or put her down Ummm, I'll pay for the surgery thank you! He seemed kind of confused when I said we'd go with the surgery LOL She's a great dog...and really she has no major health problems, she's not on any daily medications and it turned out to be just an eye issue....not a tumor. Still, kind of sad that people choose to have their pets put down due to finances.....