Range of motion issue

Or you get the best diagnosis you can from the best vet you can, without the expensive scan, and treat it the best you can, and your dog could wind up being 100% fine for the rest of its life.

As someone who has spent well over $3000 trying to diagnose a potentially life-threatening health issue in my horse, I'm fully aware that there comes a point where you say "This is my limit". I've dropped close to $2000 in a day on him, probably close to $5000 over the years, and never once gotten an answer. When someone said "How about driving him to Tufts for a full body scan?" I said "that is where I have to draw a line". Maybe I shouldn't own an animal.

I couldn't do an MRI for either of my dogs at this point in my life. Luckily I found a great rehab vet who was willing to say "This is what it looks like, and I don't think x,y or z is going to tell us any more, and this is how I'd treat it at this point".

Don't get me wrong, I think Recon should be seeing a specialist (which it sounds like he is going to) and be resting (I admit, I didn't do strict crate rest with Gusto - and the vet didn't want it done - but very limited movement on very particular footing), and I wouldn't jump a dog much under a year over even little jumps or put it on any full sized equipment...but I'm not going to condemn someone for not taking out 3 new credit cards for a diagnostic test. Nor do I think they are likely condemning their dog to a lifetime of pain.

Obviously you did. Not having it means NOT HAVING IT. Period. There is zero chance I could afford a $3500 procedure for myself OR my dogs. The money just isn't there. I don't have anything to sell to raise the money because I don't really own anything sellable. My most valuable thing are probably my camera, which is a P&S and would fetch MAYBE $80. Probably closer to $50; a few 3-packs of Frontline, which could get maybe $120 between all of it, with nothing left for my own dogs; my car, which is a piece of crap and could maybe bring in $1000, but then I'd be without a car and no way to get to work since public transit here is a joke; and my laptop, which is several years old and is quite beat up, probably couldn't sell it for more than $50-$100 considering I only bought it for $300. No available credit, nobody who could give me a loan, nothing. It's NOT THERE. We don't do MRIs at my clinic, so I couldn't do it and pay it off over time, either. We do have xrays, though, and treatment options that can be done without an MRI. We only send maybe 2 dogs a year to get an MRI done, and usually one of those ends up having something fatal, like bone cancer in the spine, that can't be treated anyway.

FWIW my vet has never had a problem finding an OCD lesion on an xray.

This. There is always a place where somebody draws a line. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have pets, or that you care more about your dog than they do theirs... It means that they are at a different place and draw the line at a different place than you do.

I got this advice..... HERE. On chaz. From chazzers

Here!!!!!!

So I should take every ones advice....... But...... When it comes to everyone else, just don't bother... Confusing.

I'm not saying everyone can afford it. But you accept the fact your dog may have a lifelong disability or illness by not being able to pay.

We do. Trust me. We don't know how much more we can afford, we have spent more in vets bills in a month than I've spent in my LIFE.

You do it though. You just do. We all say "don't get an animal if you can't afford it".

If you can't afford it INSURE IT. We have insurance, but we insured too late. It was one of those things we kept meaning to do but never did.

This. Not that I could have afford it anyways but Buzz has been recommended to have an Echocardiogram as well as an MRI in his lifetime by two different specialists. Both times my rehab vet (not the one recommending the additional testing) said "nothing in my treatment plan would change for him if we did those or not." I trust her, she knows I will spend as much as I possibly can. But I don't have thousands of dollars to spend *extra* every year on the animals.

Sadly, double standards are going to happen. I try to say "this is what I would do if I could," when I give something possibly looking like medical testing advice, online.

Just chiming in that the price of an MRI is going to vary depending on several things. If we wanted to MRI Auggie's front feet/legs/shoulders it was going to be "around $1000." I spent $1000 last year on x-rays and an ultrasound on his bladder, the year before I spent $1000 all told for his bladder surgery. Not that dropping Gs is any fun, but the price for the MRI wasn't exorbitantly higher than other things I have done.
(And of course, what did I get for my $1000 on his x-rays and ultrasound? No answers. Totally normal. He just gets bladder infections for fun. Which I suppose in and of itself is an answer because it's "nothing majorly wrong.")

Prices for vet care can vary widely just from clinic to clinic in one area not to mention across the US.

All I can add, is it is up to people what they do, what they pay and how they plan to pay. But it's also up to them how they deal with the responsibility of knowing they could have helped, healed and saved an otherwise curable situation.

If you can't afford it, you have to live with that guilt forever.... That sucks more than saving or insuring.

I wish we had insured from day one. We kept meaning too, I got quotes la la la... You live and learn!

And now I have no savings

I'd spend it again though, in a heartbeat. It's not been a hard decision.

Or you could do all that and Fred, or any other dog, could still be disabled forever. Or you could do all that and put yourself in massive debt and never get an answer at all (welcome to my world!). The hard thing I've learned the last six years is that it will sadly never be as black and white as "If you spend this money, all will be well". What if you paid the $3500 for the MRI (all of your savings, it sounds like) and didn't get an answer, but they suggested a $2500 exploratory surgery that might give you an answer? What if that gave you an answer, but the treatment was another $2000? I'm not kidding even a bit when I say these are the sorts of things I've dealt with (and I doubt I'm alone). An MRI is great advice; I'm glad it gave you an answer for Fred, and I have zero problem with you giving it here. My issue is with the guilt trip.

We don't know yet if he will be 100%. It is far too early to say. We talk about this DAILY.

He is still lame. He was operated on one shoulder, as the other had not come away, it might still. If it does, we have another £xxxx to pay?!!?! The scan showed it in the shoulder but the surgery showed no 'flap'.

Don't think we have answers and all is 100%... It isn't.

This thread isn't about me. This thread was an opportunity for me to share the same advice I was given. You look, you treat.

Or you deal with whatever.

If you're happy to deal. Then deal, it's your dog.

Eta, and hell yes I will feel GUILTY if it doesn't get better. I'm 99% convinced his was trauma (we think he ran into a tree, he's not the brightest bulb ) which is why it's only occurred unilaterally, but hell yes I'd feel guilty not sorting when we could.

I feel guilty daily for tons of reasons. Could we have avoided it. Should we have walked him. Should we have insured him blah blah blah.

And yes I'd feel guilty if we never treated it. And I will feel guilty if something else happens and I don't treat it! As I should!

I will keep my fingers crossed it never is an issue again!

Thanks! We hope not as he has a bright future ahead of him

Aaaaaaaand. Back in the room..

Fingers crossed recon is 100% soon too

Just my two cents but...

There is a difference depending on what the injury is.

An example from my household's last year, to avoid getting anyone all defensive (feel free to throw stones or criticize me, I'm always willing to answer for my actions and can only do the best I can with the knowledge I have at the time...so I try to gather all the knowledge I can).

With Kim, who had a strange and hard-to-identify injury, we pulled her from all activity and did crate rest. Had her evaluated by both a normal vet and a DVM/acupuncturist and PT. The vet instantly wanted to go to scans/surgical/lifetime drugs. The PT wanted to go to rest, milder drugs just to reduce inflammation and promote healing, and a cold laser/acupuncture treatment series. We chose the later partially because it was less invasive and because we had good reviews for that treatment from people who had had similar issues, and partially because it cost substantially less AND if it didn't work we could still always go the surgical route. As long as we were extremely conscientious about keeping her quiet and not stressing her back, we were not going to make the problem worse. In her case the PT was proven right and today she is better than ever.

There were options and it was not a case where one was right and the other wrong. We had to do our own risk analysis and decide what was right for the dog AND what was the wisest use of our resources.

With Cookie, who had a broken femur, our options were to put her down, have surgery at the local vet, or have surgery at the veterinary hospital with board-certified surgeons, top of the line implants and equipment, and a fabulous staff of highly trained 24-hour monitoring care. I probably don't have to explain this, but the cost difference between each of these three was...substantial. She was headed to the trauma center literally five minutes after we learned the options and relative risks. It would have been sooner, but there was paperwork to do.

My point is that choosing to conserve resources when you can even if you can come up with the money one way or another is not automatically an indication that you care less, nor does it mean you wouldn't spend the money if you needed to. It's not a contest, and throwing around the $-amount you are willing or able to drop doesn't equate to greater love or responsibility.

That said, taking a good hard look at your options, your motivations, and your ability to prevent problems in the first place and deal with them if they do occur is absolutely every owner's responsibility.

I dont' care where you got the advice from. In rare instances is the 3000 dollar test the first step.

I have never said don't get an animal if you can't afford it. The only requirements I have is you feed it, love it, and interact with it. If you can't afford a 120 dollar blood draw or a 5K hip surgery after that, I don't care.

I'll give the same advice a thousand times and I follow it myself. If I think it's serious I take to a vet, if not, I rest and see. If I think it's an ortho problem, I will go to an ortho vet and get a physical exam and hear a **** good reasoning behind doing an MRI, most of which are un needed. AT least with humans they are, but everybody wants them thinking they're going to show a good doctor something he doesn't already know. The reimbursements are rather nice though, can't lie about that.

Can't tell if you were referring to LoLa or DJEtzel. IF you are referring to LoLa, she is under the care of 3 different vets, 1 being an Orthopedic Specialist. When and IF they feel the MRI is necessary we will discuss options. They did rule out OCD for her, by radiographs.

The only place here that is close and does MRIs is the WSU Vet School.

A lot has been said, and I can't tell what is generalized or directed at me/other members.

I'm not going to skimp on anything, it's just overwhelming having 30 different a opinions and options all sort of opposite from each other, so we've changed our plan about 10 times in the last day.

We still have no problem paying for the MRI if the sports vet thinks he needs it. But as many pointed out that I did not think about prior, most doctors refer straight to the most expensive option that is most likely to tell you exactly what's wrong, while there are many specialists that can tell you the same thing without expensive tests due to experience.

So we have had x rays and a consult with a general practitioner veterinarian, and we have an appointment with a great sports/rehab vet for a consult early Monday. Recon is on mostly crate rest now... He's still loose when the other dogs are away and at night because he is not a spaz in the house.

We will see what the new vet suggests and go from there.

I just wanted to pop in and say thanks for making this thread. The price on that MRI just scared me into signing Siri up for insurance.

Hopefully you get answers sooner rather than later with Recon, not knowing what is going on is the worst :/

Wanna know the worst? Recon had insurance up until about three weeks ago. He got it free from AKC when I sent in his registration online. I didn't renew because he was showing no issues with ANYTHING and I didn't have a lot of extra (read; any) money to spend on the insurance I didn't think we'd need.

Well, you live and you learn. Thank you!

No I wouldn't hesitate. I walked into my vet's office once and said save his life no matter the cost.....I own a classic car and I'll either sell it or you can have it. But I understand that it isn't always an option for some.

A. I'm not referring to any specific person.

B. I'm saying get the consultation and deal with the consequences if you have an unexplained illness or injury in a young animal.

C. I'm not saying scan it, scan it, scan it! Who the hell does that for no good reason. See above.

D. If you choose to not get a consultation, or get one and ignore the advice or can't afford the treatment then YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES.

E. No one is above that, I do not doubt I will have to make that choice one day, but my choice will always be pay it or insure it. I've learnt that the hard way!!! If you havent got savings and don't insure you are walking a fine line.