One of the hardest parts of our job is dealing with the cost of treatments. We are able to offer a huge range of treatment options which allows us to do things that would have been impossible 10 or 20 years ago, but unfortunately these treatments come at a price. As much as we try to keep prices down so as many pets as possible are treated well, we realise we still need to make enough money to keep the doors open. We try to be strict when it comes to making sure everyone pays their share, but occasionally a case comes along where you need to break the rules.
When I was working in a town called Lostwithiel in the southwest of England, an elderly lady, Mary, with a dog called Nikki came in to see me. Nikki had been treated by another vet for a tumour on her back leg. The other vet had removed the tumour but had placed the sutures too tight around her leg. This created a tourniquet around the leg, causing much of the tissue below the sutures to die off.
Then I examined Nikki, I knew this was going to be expensive. There was almost no skin left on the end of her leg, two of her toes needed amputating, and I reallyy wondered if we could even save the leg. I had a chat to Mary about what was needed, what it would cost and what the likely outcome was. Mary was devistated. She was a pensioner, and couldn't really afford even basic treatment. She had spent all she could afford on the initial tumour treatment, so said we would need to put Nikki to sleep.
I don't think anyone could do anything other that feel sorry for this lady. She had tried to do the right thing for her pet, and it had become a disaster. The initial vet denied any responsibility and refused to help fix the situation, so I went cap in hand to my boss. I explained to her that this was a situation that reflected on the whole profession, and as I had never performed a skin graft this was a good opportunity for me to practice a new procedure. She must have been in a good mood that day, and she agreed to let me treat Nikki for free.
I returned to the consult room to give Mary the good news. I explained that Nikki would need bandage changes weekly initially, then a couple of surgeries to perform the skin graft She would be getting around $1500 of treatment for free. Mary wouldn't hear of me treating Nikki for free, as she didn't want to be seen as a charity case. She said that if I could pick up and drop off Nikki on her treatment days (it turns out Mary lived just down the road from me) she would make sure she had some lunch ready for me on those days as payment for my work.
For the next 6 weeks I picked up Nikki every Wednesday morning, and dropped her off when I could get away for lunch. Without fail Mary had two cornish pastys ready for me freshly made that morning, each nearly the size of a dinner plate. As I was single at the time, such a great feed was very much appreciated.
After 6 weeks of treatment, we managed to save Nikki's leg.She always had a bit of a limp, but we were all amazed at how well this little dog battled on. I worked at that clinic for another year after we had finished with Nikki, and Mary still insisted that I popped in every Wednesday at lunchtime to pick up my pastys. We became good friends over that time, and each time I went to Cornwall after that I would drop in and visit Mary and Nikki. I'm guessing Nikki still remembered me even three years after I finished her treamtent, as the last time I visited them Nikki saw me and ran off under the kitchen table and wouldn't come out. Dog's aren't much good at gratitude some times.
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