Murphy came to visit (major $ setback in baby steps) :(

**khaski** · 09-27-2008, 07:14 AM

One of our dogs my beloved pug Penny, injured her eye Tues. night- we figured she ran into something outside and scratched her little eye, which we've dealt with before, so off to the vet Weds. morning. We got all kinds of meds., and a $115 bill- not the end of the world. But the eye looked worse and worse so we went back in Friday morning as instructed, my vet sent me off to a vet. opthomalogist as her eye was worsening and without proper treatment it could rupture (mind you we've been doing her meds. every 2-3 hours round the clock). The specialist is 1.5 hours away each way (bye-bye- gas budget). She has extra eyelashes that need to be frozen away on both eyes, and she needs a graft to repair the extensive damage to the 'bad' eye- original estimate $3500. No real other options that take care of this except removing the eye which would cost $2k and who wants to do that to the poor dog anyways? Long story short I maxed out my cc for the extra $2200 (looked at balance last night, went over my max by about $15 doing that let's see what the fee is for that) shuffling $ around this morning to pay the extra $600 cash...at least I talked them down somewhat on price. My husband half-joking reminds me we could have bought 3 news pugs for that price- but he is not complaining too much as he knows how I love my dogs, no matter what the cost.

But man oh man is the budget which was over on unavoidable expenditures anyways off by a long shot- and it'll be another $50 easy on gas picking her up today and taking her back for a re-check later this week which they insist my regular vet is not equipped for.

MAJOR $ setback and very depressing. Before we tweaked the price down I was in a mess of tears telling the vet tech we simply COULD NOT swing $3.5k for the dog- and the feeling was TERRIBLE I look forward to having NO debts in the future so I could have done it easily. But now we're set back another 4 months easy after this expense and with my cc maxed out.

I am grateful we did NOT empty our $2k emergency fund down to $1k originally. It will make the balance of that $600 up with $ backing us up still.

But was Dave ever right- you get started Murphy comes to visit!

**FrugalMomof3** · 09-27-2008, 08:07 AM

I am so sorry Murphy is visiting you but I am sure your dog is well worth the cost, I would just advise for future to start making a "pet" contribution every month, so next time this happens you will have something or all to cover the cost.

**larabelle** · 09-27-2008, 08:46 AM

WOW!!! Alot of money but I completely understand...if it were my dog I would have done the same thing. I love my dog just the same. Just chaulk it up to Murphy and move on.

**HappyMama** · 09-27-2008, 01:06 PM

Hugs to you. I have a sweet Pug also named Sir Arthur and understand your love and devotion . Maybe you could start a pet fund for future instances.

**Momof4cats** · 09-27-2008, 02:10 PM

I know pugs are prone to eye problems. Maybe look into pet insurance.

**Mochashello** · 09-28-2008, 12:15 AM

I agree, pet insurance might be a good idea for you. Aren't pugs prone to problems like this? It might be worth it to start the pet insurance program. At the very least, you could have used Care Credit for the expense rather than a regular credit card. The interest would have been way less or even zero % interest for 6 months. Still not the best option- which is to have cash on hand of course- but a better option than Visa or Mastercard.

Good luck and I hope your little girl is doing well tonight.