buffy (one of our little foster dogs..she is about 5 yrs old..came in with that group of four CAC dogs last spring)..had her appointment with the specialist for eye surgery. one eye is operable so with the catarct lens gone she will have partial returned vision in that one eye.
the cost they are quoting is $3200-$3800 for that one eye plus another $500-$1000 for re-checks and follow up care. that is a month or two total vet care for our entire crew. her surgery will happen in january so i better find some money here and there to put away for her...cash due on delivery so to speak...and there are no such things as rescue discount rates with specialty eye surgeries..bite the bullet, grin and bear it and pay the bill.
i am not going to say that i am not conflicted over this...here is the sad reality..if she was still at saints..i probably would let her stay blind and help her to adjust to it. it is a juggling act of balancing her needs against everyone else's we care for and we are already struggling to pay our vet bills. we have several homeless animals who have not only come to us permanently blind but had no possibilities of restoring their vision and they have done fine.
but once i sent her out into foster care, i added another factor into the decision making and her family wants her to see again...and truthfully they are right about this...if possible, she does deserve to have some sight....it is part of our responsibility to treat what is possible to treat.
i did feel the same way about gwen needing two knee repair surgeries this year. they added a lot to our debts....if she had just been a little bit older we wouldn't have spent the money and if buffy was just a few years older, we wouldn't be doing this surgery either. once they reach a certain age..the surgerical possibilities like this just become a moot point....our priorities change...we then move to surgeries they need to continue their life and forget about the nice to have things.
with proper care senior dogs can easily live with blindness and arthritis..it is the life threatening tumours and infections we have to make go away.
it is just so freaking hard sometimes to come up with the actual money for these younger dogs.
so part of me is feeling bad because i am struggling with resentment for doing something so high end and beyond our means in paying this bill. we cannot put this onto one of our vet accounts and absorb it like all of the other medical care..this has to be paid up front and center and that is what bothers me most about it.
and part of me is feeling bad because i am feeling these things..i should just be happily accepting that whatever the cost is buffy will soon be able to see.
i think the best way to deal with this is just get the surgery done and behind us...buffy will be able to see better and i will be happy for her and once the money is found and spent, i won't think about it anymore.
i never thought that rescue would turn me into a money scrooge...but it looks like it has and that makes me sad.
each foster situation is unique. some are able to help with some of the medical bills, and they can get a tax receipt for any medical care expenses that they incur. but for most, the cost of senior care is prohibitive....in those cases we cover the care. we want the animals to be in good homes vs sanctuary care if possible. and if covering the vet costs meets their medical needs while the family meets their other physical and emotional needs then that is a good trade off.
and from my point of view..if the animal is palliative..it does ensure that they not only get the care that they need BUT they do not get care that they don't need..ie being vetted to death. plus i have a say in the timing of euthanizations too...not too soon as was the case with dafffy duck dog, she had another really good year with us...not too late to when life becomes a maze of suffering for them.
there are lot's of different layers in the whole permanent foster program.. we do try to tailor it to fit both the animal and the foster family.