Reptigirl
Well-known member
Well I have good news and upsetting news on the Cavaliers.
After 15 days of strong antibiotics Blitz went in for his dental. All went okay with the dental itself. He had a total of 16 teeth pulled (he was already missing a couple before we went in!) He will be coming home in a few hours. I already miss the poor guy! The vet gave me an AMAZING discount. She is only charging us the original price quote to pull 5 or 6 teeth plus a cleaning. Which was already a discounted price! Total is just a little under $500 for the dental cleaning, pulling 16 teeth, lab testing & heartworm testing!
She normally charges an additional $15-$30 PER TOOTH!!! :yikes
The bad news? The vet did the lab work on him before doing the dental. He came back heartworm positive. The vet said it was a VERY strong positive because it was an instant positive on the test.
She did say his heart sounds great for being heartworm positive and he doesn't have a murmur. confused: A 4 year old Cavalier, in terrible heath, with heartworms, without a murmur) I'm not sure if I'm HAPPY he doesn't have a murmur or in doubt that maybe she missed it and the heartworms are hiding it.
She seems to feel very strongly that he is treatable and has a great chance of recovery. She has me starting him on Heartworm prevenative for 2-3 months to reduce the number/strength of the heartworms. Then she wants to do a chest XRay to determine which of the 3 treatment methods would be best.
Next Holly is going in for testing. It is presumed that she has them too. They also want me to test Flash because it takes a good 7 months from infections for heartworms to show up.
Somewhere in the middle of this Blitz is going to be heading off to the neurologist for an MRI. I can not be MORE thankful for pet insurance. Without it none of this treatment would be possible. I'm sure the insurance company is probably doing this :swear: every time they get a fax from me.
GOOD news: I spoke with a very kind person with our insurance. Although heartworms are not typically covered because they are a preventable condition. (You have to provide proof you were giving them the preventative to get covered) The lady said "We don't penalize you for things that were out of your control before you owned the dog. As long as they were diagnosed AFTER the waiting period we are eligible for consideration for at least partial coverage due to the fact it was out of our control and we had no medical history." They need my vet to write up a report and send an estimate. Then they will send me back a break down of what they are willing to cover :biggrin: Something is better then nothing!
Back off to try to raise money. Trying to think of some way to do a local fundraiser. I'm hoping I can find some kind of pet event that will let me set up and sell hand made belly bands & walking vest. I have gotten really good with making both of them.
After 15 days of strong antibiotics Blitz went in for his dental. All went okay with the dental itself. He had a total of 16 teeth pulled (he was already missing a couple before we went in!) He will be coming home in a few hours. I already miss the poor guy! The vet gave me an AMAZING discount. She is only charging us the original price quote to pull 5 or 6 teeth plus a cleaning. Which was already a discounted price! Total is just a little under $500 for the dental cleaning, pulling 16 teeth, lab testing & heartworm testing!
She normally charges an additional $15-$30 PER TOOTH!!! :yikes
The bad news? The vet did the lab work on him before doing the dental. He came back heartworm positive. The vet said it was a VERY strong positive because it was an instant positive on the test.
She did say his heart sounds great for being heartworm positive and he doesn't have a murmur. confused: A 4 year old Cavalier, in terrible heath, with heartworms, without a murmur) I'm not sure if I'm HAPPY he doesn't have a murmur or in doubt that maybe she missed it and the heartworms are hiding it. She seems to feel very strongly that he is treatable and has a great chance of recovery. She has me starting him on Heartworm prevenative for 2-3 months to reduce the number/strength of the heartworms. Then she wants to do a chest XRay to determine which of the 3 treatment methods would be best.
Next Holly is going in for testing. It is presumed that she has them too. They also want me to test Flash because it takes a good 7 months from infections for heartworms to show up.
Somewhere in the middle of this Blitz is going to be heading off to the neurologist for an MRI. I can not be MORE thankful for pet insurance. Without it none of this treatment would be possible. I'm sure the insurance company is probably doing this :swear: every time they get a fax from me.
GOOD news: I spoke with a very kind person with our insurance. Although heartworms are not typically covered because they are a preventable condition. (You have to provide proof you were giving them the preventative to get covered) The lady said "We don't penalize you for things that were out of your control before you owned the dog. As long as they were diagnosed AFTER the waiting period we are eligible for consideration for at least partial coverage due to the fact it was out of our control and we had no medical history." They need my vet to write up a report and send an estimate. Then they will send me back a break down of what they are willing to cover :biggrin: Something is better then nothing!
Back off to try to raise money. Trying to think of some way to do a local fundraiser. I'm hoping I can find some kind of pet event that will let me set up and sell hand made belly bands & walking vest. I have gotten really good with making both of them.
