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As much as I hate to hear this kind of thing, at least when the dog was infected, he took it to a vet.
I guess he just could have shot it or something.
Out here in my ranching community, that is exactly what happens.
In the past, when I've called one of our local vets about a dog issue, he always asks if this is a pet or a "ranch dog". There is a difference of treatment even at the vet's, by request of the ranchers, some of whom live fairly hard scrabble existences.
The article doesn't provide as much information as I'd like, before casting my eternal damnation upon them
But with that said .... we're all right, and fighting for the same side at least. Vets are horribly expensive, and I make peanuts for a living - but there's not one thing I wouldn't hesitate to cut out of my life if it was a matter of life or death for one of my furbabies. Because we all love our animals dearly....as it should be.
I agree. (and I wasn't disagreeing with you before, either!)
It sounds as though that man loves his 14 year old dog.
Simply not enough information for me to condemn him.
I have a friend who actually called me once and asked me if I could "snag" some suture materials so he could stitch up his dog, who had gotten into a fight...(at the time I was vet tech.)...I was horrified that he would even consider doing something like that himself! I explained that even I would not attempt such a procedure though I'd assisted in them plenty of times...thankfully I convinced him pretty quickly to take the dog to his daytime vet!
I have known small farmers to stitch up a wound on a chicken and save its life!! There is no lunacy to doing small operations on one's pet's if one has the resources and the knowledge. What do you think people with livestock did before we had vets on every block and antibiotics? The key is knowing one's limitations, not attempting MAJOR surgery, but following proper procedural sequence and all sterile practices. Even a qualified veterinarian performed procedure can sometimes get infected. Don't people IN hospitals get Mercer frequently?
Ok. Well it didn't say he 'lanced a boil'; it did say he did surgery. So if it was along the lines of lancing a boil . . . then I might revise my statement. Anything other than that and I stick to my original opinion!
OTOH, as someone else pointed out, it didn't end up saving much money anyway.
I wish there was more info... I feel bad for the dog and the man... Not really going to judge the man one way or the other based on that limited article though.
When I was a teenager I had an outdoor tom cat, Jack. He would sometimes come home with a cyst... even though he was neutered, he still got into quite a few catfights. I would lay him on a fresh clean towel, and use a steralized needle to lance the cyst. I would then carefully drain, clean, and dry the wound. The entire time he would lay there peacefully, sometimes purring, sometimes dozing off to sleep (obviously not in pain or distress). Within 24 hours you wouldn't be able to tell he had had a cyst and never once did he become infected or have a cyst refill. I didn't do this at home to save money at the vets, it just seemed like simple basic first aid to me. I would NEVER attempt actual surgery (minor or major) on any animal... my definition of (minor) surgery would be cutting away and removing tissue from the animal, such as removing a fatty lump, tumor, or hardened cyst.
My first thought was that it never would enter my mind that someone would do this in RL in the year 2010. Explains why our new vet didn't see the humor when I kidded my son that he could have removed our pet's tumor if he had an Exacto knife and a stapler.
But my grandfather grew up in the country and he probably would do it. (If not married to my GM. )
Well... That's ONE way to protest the cost of doggy healthcare.
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