Buffy's Vet Bills

If you've had the pleasure of meeting Buffy, you know this little dog is pure magic. If you haven't, she loves everyone she meets, her favorite thing in the world is ice, and her best friend is a stuffed bunny named Anya. And no offense to my husband, but she's the best thing that has ever happened to me or our family.

Saturday morning, Jay woke me up after finding Buffy with a bottle of vitamin D3 that she got off the counter and decided to eat the entire contents of. We rushed her to the specialty vet we take our other dog (Fiona, our eleven year old husky that had her fourth cancer surgery earlier this year) to in Winter Haven, and after a quick but expensive exam, round of bloodwork, and dose of charcoal, they sent us to Veterinary Healthcare Associates around the corner, because driving to one closer to our house would take too much time.

She had ingested 230 x the lethal dose, and we were told, "Expect to spend several thousand dollars, and the prognosis isn't good." I can't tell you the last time I asked people for prayers, but I did across every social media channel I have.

Unfortunately due to Covid, we couldn't go in the building with her, and we had to wait in the parking lot as they took our baby inside. They talked us through what they were doing, and took a deposit for 75% of what they expected the bill to be.

Later that night when I called to check on her, they told us about a prescription you could get at a human pharmacy that could be helpful, so I had them call it in. Since it was a Saturday night, we were racing the clock a bit. When I got to the pharmacy, they hadn't filled the prescription because it was so expensive they thought I wouldn't want it. I had to stop myself from both laughing and yelling, and asked them to fill it. We're this far in, what difference does a little more make? We drove it back to Winter Haven, with her blanket, and Anya the bunny, because I didn't want her to be alone.

I don't think anyone in our house slept that night except maybe the cat.

Jay called them at eight am Sunday to see how she was doing, but another patient was critical and there was no one for us to talk to. When we called again, they told us they'd be running her blood work around noon and that we should hear something around one.

My phone didn't ring until almost 2:30 pm, and I cannot tell you how long that hour and a half was. But it was good news! Her bloodwork was looking good, but due to how much she ingested they didn't want to send her home yet. So we drove down and they brought her to the parking lot for us to see that night.

It's not a good picture. She was very wiggly and it was dark.

They called again at 10:00 am Monday to tell us they were going run her blood again around noon and to give them a call if we hadn't heard anything by four. I called at 4:04 pm, and by 4:15 pm, Jay and I were on our way to pick up our baby.

We got lucky. We got so lucky. If Jay hadn't found her so quickly, if we hadn't acted so quickly, this story would have a very different ending. Both vets we went to were amazing, although I will say I prefer the bedside manner of Veterinary Healthcare Associates. I cannot recommend them enough. I've also never felt more loved than I have in the last couple of awful days.

Jay and I said we'd get through this and worry about money once it was over. Well, I almost can't believe we made it to this point but here we are. Buffy's asleep in her bed by my computer while I type this up. We both agonized about if and what we were going to do. We're both proud people and hate asking for help, but here we are. Anything and everything means the world to us. Just everyone's love means the world to us. But we'd be stupid not to admit we need help.

This is the amount for the hospital bills. I'm not including the first vet we went to, or any of the medications. Also as soon as I'm done with this, I will be signing Buffy up for pet insurance.