I miss ladies' night
We woke up this morning to angry voice mail messages.
Our dog had escaped from the backyard in the early hours of the morning. She knocked a hole in some rotten wood and found her path to freedom.
That is, until she got about five houses down from us. The neighbor who found her was appalled by Trinity's condition.
Trinity, our 10 year old Australian Shepherd, has severe flea and food allergies. Every summer, particularly if the fleas are bad, she'll chew her backside bald. It usually grows back nice and thick every winter. This summer we turned our lawn into a toxic waste dump by calling the exterminators out every month to treat the yard, and we still find fleas on her once a week when we give her a bath in flea shampoo. Trinity has bad reactions to topical flea treatments; they make her sick. So, this year, we didn't even bother. Instead we relied on flea shampoos and exterminators to try to control the problem. It seemed like a losing and tragic battle.
Needless to say, she looks pretty bad.
The neighbor called us, but I think it was only to be offensive and rude because she couldn't speak a complete sentence without cursing at us. She actually refused to turn our dog back over to us and instead called the police to have Trinity picked up and file charges of criminal animal cruelty against us!
So, we spent the whole day -- THE WHOLE DAY -- talking to officers from Animal Control, the county animal shelter, and a vet to try and get our dog back home.
We keep our dog's shots updated and get her tested when we're supposed to. Aside from her allergy issues, she's a healthy dog with no real problems. Despite having no hair on half her body, she doesn't suffer from mange or any other secondary infections. She's heartworm and worm-free. She's got no underlying systemic failures that might contribute to the way she looks -- no thyroid or kidney problems.
She's just itchy. Real itchy. All the time.
Anyhow, what kicked us in the ass was that we don't keep records of our dog's veterinary care. Until today, I didn't see any reason why I should. We don't have one vet that is her "primary provider." We go where it's cheapest -- the free or reduced cost vaccine clinics, the places that run periodic specials. It never occurred to me to keep my receipts from these places. I hate receipts. Besides toys, they're enemy #1 in household clutter. I throw them out with a vengeance unless Steve's secured them in a file cabinet somewhere. The point is, we were guilty until proven innocent. We didn't have records to prove that we give our animal care, so we had to start establishing records today.
Several hundred dollars and an extensive visit to a vet later, she's home. But we have THE LAW on our tail. The animal control officer is going to follow up with us and make sure we do everything the Vet recommended.
I think most of the Vet's demands are reasonable. She wanted us to have the exterminator out once every two weeks for the next 6 weeks to break the fleas' life cycle, and she prescribed an oral flea treatment that will hopefully keep the fleas off without causing any adverse reactions in Trinity.
But the real kicker is that she also prescribed a very limited diet of soft dog food that's duck and sweet potatoes. It will cost us $8/day to feed our dog -- more than twice what we spend to feed ourselves!
I'm debating what to do about that. I had already decided to start feeding her a BARF diet (Bones and Raw Food) as it's supposed to be the magic cure all for pets with allergies. It would cost me about $1.50/day to feed her that way -- which is roughly what we pay for bagged, dry dog food now. So, should I start Trinity on the BARF diet today, then lie to the Vet? What if they ask for receipts to see whether or not we bought the prescribed dog food? If we can't show the receipts, will they take our dog away? The truth is, we can't afford $8/day to feed our dog. We just can't.
The hundreds we spent today were supposed to pay our water bill, and our gas bill. I have no idea where that money will come from now....
All that's besides the real point -- the one thought that scares me in all this. What if it had been my kid? What if some over-zealous neighbor saw me spank my son and reported me to CPS for child abuse? What if they wanted to see my son's medical records only to discover that -- gasp -- there are none! Samuel has never -- not once -- been to the doctor in his 21 months of life. Isaac, who's 4, has only been twice.
We don't vaccinate them. In some circles, that alone would be considered child abuse and criminal neglect. But, isn't it my right and my duty as a parent to do what I think is best for my children? If I honestly feel that vaccines at this stage in their lives will cause more harm than good, don't I have the right to turn them down without being a criminal?
Anyone who knows our sons knows that we don't neglect them. We've restructured our entire lives just to be home with the boys all day every day and give them all the attention and love they need.
Likewise, anyone who knows Trinity knows that we don't neglect her. She has her own little doggie bed. She gets fed at least 3 cups of dog food a day. And we've done just about everything in our power (short of turning to a BARF diet) to help her conquer her allergies.
I miss Ladies' Night tonight. I would normally be at Kerbey Lane right now, sipping chocolate coffee and downing sweet potato fries and venting. Alas, Steve's in court tonight trying to get a ticket dismissed that he got 4 months or so ago so I'm stuck at home watching a sleeping household.
Our dog had escaped from the backyard in the early hours of the morning. She knocked a hole in some rotten wood and found her path to freedom.
That is, until she got about five houses down from us. The neighbor who found her was appalled by Trinity's condition.
Trinity, our 10 year old Australian Shepherd, has severe flea and food allergies. Every summer, particularly if the fleas are bad, she'll chew her backside bald. It usually grows back nice and thick every winter. This summer we turned our lawn into a toxic waste dump by calling the exterminators out every month to treat the yard, and we still find fleas on her once a week when we give her a bath in flea shampoo. Trinity has bad reactions to topical flea treatments; they make her sick. So, this year, we didn't even bother. Instead we relied on flea shampoos and exterminators to try to control the problem. It seemed like a losing and tragic battle.
Needless to say, she looks pretty bad.
The neighbor called us, but I think it was only to be offensive and rude because she couldn't speak a complete sentence without cursing at us. She actually refused to turn our dog back over to us and instead called the police to have Trinity picked up and file charges of criminal animal cruelty against us!
So, we spent the whole day -- THE WHOLE DAY -- talking to officers from Animal Control, the county animal shelter, and a vet to try and get our dog back home.
We keep our dog's shots updated and get her tested when we're supposed to. Aside from her allergy issues, she's a healthy dog with no real problems. Despite having no hair on half her body, she doesn't suffer from mange or any other secondary infections. She's heartworm and worm-free. She's got no underlying systemic failures that might contribute to the way she looks -- no thyroid or kidney problems.
She's just itchy. Real itchy. All the time.
Anyhow, what kicked us in the ass was that we don't keep records of our dog's veterinary care. Until today, I didn't see any reason why I should. We don't have one vet that is her "primary provider." We go where it's cheapest -- the free or reduced cost vaccine clinics, the places that run periodic specials. It never occurred to me to keep my receipts from these places. I hate receipts. Besides toys, they're enemy #1 in household clutter. I throw them out with a vengeance unless Steve's secured them in a file cabinet somewhere. The point is, we were guilty until proven innocent. We didn't have records to prove that we give our animal care, so we had to start establishing records today.
Several hundred dollars and an extensive visit to a vet later, she's home. But we have THE LAW on our tail. The animal control officer is going to follow up with us and make sure we do everything the Vet recommended.
I think most of the Vet's demands are reasonable. She wanted us to have the exterminator out once every two weeks for the next 6 weeks to break the fleas' life cycle, and she prescribed an oral flea treatment that will hopefully keep the fleas off without causing any adverse reactions in Trinity.
But the real kicker is that she also prescribed a very limited diet of soft dog food that's duck and sweet potatoes. It will cost us $8/day to feed our dog -- more than twice what we spend to feed ourselves!
I'm debating what to do about that. I had already decided to start feeding her a BARF diet (Bones and Raw Food) as it's supposed to be the magic cure all for pets with allergies. It would cost me about $1.50/day to feed her that way -- which is roughly what we pay for bagged, dry dog food now. So, should I start Trinity on the BARF diet today, then lie to the Vet? What if they ask for receipts to see whether or not we bought the prescribed dog food? If we can't show the receipts, will they take our dog away? The truth is, we can't afford $8/day to feed our dog. We just can't.
The hundreds we spent today were supposed to pay our water bill, and our gas bill. I have no idea where that money will come from now....
All that's besides the real point -- the one thought that scares me in all this. What if it had been my kid? What if some over-zealous neighbor saw me spank my son and reported me to CPS for child abuse? What if they wanted to see my son's medical records only to discover that -- gasp -- there are none! Samuel has never -- not once -- been to the doctor in his 21 months of life. Isaac, who's 4, has only been twice.
We don't vaccinate them. In some circles, that alone would be considered child abuse and criminal neglect. But, isn't it my right and my duty as a parent to do what I think is best for my children? If I honestly feel that vaccines at this stage in their lives will cause more harm than good, don't I have the right to turn them down without being a criminal?
Anyone who knows our sons knows that we don't neglect them. We've restructured our entire lives just to be home with the boys all day every day and give them all the attention and love they need.
Likewise, anyone who knows Trinity knows that we don't neglect her. She has her own little doggie bed. She gets fed at least 3 cups of dog food a day. And we've done just about everything in our power (short of turning to a BARF diet) to help her conquer her allergies.
I miss Ladies' Night tonight. I would normally be at Kerbey Lane right now, sipping chocolate coffee and downing sweet potato fries and venting. Alas, Steve's in court tonight trying to get a ticket dismissed that he got 4 months or so ago so I'm stuck at home watching a sleeping household.