{"id":16119,"date":"2012-11-05T00:15:10","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T08:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=16119"},"modified":"2022-05-19T07:49:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T14:49:25","slug":"the-unexpected-bill-that-added-2406-88-to-my-recent-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id16119-the-unexpected-bill-that-added-2406-88-to-my-recent-vacation.html","title":{"rendered":"The Unexpected Bill That Added $2406.88 to My Recent Vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Best. Dog. Ever.<\/p><\/div>\n

“Whatever it takes.”<\/p>\n

That was the answer the Honeybee gave me three years ago after I asked her how much she would pay to save a pet’s life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, last week we got a chance to reconsider that question after we returned from a week-long family vacation up the California coast.<\/p>\n

Almost as soon as we got our nine-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, Major<\/a>, back home from doggy day care — essentially a kennel where dogs have the freedom to roam the facility alongside other canine “guests” and their human caretakers — he began showing signs of illness.<\/p>\n

At first it wasn’t anything disconcerting. Just softer-than-usual stools.<\/p>\n

Within a couple days, that condition progressed to diarrhea. Still, a little research indicated that common doggy diarrhea was typically nothing to worry about. A quick check of accompanying factors that would have suggested the need for immediate attention were thankfully absent: Major was still eating, there was no blood present in his stool, and he was able keep food and water down.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four hours later, however, things took a decided turn for the worst.<\/p>\n

Our typically fun-loving, gregarious dog became completely detached from the family, uncharacteristically keeping to himself in the corner of our living room. Not long after that, he stopped being able to keep anything<\/em> down — not even the smallest amount of water.<\/p>\n

Compounding matters, it was now Sunday, which happens to be the only day of the week that Major’s vet is closed for business. So we had to take him to a 24-hour specialty veterinary clinic.<\/p>\n

By the time Major arrived at the clinic, he was barely responsive and clearly in trouble. Needless to say, the vet began bombarding us with the necessary litany of questions in an urgent attempt to make a diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in Major’s case, his symptoms were indicative of multiple problems ranging from giardiasis — an infection caused by the nasty giardia parasite that’s typically acquired from pigeon droppings — to a life-threatening intestinal blockage or even the deadly canine parvovirus.<\/p>\n

Of course, the only way to know for sure why Major was suddenly fighting for his life was to conduct a battery of tests — and they weren’t cheap:<\/p>\n