Pet Owners

After working at a veterinary hospital for a few years now, it never ceases to amaze me the distance pet owner's are willing to go (or not) to care for their pets. There is a broad spectrum here, those that feel their pet's are just animals and seem "uncaring" to those that will mortgage their home simply to pay for a few months of extra life for their pet to those neurotic about everything (ie "My dog's stool is soft, OMG is he dying?!?"). I suppose I fall into the "would do anything" category. Let me explain....

Meet Hero

He's a miniature Australian Shepherd, born November 1, 2006. He's basically my child at this point, which also means he's spoiled rotten. His personality ranges from, well crazy to lazy to super sweet. Well last September, on my day off, he jumped off the bed. Mind you the bed was not on the frame, afterall apartment living does not allow for large bedrooms, meaning the king sized sleigh bed does not fit unless off the frame. So the height he jumped from was approximately 16", something he has done numerous times. This time he screamed and fell over, he had broken his leg. I knew he was in severe pain when he tried to bite me when I picked him up. I rushed him to the vet, he had shattered his elbow and it would require major surgery or amputation. Luckily Hero's aunt Kendra works at the surgery center, so the next day he went into surgery. Of course, amputation was an option at $800 but it could be fixed, so that's the route we took. I believe the 5 1/2 hour surgery totaled $3200 give or take, yes we took this route but since Hero's aunt Kendra works there, it was not an immediate financial burden. After wearing a cast for quite some time, then physical therapy, and additional surgery to remove two of the 8 screws, he is back to normal. If you can call him normal that is, which some don't, like his aunt Kendra lol.

Meet Mekka

She's my FIRST real pet. She will be 9 years old this August and, unfortunately, Dalmatian's don't typically live long beyond that age. She lives with my parents because I don't feel she would be cut out for apartment living. She's a good girl and yes I call her, "my booger baby." Weird but who cares. She's had issues practically her entire life. As a puppy she had Parvo, began showing symptoms the EXACT same evening I had my car accident (thank goodness for seat belts). She spent a week in the hospital and fully recovered. She's also had an ear hematoma and, possibly, Wobbler's Syndrome, which is basically cervical vertebral instability. She still continued to be an awesome, loving girl. Fast forward to this past Thanksgiving. Since the entire family comes to my parent's house, I decided to give Mekka a relatively safe sedative to keep her calm when everyone arrived. The dose was small, however what happened next was never expected. Just as we all sat down to eat, she came up to me, collapsed, seized and, basically died. Fortunately my aunt Christy, a Registered Vet tech was there. We flipped her over and she began doing chest compressions. Mekka then drew a breath and slowly, but surely, came back to us. I still, to this day, blame myself for giving her that damn sedative but, it's a safe product so how was I to know. Today, she is doing well, her arthritis is an issue as is her weight, but we manage.

***Chase, the other Aussie, was not available at the time of the blog. He is currently out in my parent's pasture rolling around in cow poop***

I'm sure some will read what I've written and think I'm crazy (sometimes I wonder that myself), other's may understand. As a matter of fact, I don't even know why I blogged about this...oh yeah, shameless ploy to showoff my beautiful puppies, that's right. I know Kendra, you can slowdown the eye roll, you might get dizzy. =0)