dooley update

I know, y'all couldn't sleep last night wondering how poor Dooley is doing! I'm happy to report that the little bugger is doing great! We removed the little tumor on his neck last night, and Caroline tells me she is sure it's benign. We'll do a biopsy to be sure, but things look very good.

It was a rather funny event for me. Caroline gave him a local, which, for him, was more like a heavy sedative. There he was standing on the surgical table wagging his tail and looking like the king of the world, and the next thing you know he stretched out his paws and slid into the "recline" position, and rolled over on his side. Down for the count! He also drooled during this, which wasn't particularly pleasant, but that was a temporary affliction. Caroline got the tumor excised (it was a protruding growth) and stitched Dooley up, and then we took him into the other room to have his nails clipped (this was a courtesy to one of the staff, who had already swept the floor in that surgical suite). Still groggy from the anesthesia, he looked like he was in a bit of a drunken stupor, complete with extended tongue. I've included a pic for your amusement.

It was a bit of a fun night at the clinic: a rabbit who has taken to peeing into her fur (you don't want to hear more, LOL), a cat with fatty liver disease who gets fed through a tube, a boarder whose owner insists that he wear a sweater to bed at night...

When Caroline was done we headed for a quick dinner before she had to pick up her step-daughter, who was returning from a ski trip. As I locked the car to head into the restaurant a woman getting into her car next to mine called to me.

"Are you leaving your dog in the car?" she asked, "he'll freeze!"

Ah, someone who at least pays attention to all those reports in the summer about pets left in the car and getting "cooked." How sweet, she feared for my dog!

"He'll be fine," I told her. "He has a blanket, and he'll be fine." Not to mention that dogs live outdoors in this kind of weather (30's) all the time. Not to mention that Dooley doesn't necessarily stay still. He likes to leap into the back and paw through things to make sure there aren't any buried treasures. Next he would check out the accommodations offered by the back seat. He would then head to the front once again where he could nest in his blanket or indulge in fantasies of being behind the wheel. No slouch, my dog.

The woman wouldn't give up. "He'll freeze!!" she insisted, and gave me a look as though to try to freeze me. I could see it all over her face, I was being a bad mother.

"I'm with my veterinarian (my trump card). He'll be fine." I appreciate that her intentions were good, but what was with her? She was near to obsessing about the welfare of my dog. Who, by the way, was just fine when we were reunitd less than an hour later, and wanted to know what treats I had brought for him!

It is all about him, after all...