Friday, May 07, 2010

Boots, Wonder Dog, Better!

Well, now I can die and know that I might not have to go to hell. For about a year and a half I have been thinking that's where I belong. That's because Boots, the Blind Wonderdog who's not really blind but has sort of inverted eyelids that leave his eyes red all the time--though they don't apparently hurt him and the cornea's are not harmed--has had something wrong with his ears since about this time last year. Not just a little something. Something that made him shake his head pretty wildly about a kazillion times a day. He could still play and run and all that jazz, but that ear thing would get going and he's wince and whine and rub his ears along the hard brush bushes in front of the house to try to clear it.
He wouldn't let us near him to see what was wrong. At least he wouldn't let me look. Italo and Sarah had a little better luck last summer and tried to get those ears clean--they were filled with a pretty nasty ick. I thought it was some sort of worms or ticks or flea infestation.
The hell part for me is because I didn't take him to the vet. The cash flow has been pretty tight and I figured, based on his last two vet visits, that it would run maybe $400 and, well, every time I had an extra $400 lying around I had to fix a car or pay an electric bill.
Excellently, the problem was reduced by 90 percent this winter and he was his old self with little whining and scratching at those ears.
But in the last month bang! it's been back with a vengeance. So he went on the list of things to do.
And then last week, I decided, the heck with it, I'll just credit card the vet. I was feeling too badly about how badly he felt. That's no way to treat a dog.
So me and Italo spent an hour trying to round him up yesterday--he initially came when I called him, took one look at me, smelled something not right and ran behind and under the house. How did he know I was gonna take him to the vet? Beats me, but he knew something was up. Italo eventually got him and off we went.
Boots was shaking like a leaf in the car. I don't know why but he's never liked riding in cars or pick up trucks. Maybe because one of them hit him and broke his hips a few years ago--another time I didn't bring him to the vet, just nursed him at home for a couple of months after I set them (one of my very lucky days).
Anyway, we get him to the vet, she puts him out, gets down on the floor, sticks her face into his ears and says "Yeast. But these aren't bad at all compared to some dog's ears."
"What does 'yeast' mean?"
"Just what it says. He gets it on his paws, scratches his ears, it transfers and then grows inside. It bothers the heck out of a dog. Almost makes them crazy. We have to flush it out and then you'll have to keep an eye on it. "
She flushed them out in five, ten minutes. got them dried, packed them with a medicated vaseline to help heal some of the scratching he'd done inside them, and that was it. Hundred and sixty five bucks.
And now Boots is better, at least for a couple of weeks. But she says he probably won't mind when we flush again.
And that was it. I let that poor guy suffer for a freaking year over $165. I deserve hell for that.
Still, I'm glad he's not hurting.

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