But this is a different topic.
I pretty much have no use for the medical establishment -- and this covers both people doctors and animal doctors. Oh, I know they save lives and have more knowledge than me in many, many things, but since I was a small child I have had an intense distrust, and nothing has happened over the course of my lifetime to change my mind.
I maintain this belief despite the fact that I would have died without medical intervention when I had my first baby.
So, it makes no sense, and I don't disagree that my entire stance on the subject is irrational and ridiculous! But some people have blue eyes, and for me, I will do just about anything to avoid seeing a doctor. Or in this case, a vet.
Blue eyes, hates doctors. Totally the same thing!
My older black lab Luna has this bump on her butt, and yesterday it seemed kind of icky. I decided to get up close and personal to it (now mind you, the normal person would have thrown their dog in the car and rushed to the vet), but normal has never been my thing. It doesn't hurt her, because I poked around a bit and she didn't seem to care.
So I looked it up, and with the aid of pictures and descriptions, I have diagnosed her with a lipoma, which is a fatty tumor which is VERY rarely malignant. Due to this, the standard of care is to leave these lumps alone unless they are causing some kind of functional problem (it's kinda gross to hike in the woods and have to stare at it, does that count as functional?).
While lipomas can be removed, the risk of anesthesia outweighs the risk of leaving the tumour alone, and most vets are reluctant to remove them due to this.
The last time Luna went to the vet, she was kept there for a few nights. I thought she was dying, but she had in fact gone down to "the banquet" and eaten a lot of crap and was royally sick. The vet examined her stomach contents and did note that there were walnuts in it. (This is very helpful information of course!) He also said she had something wrong with her leg that required surgery.
Huh? Luna is 11 years going on 12 and she hikes all the time and I've never noticed her limp, much less require SURGERY to repair something that doesn't seem broken.
The morning I came home and found her on the porch, unresponsive to the throwing of a ball, I knew she was sick. I was genuinely worried and called a new vet in town and explained that I had a sick dog. This psycho woman went off on how she did not have time to take care of a dying dog and that I needed to call this place a half an hour away to get immediate emergency care for my "dying animal." Which was pretty amazing, because my dying animal was laying on the front porch and all I'd told her was that I knew she was sick because she wouldn't chase a ball!
I stared at the phone in disbelief, checked the room for hidden cameras to make sure I wasn't on Candid Camera, and then dialed my "usual" vet, which is fairly meaningless since I never go. They said they would see her, but it might be a while and I would have to drop her off. The whole thing was bizarre, and later I found some throw up that made me realize she'd probably run down to the banquet (there is a restaurant that borders our property and the owner/chef throws his garbage in the field. The dogs love to go down and feast on meat bones, and any other crap a kitchen creates in the course of feeding people). The bottom line is, I could have saved hundreds of dollars by just waiting.
We also told the vet what had happened, while he was busy going through her poop or throw-up or whatever he was doing -- same thing I'd done, really! And the leg thing, hell, that came out of nowhere!
But I bet you my husband will take her to the vet because he does not have faith in my diagnosing skills!
They're not operating on her -- whatever they say!
I don't feel it is necessary! :)
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