Cost Analysis

  Since the age of 15, I've been recording every dollar spent and earned.  My handwritten journal has morphed into an elaborate computer program.  Each year's end, I run summaries and a budget analysis.  It's never a cheery process.  This year, Cole has devoured a sizeable portion of my budget.  For sheer masochistic pleasure, I performed a cost comparison between him and other dogs I've owned. 

Out of all of my dogs over the years, Cole has them all beat on expenses. 

Cocotte was 19 when she died and in all of her 19 years she cost me less in vet bills than Cole has in his 6 years.

Ditto for Mavis.  She was 2 months shy of her 20th birthday when she passed and still cheaper than Cole.

Jinx, currently 7 years old had some early vet expenses, but he's still a steal compared to Cole. 6 years ago, while I was at a gas station early in the morning,  I saw this stray being struck by a car.  I moved him to the shoulder of the road, examined him, but couldn't get a pulse.  I returned to finish fueling my truck.  Upon driving out, I made the mistake of looking a the pile of white fur.  He raised his head for a moment.  With 3 employees on the clock in the truck, I didn't have time for this kind of malarkey. The dog was hastily dropped off at the vet's office and they were instructed to euthanize him, charge my card and call me with the total.  My good deed for the day was done.  A dog that was going to die from his injuries had been spared a prolonged painful death. Alas, no good deed goes unpunished.  The attendant misunderstood the directives...half a day later, I was now the proud owner of a $700 terrier.  His name is derived from the jinxing of my budget for that month.

Enter the biggest jinx of them all:  Cole.

Never mind the regular vaccinations, check ups and neutering. Those bills are drops in an ocean. 
Mr. Bean here needs yearly dental cleanings (roughly $200).  These could be avoided if he could be trusted to chew on rawhides...which he cannot.  Made evident by his swallowing of a 6" rawhide three years ago.
Since Cole has travelled far and wide, he's been vaccinated for everything under the sun and tested for every bacterial disease after each trip. 
He's had broken toes. Sprains. Cuts. And how can I forget the chest puncture.  That one was pretty expensive too.

This year, he surpassed himself!  The two months leading up to his surgery cost me more than I should admit. The surgery itself was a smidge under 1000, but all the biopsies, the rounds of X-rays, the office visits, the prescriptions and let's not forget the $200 XL collapsible crate he lived in for a month post-surgery.  Yup, my computer spit out $2134.00 for his vet bills for last quarter of 2013. 
Was it worth it?

You bet!
Am I crazy?  Probably.

 

No sense quitting now. I followed Cole's post-op protocol to the letter.

Last Friday, Cole was reevaluated by his surgeon, Dr. Horne.  Excellent visit.  Cole was granted freedom from his crate.

He will still need to use the ramp for another month.

The couch is covered in chairs to keep him from jumping up.

The bed has been disassembled to drop the mattress directly onto the floor to prevent him from hyper extending his leg to jump in bed.

I fastened a light onto his harness.

His first taste of freedom in a month: half mile walks per day.
I'm pleased as Punch.  My kid is BACK!

I'm back too.  After being seriously bummed out about potentially losing my running partner, I'm back up to 50 miles per week running. I'm running in the middle of the night now, adjusting to the view of rock and roots by flashlight only.  A new skill learned, very fun.  But, very cold when I headed out this morning:  11' F with the windchill. Brrr...