Okay, this is really too much!

Yesterday, I took the little man to the vet.  Seems that he has a small tumor/growth on his right forearms that he has been chewing on and it is inflammed and has been bleeding.  So, like any concerned pet owner, I took him in to see the vet.  This was a problem, as I don't much care for my previous vet so I had to try out a new one.  Anyway, after finding another vet and getting an appointment, I took him in.

Granted, this is the first time I saw the vet, but really.  She looked at his leg and then looked at his teeth.  She said that his teeth were really in need of cleaning (no surprise there) and I should schedule that and while he was out she would remove the "growth".  She had her aid come back in with an "estimate" of over $600.00 just for the teeth cleaning.  My God!  Do you know people who spend that type of money on getting their dog's teeth cleaned?  I work for my money, so I told them I would get back to them.  I paid my $42.00 office fee for nothing and took my little man home again with no change in his condition and no prospect of change either.

Then I got to thinking about my old vet and I knew that I had a coupon for 50% off dental cleaning with him.  So I called his office for an estimate.  He also had the most recent labs on Satch that were done this summer, so I figured I would save that amount of money at least.  The vet called and we talked and he gave me an "estimate" of over $600.00.  I asked about the 50% off coupon and was told that this figure was with the discount!  Who do you know spends over $1200.00 to have their dog's teeth cleaned?

So, now I am really perplexed.  I need to get my dog's leg looked at and fixed before it turns into something more involved, but I don't have any vet I like that will even talk to me about treating my dog unless I want to pay large sums of money to have his teeth cleaned.  What a racket!  I am not really sure where to go from here.

Satchmo has insurance that I pay monthly for.  It is supposed to cover routine wellness, accident and illness.  However, after calling the company, I now find out that my policy only pays $100.00 for dental care and only pays $60.00/year for labs.  For this policy, I pay $50.00 a month.  Hmmmmm...............
Maybe I should just put the $50 a month in a savings for Satchmo to pay towards getting his teeth cleaned?

I am not a happy camper and my Satch is not either.  Today he started limping on that leg, so I know that he is in pain and I want to get that taken care of.  I'm not sure how, though.  Any suggestions?