Hello fellow dog lovers.
Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
My husband and I have two rescue dogs, Willow was from Poland, she is now three and Oreo was from North Macedonia, who is now two. We love them both to bits, same as all of you do I'm sure.
I'm disabled with mobility and issues and my husband is my full time carer. My disability severely effects my mental health.
Both dogs help me get through each day, keeping me smiling with their goofball antics.
In January Oreo was limping so she went to the vet.
When manipulating her right leg backwards at the hip, she yelped, the vet said she needed an x-ray.
To make sure she laid still, she needed to be sedated.
It bumped the cost for just an x-ray to £1,000.
We spoke to the vet for the results and his exact words were
'her hips are horrible'
Her hip sockets are very shallow so the ball joint doesn't sit properly.
The only thing that will help her is a 'Bilateral total hip replacement'.
Our vet doesn't do this kind of surgery, so the next step would be to refer her to a specialist.
We asked if he could give us an estimated cost, and he said it would be around £10k as it both hips.
In the meantime the vet prescribed her anti-inflammatory and pain relief medication, which they charged £55 for a tiny 42ml bottle, completely extortionate.
I have since got a written prescription from the vet and ordered it online - 100ml bottle for £19.99, such a difference.
As she would need to be able to do physio and an exercise program after the surgery, they will only do one hip at a time.
Once one is healed and she has her mobility back, then she would go back to have the second surgery.
She was referred to a specialist orthopaedic consultant in Surrey (I'm not allowed to put their name on anything, but the vet who owns the practice is famous).
We got an email confirming Oreo's appointment and with it came a breakdown her care and of the costs ...
Initial consultation with additional CT scan (with sedation - again) .. £1,400
First surgery
£9,400 to £9,700
Second surgery
£9,400 to £9,700
A total of around £20K - double what our vet estimated.
We were floored to say the least and pretty p###ed off to be totally honest.
I contacted local charities and low cost vet care services such as PDSA and RSPCA but the surgery she needs is too specialised so they cannot help
Next I rang other specialist orthopaedic vets within a distance we can actually travel to - we don't drive.
The cheapest specialist I can find is in Potters Bar (again I can't say the name).
The initial consultation will be £350 and they won't do additional imaging unless it's completely necessary.
Then each surgery will be £6,500, totalling £13K.
Still extremely expensive, but closer to the estimate our vet gave us.
Oreo has now been referred there.
Despite having pet insurance, we have a shortfall.
Her policy covers up to £4K per condition per year.
We've already used £1,100 of the £4K
We have some savings but benefits is our only source of income so we don't have much left to save.
We have a deficit of around £10K.
We need to raise this, there is no alternative.
We have sold several personal belongings.
Oreo is not going back to the charity that we adopted her from, we are not going to re-home her and definitely not going to do the unthinkable.
She is just two years old.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
My husband and I have two rescue dogs, Willow was from Poland, she is now three and Oreo was from North Macedonia, who is now two. We love them both to bits, same as all of you do I'm sure.
I'm disabled with mobility and issues and my husband is my full time carer. My disability severely effects my mental health.
Both dogs help me get through each day, keeping me smiling with their goofball antics.
In January Oreo was limping so she went to the vet.
When manipulating her right leg backwards at the hip, she yelped, the vet said she needed an x-ray.
To make sure she laid still, she needed to be sedated.
It bumped the cost for just an x-ray to £1,000.
We spoke to the vet for the results and his exact words were
'her hips are horrible'
Her hip sockets are very shallow so the ball joint doesn't sit properly.
The only thing that will help her is a 'Bilateral total hip replacement'.
Our vet doesn't do this kind of surgery, so the next step would be to refer her to a specialist.
We asked if he could give us an estimated cost, and he said it would be around £10k as it both hips.
In the meantime the vet prescribed her anti-inflammatory and pain relief medication, which they charged £55 for a tiny 42ml bottle, completely extortionate.
I have since got a written prescription from the vet and ordered it online - 100ml bottle for £19.99, such a difference.
As she would need to be able to do physio and an exercise program after the surgery, they will only do one hip at a time.
Once one is healed and she has her mobility back, then she would go back to have the second surgery.
She was referred to a specialist orthopaedic consultant in Surrey (I'm not allowed to put their name on anything, but the vet who owns the practice is famous).
We got an email confirming Oreo's appointment and with it came a breakdown her care and of the costs ...
Initial consultation with additional CT scan (with sedation - again) .. £1,400
First surgery
£9,400 to £9,700
Second surgery
£9,400 to £9,700
A total of around £20K - double what our vet estimated.
We were floored to say the least and pretty p###ed off to be totally honest.
I contacted local charities and low cost vet care services such as PDSA and RSPCA but the surgery she needs is too specialised so they cannot help
Next I rang other specialist orthopaedic vets within a distance we can actually travel to - we don't drive.
The cheapest specialist I can find is in Potters Bar (again I can't say the name).
The initial consultation will be £350 and they won't do additional imaging unless it's completely necessary.
Then each surgery will be £6,500, totalling £13K.
Still extremely expensive, but closer to the estimate our vet gave us.
Oreo has now been referred there.
Despite having pet insurance, we have a shortfall.
Her policy covers up to £4K per condition per year.
We've already used £1,100 of the £4K
We have some savings but benefits is our only source of income so we don't have much left to save.
We have a deficit of around £10K.
We need to raise this, there is no alternative.
We have sold several personal belongings.
Oreo is not going back to the charity that we adopted her from, we are not going to re-home her and definitely not going to do the unthinkable.
She is just two years old.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
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