After calling the vet to schedule an appointment, I couldn't get in for another 3 hours. So I tried to get Dog to eat some more food. I cooked rice, (no luck) Chicken (no luck) Hot dogs (sorta interest). I ended up hand feeding (I know its a BIG no-no) Dog 1/2 a hot dog before he decided chewing was too much work.
We got to the vet's office and eventually saw the vet. The vet tech asked a ton of questions. "How is his energy level?" This is when C and I told them we have had him for less than 24 hours. We had no idea what his "usual" energy level was. The nurse then asked us "Is he drinking water?" To which we both responded "We don't really know" The nurse seemed to not understand that we only was with Dog for 20 hours, 8 of those were sleeping, and several of those were in a different vets office. All I could tell her was that Dog wasn't eating, but it could be due to stress.
Finally, the nurse seemed to "get" it. She left, and the vet came in shortly. She listened to Dog's lungs for what seemed like an eternity. That's when she said "Well, Dog has pneumonia. He is very young, so you both need to be prepared for the outcome. He may not make it." As soon as she said this, I stopped listening. All I heard was "blah blah blah blah." I couldn't believe what she had just said! Dog was already a part of my family. I couldn't let him die.
At that point, I tried to toon into the conversation again. Basically, Dog was going to have to get a bunch of x-rays, and a bunch of fluids, and cost a BUNCH of $$$. The vet left us so we could talk about how much money he was going to cost us. I looked at C and decided there was really only 1 option. To suck it up and pay the bills. Dog was going to cost us about 3-5k due to the fact that he would have to go to emergency care overnight, and get multiple rounds of xrays. But Dog was apart of my family. There was nothing else we could do.
Later, the tech came back in and summarized everything for us. She said I could open a 0% interest for 12 months "care-credit" credit card. She also said the (first) bill was going to run about 1500 for the first visit. Honestly, at this point I was so shocked I may have to put my dog down, that I really didn't comprehend anything.
C and I left, and went to lunch. We decided to head to the shelter to tell them they adopted out a dog that was on death's door. When we arrived at the shelter, they were very busy. We asked to speak to a manager, and when they asked why I said "We adopted Dog yesterday, and we were just told that he has pneumonia and may have to be put down." The two receptionists just looked at each other. They obviously didn't know what to do, and they said they would get the adoption manager, Megan (Name Changed). Little did I know, Megan and I would become great friends over the next few months.
Megan came out, asked for the story. After I told her, I started bawling and said "Can we still keep him?" She was shocked, I was shocked. I still don't know why I asked that question. She quickly transferred us to a less conspicuous location while she made a call to see what the shelter could do to help us.
TBC
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