5
out of 5
POSTED: | BY: Alana Eagle
Unlucky dog but lucky to have Healthy Paws!
Our dog Reef just made 1 year in August and has already had 2 surgeries and 8 claims with Healthy Paws, totaling over $10,000. We purchased 80% coinsurance and it's amazing that there is only a $250 annual deductible and not a per claim deductible. Healthy Paws is AMAZING! Here is our weird story.
We have a very active, happy, and handsome dog who is part Rottweiler part Shar Pei. After the beach, Reef was limping for a month and we couldn't figure out why. First his vet thought it was a strain, then after x-rays she thought it was a chipped shoulder bone, then the surgeon thought it might be tendinitis. After all that, we were camping one weekend and a large bump formed on his upper chest that looked like a tumor. They did aspirations and cell tests but all the tests came back negative as a tumor. Then the lump broke open and started oozing...gross! Reef started acting really strange and started hiding around the house so I got scared and the emergency vet decided to do surgery right away. They cleaned out the infection tract but the infection went too close to vital nerves and his esophagus to get all the scar tissue out. They didn't find any source of the infection. He had 22 stitches, a fluid drain, was on pain meds, anti-inflammatory pills, anti-biotics and was on low activity rest for 6 weeks!
Everything seemed to be okay with him until about a month later, another large bump formed on his lower chest and broke open...gross! This time they did a CT scan before operating. They found that his upper rib was abnormally inflamed and decided it'd be best to remove it. They performed surgery, removed part of his rib and cleaned out the second infection. When the lab results came back for the rib, they diagnosed it with Osteomyelitis (don't google it, barf). The surgeon was happy about the results because it didn't come back as cancer. We don't know how he got osteomyelitis. It could've been from a wound from a stick, or a dog bite, who knows. The surgeon said Reef got "the award for weirdest case ever, an award we did not want to get."
Luckily I bought pet insurance for Reef when he was 3 months old and it was the best decision I ever made. We had gone to dinner with my parents and left Reef in the back yard with their two dogs. When we got back, Reef was on the roof and we have no idea how he got up there! I knew right then that he would need insurance, but I would've never dreamed how much this dog could've cost us. Without insurance, who knows