To Pay or Not to Pay...

For the past bunch of days Roscoe has been having an issue with his back left foot. He like gnaws on it like mental. He's like obsessed with one friggin foot. He'll lick it until there's a wet spot on the floor. I checked out the paw and didn't see anything wrong with it and I figured he'd work his way through it or something.

Anyway, last night I went out to a bar with a dog-friendly bar with a friend of mine and Roscoe. And at the bar last night Roscoe was out of control with his foot. He basically had the whole thing in his mouth and was sucking on it like a lollypop. (Which basically cancels out any cute dog 'girl-lure' factor he sometimes has when we go out. No chick wants to get all friendly with a dog who has its foot jammed in its mouth-- regardless of how cute it is...)

I knew it couldn't be anything really serious because he's not limping and at dog park he's been running on it fine. It just seems to be super itchy or whatever. Anyway, on my street there's a 24-hour Emergency Vet place. And after leaving the bar, I decided to stop in and just have them take a quick look to make sure there's not glass in there or something weird.

They check me in and make me fill out a form. Then they put me and Roscoe in one of the exam rooms for like 20 long-ass minutes. He passed the time sniffing at the floor. I passed the time playing Pac-Man Bowling on my cellphone. (I've bowl 300's all the time on it. That's how much I play that stupid thing.) I was thinking about bailing out of the place because I knew I was being ridiculous and it was taking forever. But just as I was about to walk out a vet guy came in.

He was very nice and all that and asked me what the problem was. I told him my dog has his foot in his mouth half the day. He said, 'That could be an allergic reaction to something. Have you changed his food recently?' I had! I bought some Wellness venison thing a few days ago to keep his food interesting... and the foot gnawing started at the same time! (Weird reaction when I think about it? What kind of stupid dog allergic reaction is that?) I snapped my fingers and told the guy that was it! He pretty much agreed but continued to check his heart rate and give him a physical look over and and feel his legs and take a swab of his foot. He took the swab with him in the other room and said he would be back with results and to take Roscoe's temperature.... blah blah blah.

Ten minutes go by. I'm like, 'WTF! Roscoe is allergic to venison! I get it! What's with the swab and the physical!?' Let's just leave it at this! It's friggin midnight! We wanna go home!' Then some chick came into the room and told me I needed to wait in the main waiting area because they needed the exam room. I told her that I would just come back in the morning to get the 'swab results' and follow-up or whatever. They seemed busy.

Meanwhile, today Roscoe is fine. I didn't feed him any more venison. There's been no more foot gnawing. Done and done! All is well... except for the fact that the 24-hour vet place called me today and left a message telling me they have two kinds of medicine for me to pick up and that all totaled... I owe them $177! I'm like, 'For frucks sake?! $177?!!?' Ripoff! It was a two-second diagnosis! I know they're a 24-hour place so it's gotta be extra expensive. But that much more? I don't want to pay no $177! (I know I should because what's right is right.) But it's not right to charge $177 for that neither!

Do I really have to pay up... ?

Please advise.

ok bye!
tOdd

PS Yes I stopped off at the emergency vet place and paid the bill. Bonus! Without the unnecessary meds it only came out to $113! Coolio! Here tis! Proof! Thanks for all the feedback setting me straight...