Over the Valentine weekend, Eli, our 130 pound chocolate lab (he lost 10 lbs.!) attached himself to a little white teddy bear. He would carry it around like a mother cat would her kitten. He would lick it clean incessantly and care for it. Very sweet right? Then, a few days ago, we found that little bear with no head. NO HEAD! Eli loved it to death, so to speak. Then Eli started showing uncomfortable symptoms, no details necessary I'm sure.
This morning Jedd and I took the beast to the vet for a checkup on the situation. They took him for x-rays. Minutes passed. More minutes passed. Jedd and I paced the small room we were in, waiting. On a shelf was a glass jar containing a heart in whatever that type of specimen is preserved in. Riddled with worms. I kept finding myself sickly drawn back to it, and I really didn't want to be. I resolved to go home and give him his heartworm pill which should have been given on the first of the month.
Looking through the door window I can see across the hall through another window to where the doctor and his assistant are slipping x-rays onto a lightboard hanging from the wall. I can see Eli's x-ray. It doesn't look good.. There is a large black mass that the doctor keeps pointing to. I cracked the door a bit so i could hear what was being said. I heard "heart disease" and my own heart sunk. It shouldn't have been a surprise really, the dog is huge. It must be a burden on his heart carrying all that weight.
We kept waiting and I kept trying to hear more.
Finally, we see two nurses gearing up to heft Eli off the x-ray table two rooms over through open doors and windows. Even with the news we heard, we had to chuckle at the sight of them lifting him down.
He was so happy to see us again. I think he thought we were kenneling him there for a while.
The doctor came in and put the x-rays on our lightbox. There was the black mass and there were the blocked bowels. He raised his authoratative finger up to the mass and starts with the news there. " This black spot seen here is normal and as it should be" What!!! Then he points to a tiny white spot. "This is an unknown." But he's not terribly concerned there either. Basically, he thinks at best Eli is blocked up and needs a good bowel movement. So we've started him on high fiber( expensive) dog food and an antibiotic for infection.
On the way out the door I hand over my credit card and say goodbye to $160.00. I don't even like dogs....in general. I'd never felt the urge to own one. But ours is special in his own smelly, lumbering, loveable way. I'm trying hard not to think of the money but to think of Eli....I'm trying, but I am a sinner after all and its not easy......
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2 comments:
Well, here's the deal: Veterinarian care has improved greatly over the years-just like PEOPLE health care.So now we pet owners are faced with these expensive medical choices for our pets. In the old days the dog would have been taken on the Winke Walk and that would have been the solution(You must ask Richard Townsend what the Winke Walk is:-)
I had my cat on $50 a month medicine 'cuz she had hyperthyroidism. One solution was to irradiate her thyroid to the tune of $1000. At 15 years old I just laughed this off 'cuz I knew she would be dead in no time. NOT SO-she lived two more years(under our expert care) and we ended up spending more on her medication!
BUT, I do feel an all out obligation when I "sign on" to care for these furry creatures so I whip out the check book and smile:-)
"A righteous man cares for the needs of his animals, but even the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel". Proverbs
I rather believe I know what Richard's Winke Walk is...I seem to remember a dog, a decade or so ago in that family, disappearing on a walk....hmmm...or maybe it was a truck ride....
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