Three Trips to the Vet

One of our 4 rescue dogs, Bernadette, likes to launch herself over the rose bushes and through the trees as fast as possible. The branches usually just break away.

Usually. This time, a branch took a chunk out of her side.

Posted before the drama:

Hopefully your weekend is less expensive than mine. We just got home from the vet. All is well, but my wallet hurts. Here's Bernadette after having her temperature taken and being told she has buns of steel. 

After the thermometer thing, Bernadette didn't want to make eye contact.

(Side note: If you're in NM, you can't beat Canyon Crossroads. Their veterinarian, Dr. Janeen Counts, is wonderful! You can tell she loves animals. I joke about the cost, but they're actually quite reasonably priced.)

Posted after the drama:

You know how we went to the vet? Well, we almost went again. We returned home and found a shirt to cover Bernadette's staples so she wouldn't mess with them. She actually seemed to enjoy wearing it and she looked absolutely adorable.

Bernadette, professional model

We took some cute photos of her, I picked up our tiny chihuahua, Phinny, and we resumed our Saturday. All of a sudden, Phinny started SCREAMING. You'd have thought he was being skinned alive. The sound was so intense that it sent his sister, DC Puff, scrambling into the pantry to hide.

It's not nice to frighten your sister.

Unsure how I'd hurt him, I put Phinny down and he bolted out the dog door to the backyard, yelping the entire way. SN went outside but Phinny wouldn't let him near. The poor dog was hysterical.

Phinneas "Phinny" Panda Bear is just a little guy.

Had he dislocated something while I held him?

SN brought him inside, trembling and still squalling at the top of his lungs. Physically, he didn't seem to be injured, but something was clearly wrong. Our little Phinny was in excruciating pain!

Maybe he'd eaten something sharp and it was ripping its way through his insides. I cried thinking about what might be happening. We've had him from before his eyes were open. We're attached to our little Phinny boy. What if this wasn't something that could be fixed? What if the only humane solution was to put him down?

We had just come from the same veterinary room with Bernadette as we'd been in with 20-year-old Biscuit exactly 3 weeks earlier. It had been difficult, but the circumstances and the return home so different.

Biscuit's final photo

I gathered my things, ready to drive back to the vet. Phinny calmed down. The yowling ceased. He was quiet.

Olive entered the room and he was fine. Bernadette poked her head through the door. He was fine. Then she walked inside.

The screaming resumed.

Phinny and DC Puff cram a lot of cowardliness into little packages.

So, it turns out that Phinny is not okay with dogs wearing clothing.

Poor little fellow is in for a rough Christmas

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