Ive spent more than $1200 at the vet for my dog in the last month alone. Approaching $3k for the year.

2 weeks ago, I got home from a night shift at 4am, took my dog for a walk to let her pee/poo/sniff to her heart's content and then she dragged me back to the apartment and i went to bed, assuming, like normal, I'd be able to get 6-8hrs sleep before she woke me up to go out again.

That did not happen.

At 7 am, she woke me up to pee. At 10 am she woke me up to pee, after which I couldnt get back to sleep and resigned myself to being tired all day. At noon she dragged me out to pee again, at which point I also noticed she hadnt drank any water since I refilled her bowl at 4am, which is highly unusual for her, she usually drinks a full bowl over the course of the day/night so it should've been half empty. I called the vet and got her in at 230pm.

At the vet they said it could be a UTI, bladder stones, or a kidney issue. Ive had dogs with bladder stones before, and figured it was just a UTI so at the time I denied the xray to look for stones and the kidney bloodwork, going home after paying $450ish for urinalysis, the urine draw, an antibiotic shot, another shot that I dont remember what it was, and prescription antibiotics for 10 days.

She almost immediately improved on the antibiotics, returning to drinking and peeing at normal intervals within 24 hours, so I assumed my hunch of it being a UTI was correct, until the vet called and said the urinalysis showed no bacteria, just a slightly high pH and a lot of white blood cells. So, I made an appointment for this morning to go back in for the blood work and the xray.

Xray came back fine, but during the recheck I asked about some redness on her paws and mentioned she'd been licking them. He also checked her ears and noticed both had ear infections somehow (shes had ear infections before, shes kind of prone to them, but she usually makes it very clear she has one, head tilting/scratching her ears a lot, etc this time she didnt do any of those things).

After prescription for allergy meds, an ear flush, deep ear drops, the xray, and the bloodwork, I just paid another $800.

Plus, depending on how the bloodwork comes back for her kidneys, I could end up spending God only knows how much if she needs a special diet or meds or whatever else.

I love my dog, and I'll keep spending whatever I need to to keep her healthy and happy, but Jesus my credit card is almost maxed, I'm still making payments on a surgery she had earlier this year ($1500+), I already got a second job with doordash to try to make enough money to keep my head above water and possibly pay down the credit card some. I just hope my car can hold out bc I've already replaced the engine in it this year and its had to be towed twice for related issues that I'm hoping are finally resolved enough to keep it running for me for a few more years.

It just feels like I'm drowning. Every time I think i can relax something new comes up. The car, or vet bills, or something else. I havent even seen a doctor or dentist myself for over a year because I dont want to pay hundreds of dollars for a basic check up when I feel fine, especially when I cant exactly spare the money.