Please Read The Introduction First!
Last week ended with Jamie getting a dog. I say “Jamie’s” because she picked the dog out without me. It was the same scenario when we got Harlie. “Miss Daisy” is a very needy dog that was, obviously, abused and an “outdoor” dog. This is gonna be a challenge.
Our dog, Miss Daisy, didn’t have a long life with us. We picked her up late Thursday, right after being spayed (doggy hysterectomy), so she was a bit fuzzy when we got her home. I told Jamie, before Miss Daisy even got in the car, “If we take her home, she is YOUR dog… I’m just along for the ride.” Of course, I said that about our last dog, Harlie, too. That time, my shrink told me it wasn’t advisable for me to get another dog so soon after I had to euthanize Arthur (a previous mutt). Sooo… at any rate, Miss Daisy is undernourished and obviously mistreated. I didn’t know any of this until I saw her behavior and condition on Friday. And, as could be expected, Jamie already had made plans for all day Friday, so Miss Daisy turned into MY dog! I quickly realized that Miss Daisy wasn’t an “indoor” dog. Saturday, Jamie was outside working in the yard/gardens all day. I spent the day mostly on the floor with Miss Daisy, trying to get her to interact. Confession time: I am a sap for any animal, but especially for dogs. If Jay & I are out driving somewhere and we come to a pasture with horses, donkeys, llamas, emus, whatever… we get a chuckle from me getting out of the car and waiting by the fence. Invariably, the animals come over to me from where ever they are. I don’t know if I smell like another animal or what. Jamie just likes to watch these friggin’ cows & whatever come crowding around me. I’ve always been like that. Pheromones??
So, back to Miss Daisy. Come Saturday night, I noticed that Miss Daisy’s breathing isn’t “quite right”; kind of shallow and rapid. Nothing severe, but its there if you look for it. Sunday comes, and now she’s yakking… dry heaves all over the place, uncomfortable, and noticibly labored breathing. Now, I KNOW something is serious. Sunday afternoon, I finally convince Jamie to let me find an emergency vet somewhere. There is one in Mobile, so we help her in the car, and go.
After about 3 hours of tests, X-rays, etc. it looked like Miss Daisy aspirated during her spaying, and it rapidly became pneumonia. Her only chance of survival was a vet hospital in New Oreans. The vet didn’t think she would survive the stress of the drive New Oreans. The only fair & reasonable option for her was euthanasia. What else could we do? We got tearful agreeing that doing anything else would unfairly prolong her suffering (she was falling asleep standing up, because her lung hurt when she tried to lay down) just so we could say we saved her. We stayed with her until her heart stopped from the two injections. After $1400, we road home in an empty car through the worst thunder & rain either of us had ever witnessed. It took us just short of three hours to make a 75 minute drive. Why do I get so quickly attached to, and emotionally involved with, dogs??
It’s been a shitty week.