Your Dog Needs Surgery – The Questions To Ask the Vet and Yourself

There are two words that cause the most heartache and concern for dog owners.  One is cancer and the other is surgery.

I speak from experience.   How much experience?  Let me show you.

These canine surgeries are just from the past 20 years of dog ownership.  I could have put a fully furnished addition onto my house with what I’ve spent in vet bills.  The pup’s name, how many surgeries and the type each has had is shown.

Whether you are a single owner or have a family, when you’re told your dog needs surgery, this is an unexpected and unneeded expense that you are facing.  Most surgeries, along with diagnostics, pre and post-op, will average ~$4000, and some, way more than that.  For many people, that’s a year of car payments or a family getaway vacation.

Now to your quandary.

Your vet has told you that your dog needs surgery.  There are questions to ask your vet, and then questions to ask yourself. 

Questions to ask the vet:

1. Is my dog in pain?
2. Will my dog die if he/she does not have the surgery?
3. What is my pup’s survival chances if surgery is performed; quality of life; and
4. How much will this cost?

If the vet answers yes to both questions 1 and 2 – your dog is in pain, and yes, your dog WILL  die if there is no surgery, then there are usually three causes for this urgency.  1) a severe accident – e.g., being hit by a moving vehicle, or possibly bloat, if a larger dog; 2) foreign body — the dog has eaten something that will not pass through the stomach or intestine; and 3) a cancerous tumor (if caught in time). 

The vet’s answers to the questions 3 and 4 regarding survival and quality of life, as well as cost, will also drive your decision, and feeds into the questions you need to ask yourself.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. How old is my dog? If your dog is a senior, over 10 yrs old, your decision becomes a  balancing act between your head and your heart.  The older your dog is, the more their mobility and quality of life become an issue, leading to a deeply personal decision for you.  Remember, it’s not about you, it’s what you’re going to be putting your dog through and then the aftermath.  
2. Who will take care of the dog post-surgery when the dog comes home? It won’t always be as easy as just dispensing meds, like dropping a pill in the dog bowl. You could be changing bandages, applying ointment, cleaning wounds, feeding the dog through a syringe, having to watch the dog almost 24/7, and other special care.
3. How am I or how are we going to pay this?  Most hospitals and veterinarians offer Care Credit, which offers 6- or 12-month, interest free payment plans.  Also available to help with canine catastrophes are pet insurance plans.  I’ve used both Care Credit and insurance for 90% of my dogs’ surgeries and they’ve been a tremendous help. But keep in mind, that if you’ve just found out your dog needs surgery, you DON’T have insurance, and you’ve opted to move forward, then you’ll have to bear the cost and move your budget around to pay for it, because pet insurance companies have waiting periods and pre-existing conditions, just like human insurance.

Olympia’s Surgery

My late German Shepherd, Olympia. was six years old when she I had an MRI taken, and the neurologist diagnosed her with intervertebral disc disease. A recommendation was made for spinal surgery to repair two ruptured discs. Would she die without it? Not overnight, but her condition would continue to deteriorate until she became paralyzed.  Prognosis if surgery was performed, based on the location of the ruptured discs, was very good given her age.  For two weeks after the MRI, I watched her, balancing heart and head over my decision, and I gave the go-ahead for the surgery.  Between the testing, surgery and post-op, my bill came to a little over $5000.  But I had insurance, and for the surgery alone my reimbursement was about 80%, not to mention the additional reimbursement for the testing.

In this photo, she’s at home wearing her help-me-up harness, with a t-shirt on her so that the harness wouldn’t rub on the staples and sutures.  She had about a foot long swath on her back and sides that was shaved.  She was a poster-child for recovery.  The neurologist said she probably wouldn’t go up and down the stairs, get into a car without help, or onto the sofa.  Surprised everyone with her mobility. She lived another six years.

Noel’s Story

Between testing and diagnosis, pre-surgery prep, the actual surgery, post-op, and then recovery, your total cost for your dog’s surgery can be in the thousands.  And because it is so expensive, one tends to wait it out.  Especially too, if the x-rays taken by the vet are inconclusive, and the blood work and other testing results indicate normal. 

Noel, my 7-yr old lab, who normally scarfed down his food, was not eating normally. Took him to the vet, had some x-rays taken, and the vet saw something in his abdomen.  Because of the cost of the surgery and the location of the foreign body, the vet and I agreed on medical management and to “wait it out” to see if the obstruction would pass through by itself. One week later, it hadn’t, his situation deteriorated, and I ran Noel to emergency and approved the surgery.  

At 2:00 am, the surgeon called me, said she had run into complications.  It was a foreign body that had tangled itself around Noel’s intestine and stomach. Peritonitis had set in and she couldn’t save him.  I ran over to the hospital held him while he was unconscious on the operating table and he passed away in my arms.

In summary, when you bring a pup into your home, it should be a life-long commitment.  Be prepared to make wise and very tough decisions. Because to paraphrase a saying, your dog may just be a part of your life, but to them, you are their whole life.