Ok, now that I can actually sit at a computer, I'll tell the whole story.
Our German Shepherd, Schatzi, was not fixed. I took a dim view of this as I've always advocated immediate spay/neuter of any pet for multiple reasons, but this was my GF's dog for 10 years, not mine.
Last month, Schatzi seemed to be going on her heat cycle, and started menstruating. YAY TILE FLOOR. This is not the first time this has happened.
But it is the first time it didn't stop after 3 weeks, and showed no sign of letting up. At my insistence, we took her in to the vet.
The vet kept her for a day or so and decided she had some form of bladder infection. Sent us home with antibiotics and a $700 bill.
After several more days of continued bleeding, we took her back in. Her urine was clear of blood (and as far as I could tell always had been), and the vet recommended we get her spayed... which I agreed to immediately. Should have been done years ago.
The spay cost us $1800. $400 more than we were quoted. But I let it slide.
We get schatzi home, and I have to go off to work out of town. A few days later GF tells me she is STILL bleeding and now acting terribly disoriented and in pain. I say call the vet. It's after hours so the vet says to take her to the emergency room at Texas A&M Small Veterinary Hospital. They hit up my GF for a $500 deposit to get in and run tests, based on a $1000 estimate.
Tests come back, they think there might be cancer. And Schatzi needs a transfusion because she's now incredibly anemic from all the bleeding. That raises the estimate to $3000 so they want another $1000. Paid. This keeps her in until the radiologist can come in monday to look at things. Meanwhile, the lab results on Schatzi's uterus and ovaries comes back - TWO forms of cancer, one highly aggressive. The radiologist comes back and wants x-rays and CT scans. This raises the estimate to $4000. Those come back inconclusive but showing some items of concern. A&M Vet wants to do an exploratory labrotomy to get in there and see what the problem is. We are told on the phone that "all included, this raises the estimate to $5800." I am now gritting my teeth so hard they are audible but agree to pay it.
The procedure seems to go well, they cut off more of the uterine stump that looked like it had hematoma and scar tissue on it, they find an anal growth that turns out to be a cyst, they find some bowel leaking into her abdominal cavity (probably the culprit that started all of this) and remove that section of intestine, and just for good measure they remove a 1.5cm chunk of green plastic from inside Schatzi's stomach. A day later, they say she's doing really well and ready to go home. I go to pick her up, and the checkout worker says "Ok, I show a $9000 balance." Turns out what the doctor (med student) MEANT to say on the phone was "all included, this will raise the estimate an ADDITIONAL $5800." Which still doesn't add up to $11500 total but that's beside the point.
I make my case, they get me to agree to pay the $5800 I thought I had agreed to and send the rest to their finance people to see if they can "work something out."
