**Sugar Update**

I was finally able to pick Sugar up from the vet on Monday. For those of you who didn't read my "Snakes Bite" post, Sugar, my 3 year old yellow lab was bit twice by a rattle snake last week. Sugar is an awesome dog with a great temperament. She is hands down the happiest dog I have ever seen. She is loving and full of energy that's why it is so sad to see her in such pain. I had never before seen the effects of a rattle snake bite, but now I can assure you, it's not pretty! I am so grateful it was Sugar who was bit and not Ryder.

Sugar is on "bed rest" as the vet referred to it, is taking several medications and has to wear one of those humiliating cones around her head. She has tried pretty hard to chew her way out of the cone. I finally had to put tape on it to get her to stop. The vet said Sugars pain was so bad that she would try to chew her leg off if she got out of the cone, nice, hu? So the cone thing is on to stay until the open wounds heal and who knows how long that will take. In the mean time, the tape on the cone is just adding to the ghettoness factor of the cone, but that's okay, it'd be really gross if she chewed her leg off....

So, not to sound like I don't care about my dog or whatever but the most frustrating thing in all of this is the vet bill. When we initially took Sugar into the vet I was told it would be 600.00 for the treatment. I thought, I can deal with 600, it sucks , but I can handle that. Well, on Monday when I went into pick Sug up I was handed a bill for 1500.00!!!!!!! I was outraged! Speechless. Totally shocked. I thought, How in the H*** did it go from 600 to 1,500??? And why was I not contacted and told that they were doing something that would make the bill go up? At no point did I sign any sort of waiver or give any verbal permission to authorize them to do whatever they saw fit for Sugar. I am a single mom, okay, I cant afford to just be spending thousands of dollars on my pet. I love her, she is part of the family but, she's still a pet. They should have called me and told me the chargers were going to go up and ask if that was okay rather than just doing it then handing me the bill after the fact. I had no choice but to pay it. I was literally crying as they charged my card. Then the receptionist, who was so rude, by the way, said, we want to see Sugar back day after tomorrow and that appointment will be 300.00. I was like, oh, heck no! I am taking her back into my regular vet for follow up appointments now, there is no way I will ever EVER go back to Pleasant Valley Pet Hospital. I called the next day to make a formal complaint to the Vet office and was not given any sort of apology for the way they handled themselves, that's all I wanted, was an apology and them to acknowledge that they should have called me prior to services that would increase the bill. So, I was left no choice but to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. It is my hope that in the future they will have the decency to inform clients of possible charges before they go ahead with procedures and then expect payment.

Anyway, I have included some pictures of Sugar so you can see the effects of a rattle snake bite. Apparently the venom in the snake bite eats away the flesh and tissue, that's why she has these capping holes in her arm. And, really the pictures don't do it justice, they look way worse in person but I warn you they are still pretty nasty...