Do any of you have a dog? If you do, love it, take care of it, do what's necessary to keep it healthy and part of your family. If you don't - don't get one! Just kidding.
Our dog "Cookie" visited a new vet yesterday. It was worse than taking a cranky toddler to a doctor's appointment. Thank you, Paul, for usually doing the vet runs. Now I am reminded why we agreed on that. I can barely handle this dog at the vet. She is a 55-pound lab mix and from the front door of our house sounds very fierce when she barks at the mailman, salesmen, or any visitor pulling into the drive. Well, she is a whimp. I understand the 80-pound golden retriever making her nervous when he wanted to smell her...well, you know. But the 12 pound skinny little critter made her cower under my legs... and then the 8 week old puppy that greeted her actually sent her under the chair, tangling me in the leash. She spent the whole time flitting around, looking for a place to escape. Oh and she is trembling the whole time with her tail between her legs. I was sweating just from filling out the "new patient" form while trying to comfort the baby and keep her from escaping. The floor was spotted with her drool droppings. It's amazing, I started thinking of the other dogs like bullies on a play ground. I just wanted to tell the other owners "CONTROL YOUR DOGS, THEY ARE TRAUMATIZING HER." When really mine was the neurotic one.
Well $130 (yes, my annual check-up, including lab work, was cheaper) and 1 hour later, we drove home in time to get the kids to their various activites. At dinner time, Kayla says "what's wrong with Cookie?" Her face was all swollen and wrinkly like a shar-pei. Well Great! She had reacted to one of the shots. So 10 minutes before closing time, we rush back for a shot of benadryl. I was not looking forward to Paul's reaction to the first bill, let alone a second visit for an antihistamine. Thankfully, these sweet people did not charge us for that trip.
When we got Cookie 7 years ago, she was 5 weeks old and we wondered how far we'd go for animal health care. Two knee surgeries, an attack of pancreatitis, and daily arthritis medicine have made us realize we'll go pretty far. They do become part of the family and I do adore this dog. She's loyal, and eager to please. She hides under the bed when it storms. She scares salesmen away. She's great company when my husband travels, although with her fear of thunder and new born puppies, I don't know how much protection she'd be.
But my vet trip yesterday made me miss our turtle......
Anybody else an animal lover?
5 comments:
We've only had Wrigley a year, and I can't imagine our family without him!
We've had toads, snakes, fish, hamsters, frogs & a dog. The only one I'd even consider paying money for a vet trip was the dog - the rest just got buried in the garden or sent back out into the wilderness (the creek behind our yard). Well.....I know about half-labs: They are ALL psycho!!!! I'm serious. Toby was crazy. From the minute we got him as a puppy, he wouldn't stop moving for the first 2 years of his life. Then he got aggressive after the kids came along, so he had to go. Almost every single "Free to a good home" dog in the newspaper is a half-lab. I'm convinced that something gets screwed up when that breed mixes with others because pure-bred labs are wonderful pets!
Well, come springtime we will be in the market for a puppy. This time we are NOT looking for a half-lab!
Thank you for taking Cookie to the vet yesterday. Hopefully we can drug her into a blissful state for another year to forget that her leg hurts and avoid any further surgeries that require 4 months of post-dated checks to pay for.
Thankfully, we haven't invested very much in those darn cats that live at our house. I like Beaner's idea....let's bury the cats in the garden!
: )
LOL! They have to die BEFORE you bury them Paul, but I'd be happy to add them to my stray cat friends that roam by the creek. My kids miss having Thomas around. He was our favorite stray, but he left one day & never came back.
Yes, Paul why would you want to get rid of the cats? Bitsy leaves the room as soon as you enter and you have to admit that Boomer is great entertainment. Think Garfield, everyone - 23 pounds of attitude. But once again I will thank you for letting us have two cats and for letting the two cats live this long.
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