For the first time since my dog was lost, I was scared for my dog’s life. In the past 6 years, Simba has been a pretty healthy dog. He has had no major health issues, but that changed when he turned 7 years old. He was randomly having accidents in the house and at my sister’s house when we went to visit. I did some research on his symptoms and thought he might have a UTI (urinary tract infection) and the vet confirmed that he did. What started out as a UTI turned into something much worse. KIDNEY STONES. Have you ever heard of kidney stones in dogs? Well, it can be life-threatening and it was life-threatening for Simba. We had our first dog emergency and our dog’s life flashed before our eyes.
First Pet Emergency Room Visit
How did we end up in the pet emergency room? Is Simba okay? What happened? I’m sure these are all questions you are dying to know. Simba had to be rushed to the emergency vet unexpectedly and it flipped our world upside down in a matter of seconds. Kidney stones are no joke.
I hope your pet doesn’t ever have to visit the ER. It’s such a scary thing and it’s really expensive too! We started a GoFundMe to help with vet costs. Click HERE to donate or simply click the share button if you can’t donate.
We know there are plenty of people out there that love Simba just as much as we do. Simba has an Instagram (@RawrSimba) with a following of over 20K that show him love on a regular basis. So Instagram fam and anybody that is reading this right now, if you find it in your heart to give or share the link, we will greatly appreciate it! Thanks for loving Simba and always supporting him. Also, your love and prayers that he doesn’t have to go through this again and that he recovers well are just as good too! Check out the hashtag #SupportRawrSimba for updates. Feel free to use the hashtag if you share.
If we hadn’t got him to the vet when we did, I’m not sure we would have any good news to share. Thankfully we got him there in time and he’s resting and recovering at home. Always pay attention to your pet’s behavior. They can’t talk so we must pay attention to how they are acting and if it’s out of the norm take them to the vet! It’s better safe than sorry. Keep reading to know the full story of what happened with our dog.
Change In Dog’s Behavior
Our dog Simba (a 7-year-old Mini Schnauzer) has been having urinary problems that we thought would be a simple fix with some medication. We noticed him acting super weird and having accidents in the house on a consistent basis. Last month, the vet said he had a UTI that should clear up so we took him home and started him on his medication. Well, his issue didn’t seem to be getting any better and when he went outside to handle his business…he couldn’t. After days of being on medication, he didn’t seem to be getting any better. He went downhill and fast. Simba was becoming miserable and even stopped eating and drinking his water. He wouldn’t even really respond to us when we talked to him. Something was really wrong.
Dog Kidney Stones
We rushed him back to the vet and waited for them to give us a call back to come and pick him up after they ran some tests. I was hoping it was something simple like side effects from the medicine and he needed to try something else. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I got a call that I didn’t want to get. I broke down instantly. It turns out that he had more than a UTI, he actually had kidney stones. The vet explained that Simba’s kidney stones were life-threatening and we needed to get him to an emergency vet ASAP! He would have to get the kidney stones pushed back to his bladder so he could then have surgery to remove them.
This was such a scary time for our family. We definitely didn’t have the money that the vet expected upfront. I have Simba on a wellness plan which didn’t cover anything this major. We had to take out a loan with Care Credit to cover the kidney stones being pushed back to the bladder and the surgery to have the stones removed that needed to be completed ASAP. There was no way that we could just let our dog deal with this pain and the potential of leaving us so soon.
Vet Costs: Kidney Stones in Dogs
The emergency vet visit ended up being $1,700. The emergency vet could have also done the surgery, but it would’ve cost us $2,500 for him to stay there over the weekend because they couldn’t do the surgery until Monday. The surgery would’ve cost $3,500 for a total of $7,700. Thankfully, we were able to get in contact with a trusted vet which is a friend of the family who was able to do the surgery for $1,200 which we are definitely thankful for! So in total his vet bill and emergency vet bill is $2,900.
We were billed for numerous things from x-rays, ultrasounds, medication, catheterization, staying overnight, to the cystoscopy surgery needed to remove the kidney stones from the bladder.
Doctor’s estimates below:
Kidney stones:
Pet Wellness Plan vs Pet Insurance
Simba is 7 years old and the Pet Wellness Plan was fine up until now because nothing major had happened to him, but now I see that since he’s getting older I need to find pet insurance to handle things like this that may come up in the future. We actually had to increase our Wellness Plan to the $52 a month plan just so we could cover them taking a closer look. The vet needed to find out what was going on with him since it seemed to be a bigger problem than a UTI which it was so, of course, I upped the plan to see what was wrong.
I’d love to cancel his current Wellness Plan which would be over $600 for the year. I can use that monthly money for dog insurance instead. Pet insurance would be way more helpful in our time of need than a Wellness Plan that is only for preventative care. I’d also like to start going to a better vet because ours wasn’t helpful at all. The emergency vet had to retake the x-rays that the first vet had taken. This ended up costing us more money. They also never contacted us back about doing the kidney stone removal because the emergency vet said it would be much cheaper to have them do it. Again, this was a life-threatening situation and they didn’t even get back with us! I don’t have time to deal with a vet that isn’t taking my dog’s life seriously.
Support Simba
So, all in all, we are trying to raise $3,500 for Simba’s emergency vet bill, the surgery, and to get out of the current Wellness plan we are in so that we can move on to a better vet and find a pet insurance that we can pay for monthly that will actually help with major issues my dog may run into now that he is getting older. The surgery went well and was successful. Simba ended up having two kidney stones instead of one. He’s in a lot of pain and we are taking it one day at a time. His stitches will be removed soon and I’m sure he can’t wait. He’s been able to use the bathroom just fine and he’s turning back into his old happy self again. We pray that the kidney stones are not something that will keep recurring and we don’t have to ever do this process ever again.
On our way for Simba to have surgery:
I normally wouldn’t ask for help because of my pride, but I feel this is something that I need to do for my family. When it rains, it pours it seems, as I’m sure it does with other people too. We currently have a lot on our plate which we can update you on later. But just know that we will be thankful for any little bit that you can give. And if you can’t give we appreciate the love and prayers and feel free to share instead. Click HERE to donate. Thank you so much!
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