Gone home

Well, Georgie went home for good at around 10:15 this morning. I took him to the vet and she said that she could try to treat the inflammation in his throat, but she'd have to sedate him and that alone was risky. So I said goodbye to him, told him he'd be with his Grammy McMillan again very soon and that she'd be so happy to see him. I couldn't bear to watch him euthanized so Dr. Betsy took him to a back room. About 5 minutes later, she came back and said that when she was done, she put a scope down his throat and saw a large mass growing in his trachea. She might have been able to remove it, but again, that would have been risky.

So I brought him home in a shipping carton and Mr. P. is now burying him in our pet cemetery and near his Grammy McMillan's grave.

I was so glad that Dr. Betsy was the vet on call because she is so kind. When we had to have one of our cats euthanized, Dr. Davis asked me why I was crying.

Here's a photo of Georgie in his youth.

 

Goodbye, little man.

Skooching

This photo shows my little old man Georgie sunning himself on the deck a few days ago. I wish I could show this to Mom because his backside is doing what she used to call "skooching."

I'm not sure why Georgie wasn't eating the turd in the upper left hand corner of the picture.

Little old man

Georgie is senior dog here in more ways than one. He's 13 years old and has been with us the longest. His vision and hearing aren't great, and he's lost a lot of the time. During the night he started wheezing very heavily, and I'm worried about lung problems or congestive heart failure. He's in his cage and I can hear him wheezing all over the house. I don't know what to do. Place an emergency call to the animal hospital? Wait until tomorrow (Monday) morning? I can't bear for him to suffer. I can't bear the thought of losing my little old man.

Small but mighty

My friend Tanya's little kitty Fiona is spending the weekend avoiding the dogs at her house, including some guests who are Labradoodles. She has found the perfect spot to monitor and taunt them: the little door to the basement (where her kitty litter box is located).

Fi is small but mighty, and a thousand times smarter than any dog.

Crunchalicious

My friend Tanya has been a bit worried about one of her dogs. Katie has been very subdued since starting Prozac to treat OCD. I'm not sure that first sentence is clear enough, so I need to emphasize that it's Katie, not Tanya, who's taking Prozac. Katie is an obsessive water drinker, but otherwise a wonderful, lovable girl.

Except when she does stuff like this:

 

Tanya said she's acting more like her old self again. I told her to be careful what she wishes for.

 

Home delivery

Yesterday afternoon I did some errands in town. When I got home I discovered that UPS had made a delivery. We never know where the driver is going to leave a package. Sometimes on the front porch. Sometimes on the cement apron in front of the garage. Sometimes behind the driver's seat of Mr. P's truck. This photo shows where I found it. Mr. P. thinks that the UPS driver encountered Ginger at the garage door and decided he better not mess with a big ol' pitbull. He doesn’t realize that the biggest threat that Ginger poses is sharing her ticks!

"I'll be happy to sign for that package, Sir!"

Caught in the act

My trip to and from the Northeast was wonderful, and I was never dogless for long. For some reason, all of my friends and family are animal lovers. I wonder how that happened.

Yesterday, however, I received notice from authorities in New Hampshire that I'm being charged with contributing to the nutritional delinquency of a dog. They have photographic evidence of the crime:

In my defense, I will mention the following facts:

1. At home, I never feed dogs people food unless it's something that falls on the kitchen floor and they get to it before I do.

2. But I admit that I lost my head while in someone else's house in NH, possibly because I'd had a few sips of wine.

3. Please be aware that my act was intended as therapeutic because Chelsea, my so-called victim, was moping and clearly in need of some TLC.

4. And finally, my so-called victim is a mistress of manipulation.