Days 22 & 23- The 24 Days of Christmas Miracles Campaign (Or “Doggone It!”)

Betty hates the cone of shame!

Miracles 23 and 24 have to do with my pets. Last week my dog, Betty, and my cat, Janice, had their teeth cleaned. While Betty was under anesthesia, she also had a benign growth removed from her tail. (While the growth was not dangerous, it was very irritating to her, so I got it removed when she already had to be under anesthesia). On Monday I had to take her to the vet because she was in pain and not healing correctly, and they removed the stitches early. As a result, her tail has to be cleaned and rebandaged twice a day. Also, she has to wear the cone of shame, which, let me just tell you, she is not too fond of! Monday’s miracle is the miracle of my having wonderful family and friends who will help me in my animal care activities.

You see, trying to clean and bandage Betty’s tail without any assistance would be kind of like trying to lasso a rabid badger with your bare hands. It hurts her and she cries and moves around a lot. The cone helps a bit because it makes it harder for her to bite me, but I still wouldn’t want to undertake that job sans assistant. I am lucky that my dad has been helping me with the tail upkeep. Also, I know that if my dad didn’t help me, my mom, or another family member, or one of my friends would. I am very lucky to have such great, caring people in my life!

The miracle of Christmas Eve is that all of my pets came out from hiding and let me love on them. Since the dental cleaning, Betty doesn’t usually want to be around me because she is afraid I am going to clean her tail. Janice hides from me because she has to have eyedrops as a result of something getting in her eye during her dental cleaning, and Charlie runs when he sees me coming because he doesn’t want to take his nightly medication. While I am actually not running an animal hospital, I have gotten pretty good at sneaking up on unsuspecting animals and giving them medication/administering treatments without their being able to run away first. As a result, if they even sense my presence they are prone to scurrying under or behind furniture. Last evening, they somehow all decided to come hang out on the bed with me. It was really nice, plus it consolidated all of the stray pet fur that comes off them into one location, you know, for easier clean up! I hope you had a great Christmas Eve, too!