One thing that I can barely bring myself to blog about is our dog, Bailey. Do you even know that we have a dog? We have so many kids that we even forget that we have a dog sometimes. Bailey is an almost 13 year old chocolate lab. We got her the year after we got married. We were great pet owners back then. We walked her. We bathed her (ourselves! Not even at Petsmart). We spent thousands on vet bills because evidently we didn't get her from the most reliable breeder and she has had a whole host of problems for her entire life. And then kids happened and she fell to the back burner. It makes me feel like the worst pet owner ever.
Despite all of her health issues, she really is the best dog. She doesn't bark. She has never bitten anyone or even snapped at anyone. She is quiet and easygoing and just easy to have around. And thank goodness that is the case because with all of our kids being born so close together there were a few years that she HAD to be easy or I wouldn't have been able to handle it. We used to take her to the lake so she could swim and we would take her to Austin every time we went because she loved a good car ride, but then it just got too difficult. My wonderful parents have become her 2nd family. They let her stay there when we go out of town or they come over here and watch her. And our neighbors have a particular soft spot for her and they also help out if we aren't here.
Bailey started having hip or knee problems a few years back and we thought the worst, but then things seemed to get better. Then she developed major skin allergies and we had to go on SUPER expensive dog food and tried all sorts of medicine. She scratched all the time and developed these growths all over her skin. They would go away and come back pretty consistently. And then she started peeing every where. She would be laying on the couch and get up and there would be a wet spot. And then we would find urine spots on the hardwoods. And then the rugs started smelling like pee. So, we took her to the vet yet again and got some medicine and things started to get better. And then about 9 months later it started happening again.
And then on Christmas Eve we started noticing blood on the floor. We didn't know if she had a bladder infection or if the sores on her skin were oozing. . .we couldn't determine the source. And then it got worse and we knew we had to do something. We called our normal vet that we have seen for almost her whole life. The one that told us we HAD TO be on this high dollar allergy pet food and sells it to us every month. They were booked solid on Christmas Eve. Your dog is bleeding? So sorry. Try somewhere else.
Seriously.
First the idiot thyroid doctor and now this. I just want to kick people in the face sometime. GET SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE AND HAVE A HEART.
So, I called Carley's vet and they were SO nice. They said they would work us in no matter what time we came and they called and got her records from the other vet. They even called back to check on her when we weren't there in 30 minutes.
I made Rob take her because I just couldn't deal with it.
He came home with bad news. Worse than I expected. She was bleeding from her mouth because she has a huge tumor on the back of her tongue. Without biopsying it they cannot know for sure what it is, but he said he feels certain it is cancer. He said she will continue to bleed off and on and that it will probably continue to grow and will eventually affect her ability to eat and breathe. Until then, we just need to make her comfortable and watch her.
That has been a few weeks and she continues to bleed off and on. She also smells horrible. I can't take her to get a bath at the vet (our regular CUSTOMER SERVICE-FREE one) because evidently she needs one vaccination and Rob doesn't want to pay for all of these vaccines if she isn't going to live much longer. The tumor makes her breath smell horrible and they said that will only get worse. She sores all over her also appear worse and it makes her just look awful.
So, it's not like you want to just sit down and cuddle up with her and it is AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL to say that. It makes me so sad to see her like this and to wonder if she is in pain or to wonder if she wonders why no one pays any attention to her. We haven't told the kids how serious her condition is yet because while they know she is sick and old, I think it is just too much for them to handle right now and they will worry so much about what is to come.
I really don't even know where I am going with this post other than to set the stage for what is probably an inevitable post that is soon to come about losing our beloved old dog. I dread it. I hate it. And so I will end on a happier note. Look at the cute puppy that Ally's best friend just got. . . .
Buster, the miniature dachsund
Despite all of her health issues, she really is the best dog. She doesn't bark. She has never bitten anyone or even snapped at anyone. She is quiet and easygoing and just easy to have around. And thank goodness that is the case because with all of our kids being born so close together there were a few years that she HAD to be easy or I wouldn't have been able to handle it. We used to take her to the lake so she could swim and we would take her to Austin every time we went because she loved a good car ride, but then it just got too difficult. My wonderful parents have become her 2nd family. They let her stay there when we go out of town or they come over here and watch her. And our neighbors have a particular soft spot for her and they also help out if we aren't here.
Bailey started having hip or knee problems a few years back and we thought the worst, but then things seemed to get better. Then she developed major skin allergies and we had to go on SUPER expensive dog food and tried all sorts of medicine. She scratched all the time and developed these growths all over her skin. They would go away and come back pretty consistently. And then she started peeing every where. She would be laying on the couch and get up and there would be a wet spot. And then we would find urine spots on the hardwoods. And then the rugs started smelling like pee. So, we took her to the vet yet again and got some medicine and things started to get better. And then about 9 months later it started happening again.
And then on Christmas Eve we started noticing blood on the floor. We didn't know if she had a bladder infection or if the sores on her skin were oozing. . .we couldn't determine the source. And then it got worse and we knew we had to do something. We called our normal vet that we have seen for almost her whole life. The one that told us we HAD TO be on this high dollar allergy pet food and sells it to us every month. They were booked solid on Christmas Eve. Your dog is bleeding? So sorry. Try somewhere else.
Seriously.
First the idiot thyroid doctor and now this. I just want to kick people in the face sometime. GET SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE AND HAVE A HEART.
So, I called Carley's vet and they were SO nice. They said they would work us in no matter what time we came and they called and got her records from the other vet. They even called back to check on her when we weren't there in 30 minutes.
I made Rob take her because I just couldn't deal with it.
He came home with bad news. Worse than I expected. She was bleeding from her mouth because she has a huge tumor on the back of her tongue. Without biopsying it they cannot know for sure what it is, but he said he feels certain it is cancer. He said she will continue to bleed off and on and that it will probably continue to grow and will eventually affect her ability to eat and breathe. Until then, we just need to make her comfortable and watch her.
That has been a few weeks and she continues to bleed off and on. She also smells horrible. I can't take her to get a bath at the vet (our regular CUSTOMER SERVICE-FREE one) because evidently she needs one vaccination and Rob doesn't want to pay for all of these vaccines if she isn't going to live much longer. The tumor makes her breath smell horrible and they said that will only get worse. She sores all over her also appear worse and it makes her just look awful.
So, it's not like you want to just sit down and cuddle up with her and it is AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL to say that. It makes me so sad to see her like this and to wonder if she is in pain or to wonder if she wonders why no one pays any attention to her. We haven't told the kids how serious her condition is yet because while they know she is sick and old, I think it is just too much for them to handle right now and they will worry so much about what is to come.
I really don't even know where I am going with this post other than to set the stage for what is probably an inevitable post that is soon to come about losing our beloved old dog. I dread it. I hate it. And so I will end on a happier note. Look at the cute puppy that Ally's best friend just got. . . .
He's the new neighborhood mascot. I think my kids are almost as excited as Zoey is to play with him after school!
We tried to introduce him to Bailey. She wasn't very interested. She was actually quite scared of that tiny puppy. And no, we are not getting a puppy anytime soon no matter what. For now, we are just going to love our dear ol' Bailey and try to be the pet owners we once were and pray that she has a happy time for however long she has left.
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