Woman's Best Friend

Our Shih Tzu, Tucker, hasn’t been feeling well the last two weeks (one of my reasons for an absence from Bloglandia and Mosaic Monday!). Moping and spending inordinate amounts of time in his kennel, I finally took him to the vet. He was so lethargic, I thought for a moment we might lose him.

I never wanted a dog. But when my son was 10, he begged and begged. Finally one Christmas morning, after nursing Tucker in the basement all night so he wouldn’t bark, we surprised my son with him. Our young boy threw himself onto the ground and cried and cried. “I prayed and prayed for this!”, he yelled.

I knew I’d end up feeding him, I knew I’d end up walking him and bathing him. Now my son is in his junior year of college, Tucker’s eleven, and I am so attached to this dog I can’t believe it. I come home from work at lunch and talk to him. At night, when the day is done, he’s at my feet while I read the paper on the couch. When I am cooking in the kitchen, he’s under my toes waiting for something luscious to fall from the counter. I scold him and slip him a doggie cookie. When he wasn’t feeling well, I started to panic. My son called from college. My daughters were getting upset. Even my DH pressed for the vet visit. Whatever would we do without him?

I cajoled him into the car last Monday and he was happy to be off with me. When we arrived at the vet, I opened the office door. He saw the other pooches and gave me a pathetic look, “What’s going on here?”

I realized it was probably not smart to come alone. What if the vet said there was something terribly wrong? Shouldn’t I have taken one of the kids with me in case there was some decision to be made? I found myself staring at the fishtank in the corner of the waiting room so none of the other dog owners would see me starting to well up.

We were finally called in and I described Tucker’s symptoms. Sluggish. Tail down. Didn’t want to go outside. Accidents in the house. Fits of shaking. The vet was a really nice woman, such an animal lover! She said Shih Tzu’s are predisposed to disc issues in the spine. He’d need a cortisone shot and some meds and he would be all right.

Getting in the car, I was delighted! He even seemed better from the cortisone shot right away. The girls hugged and kissed him when he came in. Texts were sent to my college son. A sigh of relief all over!

Oh, and the vet also recommended glucosamine/chondroitin tablets. I take these myself for relieving minor joint pain. They have these pills for dogs. Apparently they are perfectly safe and help dog joints. Who knew?

But as I read the paper tonight, in front of the fire, with Tucker curled at my feet, it’ll be nice to know; we’re just getting older…together.