Guess I just shouldnt have German Shepherds anymore.

[fitz19d]

From the other pet threads might remember my Charlie I had just at a year before having to be put down to very painful debilitating fistulas. Got the new Shepherd hank. Gorgeous, loved by anyone that see's him. Somewhat my personal nightmare. Came out of control untrained. Worked with him and now except for rare outbursts of badness he's our 105lb lap dog, door greeter. And otherwise playful in our face oaf attention whore.

Started with just some eye issues like allergies. Normal vet gives some steroid/antihystemine. Does well near end of regimen yesterday. Started getting worse evening before and as I'm getting ready to work the next day notice eye seems puffed out a bit, inner eyelid swollen bad over it. Looks like an animal youd shoot on sight coming towards you. Fiancee takes him to vet, they irrigate and give new subscription send him home with cone. Gets worse though evening, runs to them, they send her up to CSU. (Which was nice since I was working around the corner). So up to 4am waiting to hear what they have to say.

Amounts to, they dont know, abscess tooth, abscess of unknown origin, or tumor behind the eye likely, but also for unknown reasons glaucoma like issues with mega high pressure in the eye in addition to sticking out of his head. This morning get the call with the update. Worse through the night. More pain meds and new antibiotic today. Weekend so can't do that much and until some of the eye under control CT not all that useful as before for determining cause. At this point they have to grease his eye because it's got no way to lubricate.

Frustrated because the docs today want to wait till tommorow to do a lot more fussing around when to me it seems like when his eye is likely a lost cause, why they can't just pluck the thing, and address the abscess and be done with it. Frustrated that another 3 year old dog has severe issues out of the blue. Frusrated we are at 1k now with an estimated 3500 bill just doing CT + what theyve done so far. Part of why besides it seeming logical, the pragmatic side would rather they just do some kind of surgery and be done with it and run me the 4k. It hurts a lot but that's doable and I'm kinda in shock not even letting that bill sink in, but I know that letting them fart around until I'm looking at a 10k bill is just not realistic unless they have a hell of a payment plan.

[Irving]

This sucks to hear man, health problems are no fun for anyone. I hope the dog gets to be okay, without your financial ruin at the same time.

[sniper7]

Definitely understand the tough decision. Hopefully the antibiotics get some of the swelling down quickly and they don't have to do too much costly work

[Mazin]

Damn man sorry to hear about your pup. Take him to another vet because it sounds like your getting hosed.

[wctriumph]

It has always been a tough call for pet health against the cost of getting them well. Good luck.

Pets are pets and throughout our lives we will have several.

[Gman]

I love GSDs. So sorry to hear you're having a rough run.

[yz9890]

I've had to make some tough and expensive decisions about pets. Not easy. Good luck.


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[Bailey Guns]

Good for you for giving him the best care you can. I could retire if I had all the money back that I've spent on dogs over the past 20 years. Hoping for the best for your friend and your family.

[gnihcraes]

Wishing the best for the pup.

[enfield]

Cannot recommend Dr Roberts at http://www.animaleyecenter.com/ enough for eye issues. Our Bulldog had eye issues and the local vet said he would need an operation, Dr Roberts correctly diagnosed the issue. The dog gets eye drops once a day, but did not need an operation.

[MED]

Sorry for all the trouble and heartache; my ex-wife brought home a Husky that we loved; but we lost in less then six months...it was horrible. I hope it works out for you.

In response to your title, the bloodline really matters with GSDs; I can't stress this enough both with temperament and health. The imported German bloodlines cost a lot more, but it is completely worth it. My GSD Amber is 10.5 years old. If you spent time and played with her, you would guess she was 4-5 years old at most; she runs and jumps like dogs half her age. Other then routine check-ups and shots, I haven't spent anything on illness. She came from OFA rated excellent dogs; I don't think she even has any arthritis yet.

[TheGrey]

My God, how terrible for you! It does sound like your vet is dragging heir feet and milking it for everything they can, instead of saying, "Bring him to this vet, they specialize in this area."

Have you applied for Care Credit? When we had an emergency with one of our cats, we had to leave him at the 24-hour emergency vet for four days. Care Credit saved us: it's a credit card for medical emergencies for both people and pets.

Please keep us updated. I hope things get better quickly.

[OneGuy67]

We have a female shepherd mix and she also had eye issues. Both tear ducts just up and quit working on her and she had no way to lubricate her eyes. We tried drops, steroids, etc, but nothing worked. She finally had to have surgery and they moved a saliva duct from each side of the inside her mouth up to where the tear duct was. Expensive surgery, but she is much better. She still gets wetting drops once a day, but if she is squinting any, we just need to hold out some lunch meat and she tears right up, since it actually is saliva. She is over a year now post surgery and doing great.

[COcz]

I hope all goes well for you and the pup. Things can happen fast, but if you love the dog then the amount of money doesn't matter. I dropped $7k on my best friend last summer and ended up having to put him down. It was still worth it in case he would have made it.