Expensive treatment for old blind dog

Our 11 year Shih Tzu is blind from cataracts. At 3 he became very ill from something unknown. He was hypercalcemic, lost weight, and lost his hair. After many tests and much cost, nothing was ever diagnosed and he improved. Since then he has never seemed very healthy. The vet recently did more blood and urine tests and they came out normal. She did note that he has lost his front teeth, needs teeth cleaning, and has some black spots on his gums that could be melanoma. They want to do a teeth cleaning, possible extraction, and biopsy. This will all cost around $500. We aren't sure this is worth the cost at this time. If he does have melanoma, the prognosis isn't good, so we would have wasted all the money of the teeth cleaning, etc.

Why don't you just have a biopsy at this time ....then decide. The $500 sounds high to me , but would be worth it to have more time with a loved animal.

Chances are they have to do the biopsy at the same time as the teeth cleaning because the dog needs to be sedated in order to do it. This is why the vet planned the procedures together. Sedation and the biopsy alone would probably come close to the biopsy and teeth cleaning, so it's actually probably more cost effective to do them both at one time.

I thought they could take tissue for a biop without sedation.

could you get help with the costs? maybe your vet will let you pay little and often?

At 11 yrs old, your little dog could have as many as 5 or more years left of his life. It really is a personal choice, though. I know most of us would do anything for our dogs but sometimes the financial aspect of it is a harsh reality. Wishing you the best whatever you decide....

Pam

Depends on the location of the mass or area that is to be biopsied. The mouth is VERY hard to do without sedation. Depends on the degree of biospy as well. If they are removing a big chunk then sedation is needed, if they are just doing a fine needle aspirate than that can be done without EXCEPT when you are dealing with the mouth.

its sad that he has to go through this, but I'll probably skimp like mad just to pay for whatever he needs. But then again, its your choice and i wish you all the best

The other aspect is this dog, Simba, has never been a healthy dog. Has lost most of his hair, and we've already spent about $1000 on him since he was 3 trying to find out why he is so unhealthy. We are leaning towards not putting him through the surgery. If the spots are cancer, the vet said it would spread quick and we probably wouldn't be able to treat it. I'm still feeling bad about this decision but we really don't have $500.

By the way, Thank you to everyone that replied. It really helps just to hear from other dog lovers and owners.