Boomer's Blog
12.15.2009 — Posted in:
Gone to the Dogs
There is a sector of medicine that has healthcare wrapped—veterinary medicine and we should all take a lesson. Newfoundlands, with their bulky swagger, aren’t known for their golden years. On average, they go young, under 10. And that’s considered the outside, unlike parrots that require a lifetime commitment (we’re talking Macaws). So when the family Newfoundlands, Maxwell Millions, tore his ACL and required surgery, we learned that the financial policy was half down at the time you drop the dog up and the balance due when you pick the dog up.
I asked the vet, tentatively, “I thought this was when you put a dog down, no?”
“Until 10 years ago, that was the case,” said the baby boomer- age vet who explained he does on average 17 ACL surgeries on all breeds of dogs ranging from $4000 - $15,000 every week. We opted for the $4K remedy…in part because this beloved pet is more seal than harrier. And besides, the X-rays showed that both hips were 90% shot too…the other knee, the vet said, he could only guess that it was as fragile as the one being repaired.
The lesson: tell every young person you know that veterinary medicine is the future.
We love our pets…often more than our spouses or extended family. When that broad velvety face lifts its head off his pillow to growl at the sound of the mailman at the door rather than fully come to a stand, I get it. The credit card bill is likely in that stack of unopened mail delivered today. That’s what credit cards are for, they tell me.
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