National Black Dog Day

Yesterday was National Black Dog Day which is a day aimed at bringing awareness of the plight of black dogs waiting for adoption who are often overlooked in favor of their lighter counterparts. Black dogs are less likely to be adopted for no other reason than their coloring - Regardless of behavior, size, breeding, personality, or age, the phenomenon persists. It's sad, I think. 

At our house, we only have one black-dog. Who happens to also be the only girl, and that of course, is Sophie. 

I've been going to write a post about Sophie this week. You may recall that Sophie and her counterpart Tiggy the Siamese cat, came to us last September from our groomer after the son of their owner took them to the vet to euthanize them both when their owner, who is in her 90's had to go to an assisted living facility. The son, I'm told, wanted nothing to do with either of them. 

With 3 of our dogs having respiratory infections (kennel cough) my vet put them on an antibiotic, and Leo, Charlie both got better pretty quickly. Sophie however, who has laryngeal paralysis (a condition that involves loss of normal function of the larynx that causes coughing and loud rasping breathing) seemed to have been hit a bit harder. Her coughing was really getting to be an issue, and because of her "pre-existing condition" I worried about her kennel cough turning into pneumonia. 

So, with Sophie's health history, instead of taking her to my vet, I decided to call her previous vet instead. I'm glad I did. Dr. S called the night before her appointment and we chatted about Sophie. He has seen Sophie her entire life. He knows exactly how old she is, 13 years 8 months, Dr. S knows everything about her, including the details about her cancer treatment, a softball size malignant thyroid tumor that was successfully treated with radiation in June of 2018, and that the prognosis was that it could extend her life by 1 year. So, Sophie is a 2+ year cancer survivor!  

And Dr. S who of course knows Sophie's original owner, told me that "she loved Sophie to the ends of God's green earth, and there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for her."  Hearing how much Sophie was loved, touched my heart, and I know that they were not just words, but how *J* really felt/feels about her. **And we'll see if those feelings remain because Dr. S told me he was sending the bill (almost $500) for Sophie's treatment to the son to pay. Of course I said I would pay the bill because we consider Sophie our dog, but Dr. S insisted. 

Dr. S took great care of Sophie. He did x-rays, an ultra sound, blood work, and a very thorough exam. 

I like Dr. S very much. He's a vet that I knew only by his reputation as a longtime vet in our area, that is kind and well known for providing good care to his patients. Now that I've met him, I have to agree with that. 

For the most part, Sophie is healthy. There are a few concerns like a nodule on her spleen, and of course there are the remains of the tumor on her throat. Dr. S gave me another antibiotic for her cough, that knock, knock, knock on wood, a week later seems to have helped. 

Shortly after her dinner last Saturday, Sophie did start coughing and choking and she collapsed - I got her to her feet, and cleared her throat to make sure she had an open airway, and thankfully she's been fine since then.  ...whew..... I am really hoping that Sophie, our single black dog, on the day after National Black Dog Day, will be fine for many days ahead.