When Did I Start Loving My Dog's...more than I do myself?
I somehow managed to 'pull my back out' several weeks ago. I suppose it happened while I was cleaning out the bottom cabinets in the kitchen...you do realize boredom will make you do strange things...such as cleaning pots and pans and sprucing up the graveyard where old appliances go to die...(mixer that you haven't used in 25 years...coffee bean grinder that you've never used...some contraption that dries fruit?) Anyway, everything was pulled, cleaned, and either tossed into the 'yard sale' bin, or put back into the cabinets in a neat, orderly fashion. I think my leaning over, (we have DEEP cabinets...this is an old house) and placing new cork shelf liners throughout, probably was the culprit of the aforementioned backache. It's been three weeks and I simply refuse to go to the Doctor. Ibuprofen will suffice. I'm not a baby, nor a whiner. It will heal...in time...and yet it still presents me with a constant pain I can't seem to get over. I live with it...I deal with it. It's just a racking, painful, unbelievable throbbing, ache but again...I'll get over it. However, when one of my babies feel ill...I'm at the vet in warp speed time!
About five weeks ago I took the little ones in for their routine grooming. (Don had been managing this chore before my job loss. Since my job was located 35 miles away...it was easier for him to handle this versus me driving seventy miles. Plus...he paid for the grooming. It didn't come out of my account!). I hadn't taken the boys to the groomer in over two years...but when I walked in...let me tell you...I was so shocked I couldn't move. I love the groomer, we had been taking our animals to her for over 15 years...but something must've happened to her business ethics because it was simply appalling to see how nasty her building had become. Against my better judgment I left the boys with her. When I went back, four hours later, the boys were beautiful...clean, trimmed, absolutely perfect. But it wasn't three days later when I noticed them scratching...and chewing...and more scratching. Yes...these babies of mine...who NEVER set foot outside...were covered in...FLEAS!!!
A trip to PetSmart, ($129.87 for flea medicine, spray, powder, Frontline, and a few treats...I mean come on...seriously) was instant. That seemed to work for about 72 hours...then there was more scratching...and biting...and rubbing themselves all over everything!!! Ok, so I reasearched this on line and found out that you have to wash everything they've came in contact with in hot, hot, water. I did that. Sheets, towels, their brushes, etc. Done! Flea spray all over the house...'spray everything down' was the advice. Ok. Done! Frontline on the dogs (I don't call my babies 'dogs' but they were already on Frontline) and then spread the flea powder over your carpet and make sure it sits in your vacuum so the fleas will be killed in that appliance, too. Done! Still scratching from Sam (Big...not so much). Took them to another groomer two weeks ago...her place looked like she could have performed an organ transplant in there...it was so sanitary it made me run back home and clean out a few more kitchen cabinets...from embarassment! Two days later...Sam was still scratching and biting and trying to rub his skin off underneath the bed, or ottoman, or anything he could find that was the right size so he could 'scratch.' Bought some cortizone cream...that helped for a couple of hours, bathed both Sam and Big in Dawn dishwashing liquid (some blogger said this was the trick). It did relieve Big...permanently...but not so much Sam. Finally, after seeing my little one in so much pain I took Sam to the vet this morning.
I told the Vet about the 'flea' incident...it was like a Mother having to admit her children had head lice...I was so ashamed I wanted to crawl underneath the examining table! Vet said, "let's see how bad he's infected." My head reeled with those words...infected...with fleas...head lice...impantigo...I'm STILL a bad Mother! He sprayed Sam with some mist of 'who knows what' and wrapped him in a white towel. "Hold him until I get his rabie's shot ready...if he has flea's they will fall off onto the towel and we can see how badly infected he is," he instructed. I waited...and waited...making certain Sam didn't move from underneath that white towel. When the Dr. came back in...and pulled the towel away...guess what? NO FLEAS!!!!!!!!! None, nada, nothing! Now, it isn't actually nothing...Sam has diabetes and it seems that his injuries do not heal as well as most animals. When he first got a few fleas on him, and after he chewed himself (poor baby) his skin got infected and he got a slight staph infection. That slight staph infection kept growing...however, after $320...five shots, and four different medicines...he will be fine. And all of this happened over the past week and a half.
Five hundred dollars spent on an 8 year old 'dog'...priceless. My back...painful...but for some reason I know I'll be okay. I'm never that certain about my 'boys.' That's why I'm on a first name basis with my vet, ....and that's why when I go see my personal Doctor the receptionist always tells me..."you haven't been in to see us in a year...you're going to need to fill out these forms...."
Yeah...I do care about my babies more than I do about myself. Is that not what a Mother's supposed to do?
About five weeks ago I took the little ones in for their routine grooming. (Don had been managing this chore before my job loss. Since my job was located 35 miles away...it was easier for him to handle this versus me driving seventy miles. Plus...he paid for the grooming. It didn't come out of my account!). I hadn't taken the boys to the groomer in over two years...but when I walked in...let me tell you...I was so shocked I couldn't move. I love the groomer, we had been taking our animals to her for over 15 years...but something must've happened to her business ethics because it was simply appalling to see how nasty her building had become. Against my better judgment I left the boys with her. When I went back, four hours later, the boys were beautiful...clean, trimmed, absolutely perfect. But it wasn't three days later when I noticed them scratching...and chewing...and more scratching. Yes...these babies of mine...who NEVER set foot outside...were covered in...FLEAS!!!
A trip to PetSmart, ($129.87 for flea medicine, spray, powder, Frontline, and a few treats...I mean come on...seriously) was instant. That seemed to work for about 72 hours...then there was more scratching...and biting...and rubbing themselves all over everything!!! Ok, so I reasearched this on line and found out that you have to wash everything they've came in contact with in hot, hot, water. I did that. Sheets, towels, their brushes, etc. Done! Flea spray all over the house...'spray everything down' was the advice. Ok. Done! Frontline on the dogs (I don't call my babies 'dogs' but they were already on Frontline) and then spread the flea powder over your carpet and make sure it sits in your vacuum so the fleas will be killed in that appliance, too. Done! Still scratching from Sam (Big...not so much). Took them to another groomer two weeks ago...her place looked like she could have performed an organ transplant in there...it was so sanitary it made me run back home and clean out a few more kitchen cabinets...from embarassment! Two days later...Sam was still scratching and biting and trying to rub his skin off underneath the bed, or ottoman, or anything he could find that was the right size so he could 'scratch.' Bought some cortizone cream...that helped for a couple of hours, bathed both Sam and Big in Dawn dishwashing liquid (some blogger said this was the trick). It did relieve Big...permanently...but not so much Sam. Finally, after seeing my little one in so much pain I took Sam to the vet this morning.
I told the Vet about the 'flea' incident...it was like a Mother having to admit her children had head lice...I was so ashamed I wanted to crawl underneath the examining table! Vet said, "let's see how bad he's infected." My head reeled with those words...infected...with fleas...head lice...impantigo...I'm STILL a bad Mother! He sprayed Sam with some mist of 'who knows what' and wrapped him in a white towel. "Hold him until I get his rabie's shot ready...if he has flea's they will fall off onto the towel and we can see how badly infected he is," he instructed. I waited...and waited...making certain Sam didn't move from underneath that white towel. When the Dr. came back in...and pulled the towel away...guess what? NO FLEAS!!!!!!!!! None, nada, nothing! Now, it isn't actually nothing...Sam has diabetes and it seems that his injuries do not heal as well as most animals. When he first got a few fleas on him, and after he chewed himself (poor baby) his skin got infected and he got a slight staph infection. That slight staph infection kept growing...however, after $320...five shots, and four different medicines...he will be fine. And all of this happened over the past week and a half.
Five hundred dollars spent on an 8 year old 'dog'...priceless. My back...painful...but for some reason I know I'll be okay. I'm never that certain about my 'boys.' That's why I'm on a first name basis with my vet, ....and that's why when I go see my personal Doctor the receptionist always tells me..."you haven't been in to see us in a year...you're going to need to fill out these forms...."
Yeah...I do care about my babies more than I do about myself. Is that not what a Mother's supposed to do?
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