The Most Expensive Dog in the World

I think Hope is currently in contention for this title. She's only been in our family for 21 months, and so far we've paid for her heartworm treatment, spay surgery, teeth cleaning, biopsy, chemotherapy, and surgery on her tumor, not to mention the regular dog expenses such as shots and heartworm prevention. Today, we forked out another 75 dollars for our dear doggy daughter, as we visited the vet for laundry list of ailments that Hope had been experiencing in the last few weeks since her surgery. First, she's been doing a ton more sneezing than normal, like her hayfever is out of control. Second, she's had this weird wheezing cough, which almost kind of sounded like she picked up kennel cough from the animal hospital. Third, a few weeks ago we noticed a weird rash on her abdomen. Finally, about two weeks ago, Chad came home to find one of Hope's teeth lying on the floor!! It had broken off right at the gum line! As you can imagine, we were horrified, and when we called the vet they confirmed that it was the same tooth that was cracked prior to her teeth cleaning--the one that the vet thought maybe he would need to pull but then decided not to after cleaning it off a little. They told us not to worry too much about the broken tooth unless it seemed to cause her pain. She didn't seem to have any difficulty eating, so we assumed she must not feel too badly.

So last night, we thought we'd give her a little rawhide chip, just to see if she could comfortably chew on her missing tooth side. She finished it excitedly, and she didn't seem to have any discomfort, but when I went to make sure her gums weren't bleeding after she was done, I found another tooth lying on the floor!! AAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!! We were even more horrified! This one had come out with most of the root in tact, with just a tiny bit of the root broken off and still in her gum!

Obviously, we took her to the vet today, and we did feel a little better that most of Hope's symptoms (the sneezing, wheezing and rash) are likely all allergy related, with the flare up of allergies being common after chemo messes with the immune system. However, the teeth thing is still a major bummer. The vet didn't have a good explanation for her multiple broken teeth except that she is an aggressive chewer who didn't have good dental care in the first 5-7 years of her life. She may have to eventually have the parts of those teeth that are still there pulled out, which would obviously mean another general anesthetic for her, and another big expense for us. At least for the time being, all chew treats in our house are definitely off limits!!