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Saturday, September 13, 2014

Bad Decisions notwithstanding, poverty should not mean my dogs are better cared for than humans. . .

We took Punkin to the vet the other day for his annual. He's the oldest dog here, 15 1/2 years old, cataracts, hard of hearing, toothless and a mind of his own. In addition to being the oldest, he is also the smallest at 3.2 lbs. Lest you think that puts him at a disadvantage, let me put your mind at ease, this little guy runs the place. 


He thinks nothing of charging Prince to take over Prince's meal if the mood hits him and he'll even tackle Nikki if she irritates him. Because he has thyroid issues he usually has a T4 test every year which is a blood draw taken from the neck region. When he first had a T4 several years ago, this 3 lb dog needed 7 (yes SEVEN) people to hold him in order to draw blood without hurting him. Today they have a system and can do it with only 3 people. Punkin knows exactly how to take advantage of his diminutive size.

His blood tests came back and he needs to start eating kidney friendly food which is fine, prescription diets are no strangers in this house of former mill dogs. His tests also revealed the beginning of glaucoma so he was prescribed eye drops which hopefully will relieve the pressure, if not then it's off to see our favorite ophthalmologist at MedVet.

His eye drops are what prompted me to write today. While waiting to pick up Punkin's prescription at the pharmacy two people were ahead of me. One gentleman had apparently lost his insurance and was trying to decide which medications he could pick up. I had Mason with me at the walk-up window so we walked away to give the man privacy. When we came back a lady was picking up several prescriptions. I heard the pharmacy tech tell her that the $181 xyz prescription was not covered by Medicaid and asked if she had a supplemental insurance plan. The lady said no and asked about two other prescriptions that apparently were covered ~ at this point Mason and I walked away again to give her privacy.

Once the lady left, I went back to the window to pick up Punkin's eye drops. They weren't terribly expensive but they weren't inexpensive either. I thought, not for the first time, how fortunate we are to be able to care for our pets and ourselves. We've never been in a position where we had to choose between medical care for our pets and the shelter or euthanasia. We've never had to pass on a prescription for one of our dogs or ourselves because we couldn't afford it. Decisions about our dog's welfare are made based on what we believe is best for them, not for financial reasons.

Somehow it does not seem right that whether you live in pain or comfort, live with a medical condition or are cured, even live or die should depend on how much money you have. Somehow, it does not seem right that my dogs have better care than many humans. I understand that sometimes people are living in poverty because of bad decisions, but I don't agree that those bad decisions are justification to either let them suffer in pain or die. We need to fix this. We need to help those who can't afford medical care. We need to take care of our own.  In this country? In this state? In this city? We need to do better. . . .

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