Satchmo is healing well and feeling much better!

It's been a week today since Satch's ordeal with the vet and his lost teeth.  I am being religious about his antibiotic and he seems to be healing quite nicely.  He still is scratching at his muzzle, but not quite as frantically.  I think his mouth must itch as it is healing, but he eats a soft diet without any problem and he has become much livelier and stubborn--more like himself.

He has begun to play with his toys again, much to the chagrin of the foster dog, Austen.  Austen had begun to believe that the toys were all his and yesterday, Satchmo had to explain the facts to Austen--complete with loud growling and snapping and barking.  Austen is no dummy and immediately gave up the toys!

Satchmo has also begun to be very loving again.  His breath is so much better!  He is a licker, has been his whole life, so having improved breath is really good.

Next week, he needs to go back for a checkup and to get his stitches out on his leg.  He never even looks at that incision anymore so I know it has been healing well.  I can only hope that his follow-up gives him a clean bill of health.  He is my little man and I want him to be happy and healthy as we move into the new year.

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?