I’ve sometimes said that, if I had to live my live over, I’d become a veterinarian: I love animals.
Today, when Charlie and I were about to take the dogs on their morning constitutional, we spotted a baby rabbit on our doorstep. It looked like a mouse, it was so small. We’ve been in Bear Creek for thirty years and I’ve never seen one so small. I picked it up and it fit comfortably in the palm of my hand.
We didn’t know what to do, as it seemed that the little thing was either lost from it’s Mommy, or…ugh!…maybe its mother was taken by a coyote last night. Anyway, the poor little animal was cold and all alone, and we didn’t know what to do.
We ended up taking it to our vet, and got the opinion that it has just been weaned and probably wandered away from the nesting location to start its own life. So, they recommended that we return “Roger” to the area where we found him and let him take his chances.
We put him down in a warm spot under a small blanket near some food that a neighbor had put out and left him there.
An hour later…Roger had waddled off.
Our best wishes go out to the lad. Bear Creek is thick with owls, ravens, hawks, coyotes, bobcats, etc., looking for snacks. He’d better keep his head down.
Back at home, I began another day of tending to our pack of dogs.
It’s become quite a chore lately. Jay Jay is still on a strict regimen of food supplements and eye drops due to his recent double cataract operation. I have to give the set of five eye drops twice a day, with a five-minute break between drops. So, that’s two 25-minute treatments per day.
Then, there’s Booger. Somehow, she found a way to scratch her right eye on something last weekend. We think that Baby might have pawed her and scratched the cornea. Anyway, Booger’s right eye looks horrible, and the vet has her on pain killers (several times per day), and two types of eye drops (four times per day). Again, there must be a 5-minute break between treatments. Ugh!
And, of course, when we had Booger down to the vet, they ran her annual blood and fecal tests, and, wouldn’t you know it, she’s come down with Giardia. That’s the nasty intestinal parasite which plagued poor Baby in her first six months or so.
Giardia is communicable among dogs in a home, because they share the same water bowl. So, the vet says that all three of the dogs must go on the anti-parasite pills, which I must give them twice a day with their meals.
Holy shit! It’s a good thing I’m retired…I’m spending a good part of my day nursing these mutts!
Does anyone need a dog?
Back in the day, when I was a kid, we had a German Shepherd named “Tina”. I can remember when we took her to get spayed, and one time when she got attacked, got a paw ripped, and had to get sewn up. But, in the dozen years that we had her, those are probably the only times that we took her to the vet. She was a dog, for God’s sake.
Nowadays, we see the vet more than we see our own doctor. Those are some pampered pets, I tell ya’. No one can accuse us of animal cruelty.
Our vet bill this year will be $10K.
Like I say, I should have become a vet.