Doggie parents whose furkids have hind leg problems?

Thank you so much for your understanding and your prayers. I am so sorry for your loss, it can be one of the most difficult things in the world to deal with- I will keep your family and Shiloh in my prayers as well.
I have been to several vets in my area and in my old area, all require payment in full (even some of the most caring/understanding vets I've had)- I thought that was just how things work. I just got permission to leave half a day tomorrow (it coast me a red bull to put the doctor in a good mood before I asked, and written permission from her for my boss- got both so I am going, I was so happy I almost cried) and then I read your post and I went to google maps. I think someone else mentioned a vet that lets you do payments- I seriously have never heard of such a thing.
I went onto google maps to check out other vets in my area and see if I could find one that did payment plans. I didn't see anything on anyones websites- I will have to call a few but I did find a vet who is, apparently, amazing and because she is so close to the college she is flexible on prices/payments (people even said that she has the lowest prices they've seen at a vet- one of the people who said that was "in the military and move around a lot")
I am nervous about trying a new vet but I need to find one I really like, the one I have now was supposed to be only a temporary vet because we moved so far from Tequila's original vet. The vet I just learned about has tons of reviews- all of them talking about how wonderful and understanding of a vet she is (which reminds me of Tequila's original vet, who has many similar reviews) and how knowlegable and helpful her staff is as well.

I don't know how I have never heard of her before (this isn't the first time I am searching for vets in the area and apparently she's been there over 20 years) but I am going to give her a shot tomorrow, she sees patients on a walk - in basis, but I am going to call and explain the situation to see if I can get an apointment. If not I guess it isn't too big of a deal but I would like to get him seen as soon as possible. Now that I have permission to go tomorrow, I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off of me. Thank god Cross your fingers for us and thank you again for being so caring

Thanks so much for your kindness - you've got plenty on your own shoulders right now. I remember how I did just what you did (searched online for a vet who'd take payments) when my big guy was so sick & in pain. Ended up NO vet would - so I just did what I said before (kind of nasty, but it was survival for my guy) - made the appointment, had the work done then when they presented me w/the bill - "sorry, all I can give you right now is (whatever very small amt of money I had)"! Because he fought like the ****ens with vets (he had a bad experience when he was a pup, and never got over it), they had to put him under anesthesia to clean out his infected ears. They did that twice - each time cost more than $1000!! First time I had the money & paid it willingly, but my own situation got bad & I didn't have it again. Funny thing, I didn't even know about the vet I now have back then - and he's at the same place! I think he would have saved me some of the charges...

My little guy (chihuahua? papillion?) licks, but it's always pillows, stuff like that. He'll stop when I tell him (lol). He's a rescue guy & I think he was a puppy mill dog - he's my OCD guy w/lots of fears. I baby him, but hey, he's little & getting on in years, so I think he deserves it! Except for food - I'm pretty strict about that now (my ex-boyfriend used to feed them lots of 'treats' and they were overweight way back when - not any more!) Licking & chewing can be stress-related, allergies - and for further reference, I discovered that hotspots and licking can also be a sign of fleas. Oh, and for long term allergies (hard to combat in some dogs), my postman led me to what I had Shiloh on for a long time - benydryl! It was a solution for a problem the vets had no idea how to combat! Not a perfect solution, but it helped my old guy for a good long while.

Anyway - take care & let us know how your little guy does - and just ignore the mean spirited people. The internet seems to bring out the worst in some people, I think.

I've never missed a check up with Tequila (or any of the ferrets for that matter) and when something pops up unexpectedly I've always had my savings, just in case. I used to have a good size savings account too but when my fiancee lost his job for a while that wiped most of it out... Last time Tequila had an emergancy, it was the middle of the night and we took him to the emergancy vet immediately. They were rude and kept getting his gender wrong, they took him back to do blood work and then came to me and said he'd have to stay over night but wouldn't even let me say good night to him.. they were just an aweful, cold place all around and when I went to pay, the bill was over $700 as it stood but I had to pay over $900 now incase he had an allergic reaction to something they gave him overnight- if he had no reaction, I would get the difference back (uhhh how do I know they wont lie and SAY he had a reaction... they didnt seem like the most honest caring people to me).

Although by then my fiancee had gotten a job, it wasn't the best paying and I was still paying a bigger part of the bills... I had paid my rent a few days before but still had about a hundred in my bank account + 400 in my savings... Unfortunately, still not enough. So I told them, look I'll give you everything I've got but I don't have even the current bill, let alone money to cover an allergic reaction he might have. They told me that when I came to pick him up the next morning, if I didn't have money to pay the bill, I wouldn't be aloud to take him home!!! I hadn't been expecting their exam fee to be over $100, let alone for it to be $335.. and I didn't really want to be rude but after they told me that if I couldn't pay I wouldn't be able to take my dog back? I lost a little of my temper. I told them that I hadn't been expecting to pay over $100 on the EXAM FEE alone and that their prices and policies were insane. The only thing they said was that if I would've gone anywhere else I would have paid similar and been asked to pay for the "in-case of allergy" fees. I explained that I really had no where to get the money all at once, I asked about payment plans and they said no. Then someone came up from the back and whispered something to the receptionist and she lost her attitude a little. She was like, "Oh... you're one of (my current vet who told me to go there)'s patients.. well there is SOMETHING..." then she offered me some health care credit card (can't remember the name of it) and this was while my mom and I were still talking so I called her to ask her what she thought of the card, she said that with an intrest rate that high, I would never pay that bill off so she said to pay what I had and that she would pay the rest and I could pay her back. For totally unrelated reasons, we aren't speaking any longer so I can't ask her for help but hopefully this new vet will be as great as she sounds. I am nervous cause it sounds like one of those too good to be true deals, you know?

"I baby him, but hey, he's little & getting on in years, so I think he deserves it!"
^So true, So true and you have to enjoy them while you have them^
Mojito, my oldest ferret, is deaf and has waardenburgs syndrome (ontop of his actual health issues) bue because he is WBS and deaf, he does what we call "dead sleep" where you go to the cage and pick him up and he remains asleep, breathing so shallow you almost think its stopped... i mean litteraly they look dead when they dead sleep. You can poke them, prod them, scruff them, move them, shake them and they just dont wake up till they wake up. It doesn't help that he has insulinoma because while we were still working on regulating his prednisone, he did it more than ever... and since he had had seizures it scared me to death. Everytime I caught him in "dead" sleep after that, I thought-- omg this is it.. hes gone into a coma and he's... (this is usually the moment he chooses to pop his head up and looks at me like, "Wheres my hammock??") and I'm like OTHANKGOD!
He is one of my most frustrating fur kids, simply because he likes to get attention by being a bad boy... but I have to say, even though those episodes are few and far between now that his meds are regulated- they made me appreciate him (and everyone else) even more.. because those moments force you to remember that your time with these little angels is limited and they remind you to soak every second up and cherish every crazy thing they do, even the bad stuff.

Now let me get off my "moment"---- Thank you again for all your kind words, your support and your understanding. You are wonderful, I can't wait for the vet today and I will definately give you an update when we get home.
I still don't appreciate the down right cruel comments some made and the fact that most of what I said they ignored in order to attack me for what they assumed w/o reason... I realized, I don't have to justify myself to them. I know that I do my best, I know that Tequila isn't suffering because he has his tramadol (with it, you wouldnt even know anything was wrong) I know that I did the right thing, I called the vet and I did what they said to do, and I know I am not an irresponsible mother. I know I take them to all their check ups and take care of all emergancies, interwebz people will never believe thats true because its more entertaining to attack someone. They also cant admit they jumped the gun with their assumptions so they keep getting nastier and nastier- but their words don't affect me unless I let them.. and I'm not

Thank you again

Hi everyone and thank you for the replies. Thank you, XiaoRuRu, LorinaLynn, sonjavon for coming to my defense and for understanding and supporting me, reading your replies was really touching :flowerforyou:

Foremant86 and parys1 (well... everyone really cuz I wanted to let all yall know)

We went to the vet yesterday, we were trying a new vet who gets rave reviews on her way with pets, her caring and being the only vet in our area who doesn't charge an arm and a leg. I was.... blown away with her. The office is small and the waiting room is dark, they don't do appointments- walkins only so we had to wait about 45 mins but it wasn't too bad. Tequila doesn't get along with others but mommy likes to meet new people and it was nice how everyone was chatting and engaging eachother (i dont know about you all but all the vets ive been to, everyone just tries to avoid eye/pet contact lolol)
The exam room was much better lit than the waiting room, it was big but not the prettiest (its an old building). I was impressed that when I told the vet (off the bat, as I always do) that Tequila isn't very nice with strangers, she took out a muzzle (most vets and their techs are like, ohh he just needs to sniff me/ get used to me and he'll calm down- he never does).

Usually muzzle's make him meaner (all the vets hes been to, except the original, they either cant get the muzzle on or he gets out of it with all his thrashing and rambunctiousness and so normally the vets have had me just shove his head against my chest and i hold it there through thrashing and growling till its all over) but he made mommy look like an a*shole for saying he isn't good with strangers lololol. He was soooo calm and sooooo good. *SHE* put the muzzle on him and she moved so slow and calmly that he didn't even know it was happening until it was over. He didn't growl at her once no matter how she touched him or manuvered his legs around, he just stood there calmly like if I myself were touching him.

She said his back muscles are tense and his leg muscles are tenser but all the ligaments, joints and his spine are in place and nothing is swollen, dislocated, torn or broken- he is basically fine. She asked if he likes to jump up and down on things and I said yes and I told her that he likes to walk around on his hind legs like a person so she thinks he just strained his back and leg muscles, either jumping wrong, landing wrong or maybe even loosing his footing while trying to be hooman. She said to have him rest for the rest of the week and gave him Rimadyl. She also said that what I did was fine, if I had come in immediately she would have just given him Rimadyl and told me to try to make sure he is resting, anyway.

I dont think it was even an hour after giving him the Rimadyl that he was acting like his old self. She said he would want to run around and get back to jumping on and off things but to try to keep him from doing that as much as we could to prevent him hurting himself more, also he isn't aloud to play with the ferrets till next week either or go on jogs with momma.

Come 10p last night I was like omg what am I going to do with you?! He was running just for the sake of running... he is trained to stop barking and running around like a nut job when we snap (our apartment is old, I'm sure he sounds like a train to our downstairs neighboors who are the only neighboors we have that arent complete jerks)- last night the snapping wasn't working so I had to yell at him for running, which made me feel bad. :brokenheart: but I reasoned with myself- better to yell at him now than to have him hurt himself again. Oh and do you know how much she charged for the exam AND medication?

$42.75

Whhhhyyyyyy have I never heard of her before now?! I have *never* in my life left a vet appointment with Tequila and payed less than $100 I am sooo happy that I found a vet for Tequila who actually cares about him and not the money! ANNND he likes her? :huh: I'm not sure which part of that is more mind blowing. I think it's probably the fact that he actually liked her. It can't get any better than that- he hates everyone (except me, my fiancee and the ferrets).
I guess its like they say, animals can sense good, genuine people.. she is officially Tequila's new vet I can not express to you how impressed I was with her for knowing how to move in order to not garner even the faintest growl or lip curl from the dog who all my friends have deemed, "the monster" (he makes cute faces and wags his tail until you get close enough that he can grab you... he is conniving)... nor can I express how proud I was of him that he didn't growl at her and remained totally calm the entire time she examined him. I think that he has more made the decision than me lol.

What a great story AND outcome. I'm soo glad you were able to work it out. Way to go! You are a great "mommy"!

:flowerforyou: Thank you I am sooo glad too and relieved

So glad to hear that he's doing better and that you found a vet that you (and Tequila) like. That's an amazing price! VERY impressive! I never walk out of my vets office having paid less than $200 - and if I do - I know that we're going to have to go back - because I'm convinced that my dogs can't possibly be cured for under $200/pop! LOL

I will say that things have gotten much less expensive since I've learned to ask one simple question. "Is there a human form of that medicine that you can write a prescription for?" Meijer offers free antibiotics for a 2 week prescription. Walmart offers discounts on many prescriptions .... like Prozac (which we had our Weimaraner on) - for $4/month it was totally worth it!

Take care of Tequila. I'm glad to hear that it was nothing too serious. Warning though... some of those "soft tissue injuries" seem to hang on... so make sure he's as calm as possible for as long as possilble!

Oh man I try to but that little booger has selective hearing. If I say want a treat? or wanna go potty? Hes allllll ears! If I say, No or sit down baby or honey, go relax- stop trying to move around... he is totally oblivious to the fact that my mouth even opened in the first place lololol.

Its weird, although I knew that there are prescriptions that are interchangable I never realized you could do that. I always thought you just had to get pet meds from the vet or one of those websites, thanks though it is a good thing to know and keep in mind just in case!