A Broken Nail

Monday morning I was dealing with AT&T about my crappy internet connection and running late for a meeting.  I fed the dogs and realized Sammy, my pug, was bleeding from his foot.  I realized it was coming from his nail and knew he must have cut the quick.  I grabbed the powder that I had to stop the bleeding and poured it on his foot.  It seemed to do the trick, and I was able to make it to my meeting on time.

Fast forward to last night, Sammy started walking on only 3 legs and not putting any pressure on the foot with the injured nail.  I was worried and looked up info online.  Basically everything that I saw told me that he'd probably have to have the nail removed by a vet.  He fractured it right up at the base of the nail.

So this morning I brought him into the vet.  All my dogs are due for the yearly vaccines, but that is a job I'm leaving for Pat since he's coming home soon.  However, I figured since I was going in anyway I would have Sammy's shots taken care of.  They are smooth talking at this vet to get you to spend more money.  I agreed since Sammy is 6 years old, I'd pay for extra blood work.  They took Sam to the back room to cut his nails and do some test.  They brought him back to me, and the tech said they didn't see much of a fracture on his nail so he must be okay.  I asked if he was in pain since he was not using that leg, and the tech said to ask the doctor.  When the doctor came in we looked at his nail again and sure enough it was fractured at the base.  She also said that he needs dental work done, and we should do both together.  At first I was thinking this was one way to get a boat load of money out of me.  She said she'd go get an estimate.  She comes back and tells me to do it all it would be $545 (unless they find more dental work to add on to that!).  I grimaced at the total, but I knew it would be high.  She explained since Sammy is a pug he needs "high risk anesthesia" which is a lot more expensive than other dogs.  He would need that anesthesia to just do the nail though too.  I asked what it was without the dental and it was only about $78 for the dental itself.  If I'm going to be spending upwards of $500, then I might as well spend another $78.  Since he'll need antibiotics already for the nail, we won't need any additional medications after the dental.  So in a very expensive way it is saving me money to do both procedures at once, but it is quite a high price to pay for what started off as a broken nail.

So now my little puggy is at the vet being taken care of.  I'll get him home tonight and you better believe he'll be treated like a king, at least for a little bit.