Veterinary Specialists For Animals Lead To Greater Longevity

I was driving down Convoy Street in San Diego one day recently, when I noticed an "Eye Care For Dogs" sign on a store window.  I said to myself, "Now I've seen everything."  When I went home and researched eye care for dogs (in fact all animals including birds), I realized I was uninformed on this specialty.  It's  so popular that there are clinics all over the country, just for the eye care of your pet.  They are state of the art, some even with heated operating tables.  They treat glaucoma and numerous diseases involving tear ducts, among other diseases.  My question is, how does a dog read the eye chart?  (just kidding).

There are animal clinics for pets that need specialists, like orthopedics or neurology, as I know only too well.  When my pit bull mix Barney was 15 and could hardly walk, he went to Veterinary Specialty in Carmel Valley for $5600 worth of back surgery for bulging discs.  The surgery was successful, and Barney lived relatively pain free for another 4 years.

More recently I have had dental work done on Pepper, although not by a dental specialist.  There are clinics that work only on teeth cleaning and oral surgery for animals, but in my case I had a regular veterinarian do the work.  He had cleaning and 5 extractions (ouch) for a total of $650!  I originally had scheduled the dental work to be done at the vet I have been using for the past 10 years, but when I was told the cost would be over $1,000.00, I started looking elsewhere.  I found a new local dentist that I like very much, who did the exact same work for much less.

Veterinary care is similar to human care today.  There is a specialist for everything.  Your regular vet (the internist) will take care of most typical issues, but for everything else he or she will refer you to a specialist.  Specialists are often very expensive, and unless you have pet insurance (I don't), it will cost you big bucks to be treated by one.  I've got Pepper on a special diet (Hills Science Diet) that is supposed to prevent plaque build up and a regimen of teeth brushing a few times a week.  I will do what it takes to not put him through another dental trauma.  The positive side to all of this is that our pets are living longer, healthier lives, like my Barney who lived to be 19.