Dana is back, and she is doing well. We just got her back from the vet about a pound lighter and slightly less female.
For those of you not completely up to date with the saga of our dog Dana, let me explain. When we first got her, little Dana seemed like the most mellow creature we had ever met. She would snuggle up to us on the couch, and she would idly sit and beg for attention.
One of the first things I noticed about her, were her abnormally large nipples.
Jen just thought I was a pervert, but it seemed odd to me that a puppy less than a year old should look like she had already given birth to a whole litter.
When we took her to the vet I brought up the subject. It turns out she was not a mother, but a mother-to-be.
The dilemma we were faced with was what to do with the pregnancy. Dana was not in the best health, being several pounds underweight. She was stricken with kennel cough. She was still a puppy herself. We could let her have the puppies, and in the process compromise her health to bring eight more potentially unadoptable dogs into the world, or we could terminate the pregnancy by having her spayed.
It was an agonizing decision.
It is one thing to be pro-choice, and another thing entirely to make the determination for somebody else.
The decision was made all the more difficult because we had no idea how far along she was in the pregnancy. I did not feel comfortable doing a late term abortion in this case.
We made the decision to perform the operation.
A teary-eyed Jenny took our little fuzzy girl into the vet Tuesday morning to go under the knife. We got word later that day the operation was a success, and Dana was awake and healthy.
When all is said and done, our $10 dog cost us $800 out the door.
At least she is healthy.
4 comments:
Another interesting point brought up by this whole experience was the issue of pain medication. I have known for a while that pain medication for a dog is optional, but my question is why? Some people go as far to say that they don't experience pain or at least not to the severity that we do. I think these people should have heard Dana yelp when she jumped off the bed today. Also, when we went to the vet we had the option of getting blood work done before the surgery. Of course I told the vet to go all out and do whatever needs to be done. I had a co-worker who had a sick cat and choose to not do blood work. The vet proceeded to treat the cat by giving her a glycerin drip. Because no blood work was done the vet did not know the cat was diabetic and the cat died. Some people say that I spoil my dogs but I see them not as animals but as family. We are the ones with the higher brain function maybe we should use it from time to time.
--Jen
I totally support your comments, Jen. [In fact I remember when it was considered "weak' for even Humans to take pain meds.] People just don't always *get* that animals feel pain, emotions, and are dependent on their people. We have the stewardship for their well being, and as such, must consider their feelings.
I'm glad my granddoggie is fine. I can't wait to see her and hug her!
yeah, she's apparently a little stoned from the pain meds - Dana, not Jen - but she seems to be in good health. You can definitely see how skinny she is now that she is short three iternal organs. We need to try and fatten her up a bit.
Betsy suggests that we need to make medical ethics courses mandatory for all pet owners. I agree but would further declare that all pets should be spayed/neutered unless there is some compelling (!) reason not to do so. I hope that Dana is doing much better and that her mommy and daddy feel assured that they have done the best thing in taking care of her.
-Elisia
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