coyoteoverdose

my male terrier chaz has been sick this month it started when my bf was going to bed and stepped on him he said he stepped on his foot but i think not after that he has lost weight but he still eats but yelps if we get to close to fast he acts like its his backend that hurts he walks funny in the back end and shakes alot we have called the vet and asked questions and went to bring him in they said it would cost me around 1000 dollars for all the tests they want to run on him i dont have that kind of money, i was at my dads today because that where my dog has be staying because theres to much commotion i have a 18 month old that wont leave him alone and since her yelps at fast movement he has to stay over there for now which is next to me but now we cant find him been missing for about 4 hours we have all called and searched, i hope he is ok if he turns up how do i get his weight up and ease his backend pain, i do know about a few weeks ago i feed him some boston butt we had left over to perck him up and it did but the next day until now it went back to the same thing im worried i have had him for 5 years now

Lucy

Yikes, that's a lot of money, but it sounds like the best thing for your dog is to get him checked out. Something could be wrong internally.

Maybe you could call around to different vets and get a better price or ask if they'll allow you to make payments.

I hope you find him and he feels better soon.

Good luck.

coyoteoverdose

i did ask about payments they said they dont do that nomore due to so many people no making there payment or not paying, i have checked on different prices no good there the cheapest i found was 8 something im not a rich person and my bf is the only one that works and its at min wage,

I was thinking of giving him dog vitiams to help on healing i was lookinginto some really ood dog food for him

sirdarksol

That's outrageous. A visit to the vet costs between $40 and $100 for me. This is, of course, before tests, but here's the thing: A vet can't tell you what tests need to be done before they see the animal. If they give you a laundry list of expensive tests before they've seen the poor pooch, they're just ripping you off.
If all of the vets around you pull this kind of poor practice, then I'm afraid I can't give you any ideas. I wouldn't trust any vet who told me what you've been told, and yet I agree with Lucy that the dog needs to be checked.

gremlin

It almost sounds like there may be damage to his spine or something. Have you contacted your local humane society? Sometimes they have programs to help with medical issues for people who can't afford regular vets. Injured animals will try to hide - that is his instinct. Being a terrier, he may have dug a hole under the house or somewhere to hide from predators. Did he have access to the outdoors? He may have dug himself into a hole somewhere and, being injured, may not be able or willing to come out. You can try to tempt him with chicken and rice. That was the standard for any sick dogs at our house when I was growing up. Boil the chicken and cook the rice in the chicken broth. No extra salt or anything.
Anyway, try calling the Humane Society in your area and see if you can qualify for medical aid. I would suggest at least an x-ray to make sure he doesn't have any broken bones or dislocated joints. Good luck, and please keep us posted on how he's doing.

MinxMermaid

well it sounds like at this point the dog is missing.

he's probably hiding somewhere in pain, even possibly dying.

if you find him.
you need to get on the phone and plead your case. most vets are animal lovers at heart and won't see an innocent animal suffer for lack of funds. you MUST get the VET direct on the phone and beg for some type of care despite your financial condition.

worse case scenario, you could take him to the shelter and plead with the on staff vet to help you evaluate. they may not be able to help him but could you live with yourself if you didn't try.

in the mean time, if you find him
you can try to relieve some of his pain,
you can use over the counter, people meds,
must be BUFFERED ASPIRIN
give 1/4 of a 325mg tab per 10lbs once a day, preferably with food.

also, make a bland diet for him. cook a little lean hamburger meat, and some white rice, no salt added to either. mix 1/2 cup meat with 1 cup rice and try to get him to eat that.

please try to find him and don't let him hide away dying.

coyoteoverdose

ill try calling the humane society monday and tomorrow i will look for him again it dark now i cant see and he wont come and im here by myself and cant leave my 19 month alone in the house to look all over we have 13 and half areas my dad does we live on a higher part of the property so i know his not gone down the hill he is somewhere close ill keep you posted

Frogger

As for the vets not taking payment plans you may ask if they will take post dated checks. When my dog was very ill one vets office would do the post dated checks. You may also call around to see if any of them will take Care Credit. After just checking the website i see you can actually search in your area for vets that will take it, here's a link for you to check it out http://carecredit.com/ Care Credit will work with you to work out some kind of payment schedule and you can go from there.

Best luck with finding the little guy. Have you went door to door asking any of your neighbors if they have seen a little dog? One of them may have found him after he wandered off and tried to help him.

coyoteoverdose

no he doesnt go out of yard and if he did my neighbors across the street will shoot him we have be having a dispute with them with there dogs they have coon dogs that bark and howl at night and tare up trash in the yard or tare up anything they can and poop in yard my dad has stepped in it and fell and hurt he back many times over it and that not good for a 70 year old, we have told them about this to please put them back into there pins they have like 12 running around loose we have called the pound about it and the time he gets here the dogs are back in there yard and all ours does is sit on the porch and wait to come back in after doing there business

coyoteoverdose

i checked out that site they wont approve me i am unemployed and bf has bad credit he has tried for credit cards before and was denied

Frogger

They allow you to have a cosigner if you have someone who would be willing to do that. I actually had to have my mom do that for me.

sirdarksol

Sorry, I missed that the dog was missing (I have to admit a difficulty reading these posts).

Anyway, there is little or nothing that can be done if an animal hides away to heal or die. You can look, and look, and look, and if you get lucky, you might find it, but, usually, they'll go a few blocks from their territory (somewhere that potential threats won't recognize as the territory of another animal. The last thing a sick dog wants is another dog finding it and challenging it for its territory). One of my cats (from when I still lived with my parents) had severe kidney problems, and was getting really sick. He ran off twice. Both times he was found blocks away. The second time, he was so dehydrated that the vet thought it would be a matter of a day or two before his kidneys just stopped working, yet he went on to live another year after that (with his kidneys working better than before).

So the best you can do is put up signs, check the humane society, vets, police, etc... to see if anyone has found him, and keep looking for the dog, but if he doesn't want to be found, it may just be impossible to find him.

If you find him, homemade food made out of some kind of lean meat is going to be the order of the day.
Try this recipe for him: (Found in Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Cats and Dogs)
3 cups rolled oats
2 large eggs
1 lb lean beef heart, turkey, chicken, lean chuck, or lean hamburger
2,400 milligrams calcium (or 4 1/2 teaspoons bonemeal or 1 1/3 teaspoons eggshell powder, which can be made by baking eggshells until they start to brown and then crushing the shells in a mortar and pestle)
1 Tablespoon Nutritional yeast
1/2 Tbsp lecithin granules
1/2 tsp kelp powder (I use ground nori for this. spirulina would work, too)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
5,000 IU vitamin A
100 IU vitamin E
10 milligrams iron (optional, but I'd go with it for an injured dog)
1/2 cup veggies (optional)

Bring 6 cups water to a boil, add the oats, cover, and turn down to simmer until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the eggs and let them set a bit from the heat. Then stir in the remaining ingredients and serve.
Cooking meat to "done" is unnecessary for most dogs, as their stomachs are made to handle raw meats. Further, cooking destroys certain proteins that dog bodies need. Our bodies can fashion these proteins from their building blocks, but other animals need their food raw to get them.
For the short term, you can simply make a smaller batch of oats (or rice), eggs, and turkey (the highest protein of the meats I suggested), but if you plan to feed this to your dog in the long term, I suggest very strongly that you follow the entire recipe, as the vitamins, extra iron, calcium, and such would be gathered from bone marrow, organs, and other stuff not in the meat you get at the market.
Also for the short term, cooking the meat through would not be terrible for the dog, and may be necessary to get it used to eating whole foods.

No matter what you do, start out with little bits of food and work your way up, especially if the dog ends up being gone for a long time.

The recipe I gave is a high-protein growth recipe (will be good for a . If you find your dog, and if he ends up getting better, and if you decide you want to keep him on whole foods, send me a PM or post a request in the "Dogs" section, and I'll post a more normal dogfood recipe.
I've been feeding my cats mostly on a diet from this book since the spring, and they've been doing wonderfully. Less dander, more energy, no hairballs.

Lastly, I want to reiterate that it is not normal (at least in MN) for a vet to suggest tests before seeing the pet. That would be like you calling your doctor, saying your hip hurt, and the doctor suggesting X-Rays, and MRI, a CT, and a bone-density scan before taking a look at you and seeing the big bruise you've got from running into a door.
You may want to call around, let the vets know that you've got a dog who has been injured, and that you just want a physical examination. When you get there, they may want X-Rays, but those usually run around $60 up here (I'm sure there are price differences in different parts of the country). It still would be $100-200, but that's a far cry better than $1,000.

coyoteoverdose

I found him he was under my dads steps got a look at him check him over seems to be acting ok now he was muddy i gave him a warm bath and food he seem fine which is wierd to me but i guess all he needed was time away from this crazy family

gremlin

He may have had a pinched nerve or a pulled/strained muscle or tendon that just needed time and quiet to heal. I would still try to have a vet check him as soon as possible. I am glad to hear that he is home and feeling better.

sirdarksol

Glad he's home and okay.
The ability to rest is often all that's needed for an animal to get better. We humans tend to be dumb about this kind of thing, and insist on going to work, exercising, doing housework, etc... and we keep ourselves sick or injured. Your dog realized that it couldn't get rest in your house (much like my cat realized it couldn't get rest in a house with another cat that didn't like him), and went somewhere it new it could get rest.
I agree with gremlin that you should find a vet to have the dog checked out (not to mention, just to find a vet you know you can trust for the next time you've got an emergency).

Fishies-for-me

I would also watch him very well for the next while...don't let him out of your sight in case he hides again and if he is in trouble you can't help if you can't find him. Just to be safe I would call the humane society and see if they can take a look at him and maybe make a payment plan you can live with. A broken pelvis would make him very painfull and wary of fast movements and would also get less painfull with time...( would explain him acting better ) Vet's are outrageous . They charge so much that you can't afford to get an emergency looked at ..but if you don't your breaking the law for " animal cruelty"...And shame on the people that have not paid their bills as that is why people now have trouble getting a sick pet looked at in the 1st place....good luck with your dog.

Jess

He could have a sprain. My dog sprained her tail. She was very sensitive in the backend area. I was worried she would never wag again. She has since healed, alls well. But I would take your dog for a basic check up. See if he finds something that's not obvious as everyone is suggesting. Its too bad dogs can't tell you what's bothering them.
Good luck.

coyoteoverdose

my terrier is fine now has been gaining weight and not hurting anymore i think he briuised is backend

sirdarksol

That's great to hear!

Lucy

Thanks for the update!

gremlin

That is wonderful to know! I am so glad he is feeling better!

coyoteoverdose

i made a little video of him speaking today for all here

Lucy

Awwww, very cute!

coyoteoverdose

i have another one today of him doing his dancing trick ill post that one in a min

Beeker

He looks like he is doing very well.
I'm glad everything turned out okay.