Part of the Family ... or "just a dog"

Today was a heart wrenching day for me, I'm still snivelling!

My Calais girl went in for an x-ray at the vets today. She's been limping quite badly for the past six weeks - some days worse than others. I've had her at the vets twice and they havent found any real reason for it ... "maybe shes sprained or pulled a muscle". To find out what was really wrong we had to take her in for x-ray. So today was the day. Of course, as I imagine all "mums" do ... they think of the worst outcomes.

I get so traumatised when things go wrong with my dogs.

The drama and trauma started with just making the appointment for her to go in for the xray. Then when we had to leave Jack at home this morning, he started freaking out, running around looking for her, crying ... ever heard a dog cry before? ... its just horrible! HORRIBLE! and when I rang the neighbour to let them know what was going on, they were trying to get hold of me because they were worried about what was going on too ... drama drama drama. Jack was crying, I was crying and the neighbour sounds like she was on the verge of tears too!

When we got to the vets and we "checked her in" like any kind of op (human or animal) you have to fill out a questionnaire or answer questions and then sign your consent - it was about then that I cracked up a bit and had to let Craig take her down to her holding pen, cos I couldnt face putting her into a pen and then face her gorgeous big brown questioning eyes looking at me and wondering what the hell was going on!

Thankfully I was in a training session all day at work today so I really didnt have time to think about her. If I had been sitting at my desk I just know I would have been fretting about her under anesthetic and about her brother lonely and crying at home.

The next big traumatic experience was meeting with the vet after work to find out what the results from the xray where. As it turns out, its serious but not life threatening. She has ruptured the ligaments that support her knee and she has 2nd stage arthritis already forming it. What that means is she needs an operation. A big operation, thats going to cost a fortune. And it needs to happen within 3 weeks.

She's nine years old (actually 8.9yrs old), everything else about her is healthy, her organs, her spine, her hips its just the knee thats shot. Some people would say ... its just a dog, an older dog why would you spend that kind of money?

Shes my girl, faithful companion and she gives me unconditional love without question. She is part of my family and I'll be sending her in for her operation.