Money Woes

I know I've posted before about my dogs but they are such a huge part of my life, I'd like to post again.

Two weeks ago I took our oldest dog, Boo, to the vet for her annual visit.  Boo is 10 years old.  The vet, whom I adore, did not like the way her eyes looked.  She has had eye trouble for quite sometime.  Dry eyes.  One of them rarely blinks.  Lots of crusty residue around her eyes.  Add to it that she is in the beginning stages of cataracts and also has vertigo so when she has a flare up (which hasn't happened for two years - thank the good Lord), her eyes can't focus and they constantly shake.  But the vet thought there might be another issue further back behind her eyes so he wanted us to take her to a specialist.  The minute I hear the word "specialist" all I see is $$$$$$$.

Last night I took our youngest dog, Mali, for her annual visit.  Mali is 8 years old and has been limping now for about a month.  We kept thinking she pulled a muscle and just needed to rest it and she would start using it again.  When it didn't seem like this was the case, it was time to take her in.  Turns out she has a torn ACL.  It is on her back leg.  Again, he recommended we take her to a specialist ($$$$$$$$) and the only thing that will correct it is surgery.  The vet also said dogs can live a perfectly normal life with only three legs.  His only concern is she is a tad bit overweight and if something were to happen to her other back leg, two legged dogs don't fare so well. 

I only have one dog left, our middle man, Sully.  Sully is 9 years old.  He needs to go for his annual visit but it terrifies me.  I wonder what is wrong with him and what type of specialist will he need? 

I love these dogs like they are my children.  But the question is, when do you say enough is enough and you shouldn't just keep putting money into an older dog?  The annual visit alone is over $120.  We have three dogs so that's over $350 a year IF nothing is wrong.   I'm not trying to lessen their importance by putting a dollar sign on their health and their life but I'm torn as to what we should do. 

Woof!  Woof!  (That's dog talk for buy my mommy's books so she can afford the surgery to fix me : ) )

Much love,
R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com
#RKAvery1