Thursday, June 16, 2005

Personal Hygiene Issues

Last night the horrible deed was finally carried out. Mom has been threatening it for weeks. We were forced to endure “The Dreaded Nail Trim”. Only some of us were imposed upon though. One of us managed to escape and I’ll explain that later. First, mom and dad ganged up on me…their poor little orphan. Daddy held on firmly while mom clipped away. I yelped and squirmed with all my might. I WAS FURIOUS. It was of no use; Daddy’s very strong. Afterwards, I was given the obligatory treat, which I busied myself with in an effort to blot out the horrendous incident.

Chance mistakenly thought mom wanted to shake his paw. He loves to give mom paw. She took it in her hand and whipped out the shiny chrome clipper from behind her back. He didn’t realize what was happening at first (he’s a little slow). When he did realize what was happening, he tried to run off, but mom was smart. She brought out treats for Round II. Chance is a sucker for treats. For each nail, he got a piece of a treat. I only got one treat for ALL my nails. How unfair is that?

Spenser let mom clip one nail and he was outta there! He wouldn’t even come to her with the lure of a treat. Spenser has a lot of willpower. Chance and I, not so much. We're treat junkies. Mom lost that battle with Spenser, but I know she'll get him sooner or later.

Friday, June 10, 2005

News Flash

This morning I overheard several key words between my human parents to cause me great alarm. I gathered that Spenser gets to go to work with mommy at the animal emergency clinic tonight – alone. A grave injustice is about to take place. In all fairness though, Spenser has some sort of growth on his rib cage that gives him the special privilege of a one-on-one with one of the docs. I wish Spenser well and all, but I’m feeling very anxious about the entire situation. Chance is so co-dependant, he is going to flip out when mom puts Spenser in the car and drives away. I will be stuck in my crate forced to endure Chance’s incessant whining until daddy gets home.

In other news, Callie came over to play on Wednesday. It took me a good 30 minutes to warm up to her. Once I did, we played and chased each other around the house for a long time. When she left, I was exhausted. Too pooped to do anything but curl up in mom’s arms and drift into peaceful a sleep. That felt really good.

Friday, June 3, 2005

Adventures in the ER

Yesterday, after discussing with daddy what to do with me for the evening, mom turned to me and said, "Daddy’s working late tonight…wanna go for a RIDE?" Well, my vocabulary is proficient enough to know what RIDE means. Plus, she hangs on the word RIDE for emphasis. As soon as the word came out of her mouth, I jumped off her lap, twirled around, and wagged my tail fast and furious. That is my way of saying "Yes Ma’am!"

I did not realize she was taking me to the animal ER though. The action I observed there may have scarred me for life. As soon as we got there, it was hit the deck and run mode. Mom hurriedly put down a blanket for me in a cage where I faced all the action; then she shut the door and started running.

The first thing I saw was a Mastiff named Lexie who had been in labor over 24 hours. Prior to her arrival she delivered 6 puppies at home, but still had 3 puppies in her tummy. Lexie is the biggest creature I have ever seen. Several nurses lifted her up on the table and put a mask over her face. It took 4 people to hold her down, but soon she was out cold. Dr. P. then did the unthinkable: she took a sharp blade and cut Lexie’s stomach open. One puppy was quickly lifted out and it was not breathing. They worked and worked to try to breathe life into the pup, but it was too late. Pups 2 and 3 came out healthy with no problems, except they whined a lot and couldn’t open their eyes.

The next thing to come in was a hit by car dog. He was pretty banged up and rushed to the room where they take pictures (which, by the way, look nothing like the pictures mom takes of us). Next, a tiny kitten arrived who had been attacked by a dog from her own family! She also went to the room where they take pictures. Before I knew it, two neurotic-looking Cocker Spaniels strolled in. Their parents handed my mom a chewed up CD in a plastic bag. They also were sent to the picture room. When Dr. F. looked at their pictures, she determined they needed to vomit. Each Cocker received a shot in the derriere, which they both intensely objected to. Soon thereafter, one of the Cockers threw up a lot of CD pieces and the other one vomited up a bunch of paper.

Other cases I saw were: a ripped off nail, diarrhea with blood, kennel cough, dehydration, diabetes, another hit by car dog, a “dead on arrival” dog, a candle that fell on a cat’s leg (more pictures), and 2 euthanasias.

My daddy finally came to pick me up about 9PM. I was never so happy to see my daddy. What a night! I don’t know how mom deals with that place twice a week. Perhaps that is why she's always so happy to see me when she comes home.