A Dog Day

I'm getting behind, and I'd hoped to have a day to get caught up on things around the house and with my blog reading too. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen. At least not today.

Hamlet (pictured) has a vet appointment this morning. Unfortunately the huge lipoma that he had removed in April has returned. I'd hoped that it wouldn't and if it did, perhaps it wouldn't be as big. While it's not as big as it was, it is growing and with the tightness of the skin, it's bothering him. I don't want to put him through another surgery, so I'm going to discuss with my vet about Hamlet seeing a holistic vet. There's one in this practice that uses Chinese herbs. I've used them in the past and one in particular shrunk the tumor of a senior boy that I had at the time. We'll see. Tanner is also coming along for a check up as well. He's had a good week and no "senior moments" that I noticed.

Finally, I received a bit of a frantic phone call yesterday from the rescue. There is an 88 year old widowed lady named Doris that fell and broke her hip. She adopted a dog from the rescue in 2001 and is now unable to care for him. She has been in the hospital for 2 weeks and is now going to be moved to a senior care facility that doesn't allow pets. He has been left in her house alone, and of course she has missed him terribly and is very worried about him; so much so that she's been calling her home several times a day and leaving messages on the answering machine so he could hear her voice. (Someone has been coming to her home twice a day to let the dog out). No one in the family wants the dog and they all feel that he should be put down, but Doris doesn't want to do that. Doris and her vet think that he may have some quality of life left. Can you finish this story? Yes, we (or should I say "I") agreed to take him. I am going to be picking "Sam" up today after our vet appointments. There is no question and even I will admit that we are truly (!!) bursting apart at the seams, but I always have room for another...I called Doris and spoke with her. To say that she's heartbroken about giving up her precious Sam is an understatement. By the way, did I mention that her treasured Golden is 15 years old? The life expectancy of a Golden Retriever is 12-14 years. I know we won't have him for long. But this is so sad for Sam and Doris to lose one another at a time when they need each other most.