Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I'm new to this board, but i'm reaching out for help. I have a 7 year old black and tan doxin that has been diagnosed with Intervetebral Disc Disease. He's having it in the cervical region, so hopefully it won't lead to paralysis, but Kielbasa is in constant pain. At first he pain was intermittent and the vet had him on muscle relaxants and pain killers, and it was controlled with that. He was fine for about 4 weeks as long as we kept him on the meds. We lowered the frequency gradually as per the vets instructions. He was off the meds for a week and fine, then all of sudden a week ago it got much worse. Now the pain is mostly constant and the meds don't help much. So surgery it is likely.

I live in NYC and the specialist/neurologist I saw quoted us $8000 for the cat scan and surgery. This is higher then any price i have seen online anywhere. At this link. http://users.cyberport.net/~milnerwm/fastfacts.html these is a list of about 25 different surgery costs and they range from $1200 to $6400. NOT 8000 thousand! Now don't get me wrong, if I had this money then I wouldn't even be on here. But I can not afford this. My wife just lost her job, and it's just not possible. This is not acceptable.

So we spent all day trying to call about the dozen specialists in the NYC/NJ area and almost NO ONE will tell us an estimated cost over the phone! So I don't know what to do. So has anyone dealt with a more reasonable surgeon in the North East? I would be willing to travel some if possible. I'll drive all day if I have to. Any ideas of advice? Thank you.

Sorry to read you are having so many problems with your dog. Since you are in NYC I would recommend calling the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. They are one of the premier teaching colleges in the country and are located in Ithaca NY. From NYC I would be quessing at perhaps a 3-4 hour ride. They may not be able to qoute a price but being a teaching college they could be a little more affordable and also offer a payment to those that qualify. They may want to see Kielbasa first but it wouldn't hurt to give them a call and talk to one of the doctors. The information can be found in the link below. The phone number is in the left column you want to call the one under Companion Hospital. I take one of my dogs there every month and they are one of the best in the country.

Cornell Companion Animal Hospital

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

I just clicked on the driving directions from the east and it would be about a 5 hour drive.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

THanks for you reply and advice. Cornell is one of the places I'm considering for sure!

Hopefully Cornell can help out. I don't know a ton about the problem your dog has, but also get a second opinion about treatment. Not everything needs a CAT scan and expensive orthapedic surgery. Some problems do obviously, but sometimes more conservative methods can be tried first and if they don't work, then specialists are needed. Good luck with your pursut of help. It's not easy when dogs are not feeling well.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles www.freewebs.com/performanceshibas

I don't think you could go wrong. They will do no more or no less than you want them to. At the very least you will get a quality exam from some of the best doctors in the country.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.