Don’t Worry About Money When Your Best Friend is Sick

If the love of your life is ill, the last thing you want to worry over is money. Whether it’s your husband, your child or dog, you want to focus all of your attention on being there for them.

Most of us wouldn’t dream of not having health insurance for our family. The thought of having to pay for a significant illness is terrifying. If you’ve never had a seriously sick pet, you may not know the amount of money that an illness might cost you. A severe injury may cost you thousands of dollars. I just read a story from a family that had no idea how much their love might cost.

Michelle Ridgeway in Fallbrook, California writes of her wonderful dog Dale, who she named after Dale Earnhardt Sr., the racecar driver. He was her husband’s dog, picked out especially for him. Dale slept with the couple and was an incredible friendly dog that deserved to be adored. He was as well. Michelle and her husband could not have children, so Dale was their baby boy.

When Dale began to spray urine inside the house, Michelle thought he might have some anxiety about something. So she cleaned up after him, hiding the behavior from her husband. However, it wasn’t behavioral. Dale had pancreatis, which led to diabetes, but it took some time to figure this out.

Dale began to have frequent problems with his paws. He would step on thorns and get infections over and over again. Michelle kept taking him to the veterinarian to get him fixed up. Soon he became even more ill. He vomited in the car and then several days later he was lethargic. All of this time he had been eating and drinking normally, but now the sickness was showing itself.

Dale quickly became sicker, but Michelle and her husband spared no expense. He was put in intensive care and placed on dialysis. He spent four days fighting for his life, but didn’t win the battle. It was a fight that cost his family their best friend and more than 10 thousand dollars. They had to put it on their credit cards. Of course, the money was worth it, but Michelle wishes they had known about health insurance.

Until next time…

Petplace Staff

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