Saturday, December 10, 2016

My Babies

Jake, a Gravy Bone, and a dead toy

The growth on Monday, December 5th

Yesterday. He is washing the area on his leg that was shaved for the IV

Asleep on my legs, on my bed

Gracie, ever the concerned, caring nurse. Uh huh
Both of my dogs wear Seresta collars from the vet for flea and tick control. The collars work. I have not ever had a flea problem in this house, nor found fleas on the dogs. I have, however, found dead ticks. All of the tick protection does one thing: kills the tick should it attach to the dog. To prevent the transmission of Lyme's disease from a tick attaching, I also have them get an annual vaccination for Lyme's disease. I should have been a vet.

About 6 weeks ago, maybe less, I noticed what looked like a dead tick on Jake's lower lip. It wasn't. It was a growth, so off to the vet we went the next day. He explained that it was a viral infection, like a wart, that could do one of a few different things: it could grow bigger and bust open. It could grow bigger, then recede on it's own, but the base would always be there. It was unlikely it would fall off by itself.

I am a nervous dog mom. They can't talk, you don't know if they are in pain unless they are really IN PAIN, and growths in general bother me. And this thing just kept growing. This past week I had decided it needed to come off, and was going to call the vet for a surgery appointment. On Tuesday the dogs went to the Playground, and on the way out, the growth broke open. Blood everywhere. Poor Jake. The girls pressed a baby wipe up to the wound and applied pressure, and the bleeding stopped. When we arrived at home, I finally got a good look at it. Yeah, gaping wound with a flap of skin. I scheduled his surgery for Thursday.

Here's the thing: Jake is a master manipulator. He knows how to milk an injury, get my sympathy, and wrap me around his paw like no other dog I have owned. Now he has a bald spot on one leg from the IV location. He was shaved under his chin and has 2 sutures closing the wound that have to remain in for 10 days. And the vet recommends that we not visit the dog park or the Playground until the sutures come out. Try explaining all of this to Gracie. I have already decided, for the sake of my own sanity, that Gracie is going to the Playground by herself. Jake and I will stay home and do paw massages.

This is what I am reduced to. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Linda

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