Last night, we slept in our bed covered with an extra sheet and a few towels after I removed other slimy sheets and soft-food-cube-covered towels because my dog had puked all over the comforter, herself and the rug. 3AM.
But hold tight, because this is a P.S.A.
Maude, the cutest and sweetest, has an infection because of her urinary bladder stones. Not uncommon in a poodle-bichon mix. All this inbreeding gets you to some good places and some really bad places. She was put on some very strong antibiotics and these did not agree with her. (We switched to milder antibiotics today. No more puking.)
These damn bladder stones, first, you just hope the stones are Struvite, which are very soft and can be melted with a special diet. We tried that. And some stones did melt. But the mother stone, the one in the X-Ray that looks like a space ship coming in for a landing, that one wouldn’t change, so that means that stone is made from good old fashioned, hard, nasty calcium, which cannot be melted.
This causes trouble for the pooch. First of all, she struggles to pee. Secondly, she gets infections. Then, she needs antibiotics for the infections. This is a common problem and we just have to fix it. The fix? She needs to be ripped open like a melon and have the stones all taken out, then she gets sewn back up, and then she’ll be as good as new. It’s a very common surgery. Usually there are no complications. All will be fine, I assume.
But how much did you say this will cost? Well, I live in LA, so it’s $2200, all in.
I’m in no mood. So I asked how insurance works, payment plans, all that. Insurance is just like the old timey human kind: preexisting conditions are not covered. Payment plans are like something out of a 1950s TV show and they do not exist in this office in Hancock Park. But there is this thing my vet offered, my friends: CareCredit
Fab! You can use it for pets, and for yourself. You get a credit card—it’s very quick and easy to do online—and then you can get up to a year or two with small monthly payments to pay off your surprise expense with no interest. It’s good for copays and deductibles. You name it. Yes, animals and people can both use this credit card to get free money to take care of their health. It’s worth it. Get a card today. You can finally take care of that “thing” you’ve been meaning to fix for the past two years but you didn’t want to pay your high deductible at this time. The website is in very plain English. You do need to do a search to see if your preferred physician will accept this card. But many do.
Grab a card. What the heck. We were given $4500 in interest free money. Nice thing to have. For your dog. Yourself. Your cat. Even your horse. Take care of your damn horse!
Maude is all for fiscal responsibility, healthy cash flow, and a clean bill of health. And so are we.
Sleep, calmly, in clean puke-free sheets and know that sometimes, there is a little help just around the corner.