Animal induced stress!

I cannot commit.

Obviously, I can't commit to my blog. It's been 2 months since my last post. I really haven't had a lot to write (whine) about in that length of time that I thought anyone would be interested in.

Work's fine; the boys are fine; family is fine (other than my bro spending all of my money for me, but that's another blog) and I'm fine.

Animals were fine....until the beginning of April.

To start things off, my boxer, Cookie, has always had a spot on her leg that looked a little funny. I always thought it was scar tissue because it never grew or shrank, it just stayed the same. About a year and a half ago, the vet told me it wasn't scar tissue, it was a tumor or growth. She didn't think it had to be removed, but that I should watch it.

Cut to Friday before last. I get home from my Mom's house after work, after a crawfish boil, after helping her set up for my friend's baby shower and let the dogs outside for awhile before we all go to bed, because it's about 10:30pm. I remembered I had to make pasta salad for the aforementioned shower, so I start that process. As I'm chopping and cooking, I notice that the boxer is incessantly licking herself on the floor next to me. It's driving me nuts...yes, it had been one of those days. So I tell her to stop and she does for, oh maybe 5 seconds. So finally, I look at her and realize that she's licking her leg and all of the fur around that spot is bloody. I freak!

I grab the dog and take her to the bathroom (bathroom light is always better, as is blood on linoleum). I look at her leg and the spot has gone from the size of a pencil eraser, to the size of almost a golf ball. It's swollen and red and bloody and just generally nasty. So, being that it's 11pm on a Friday night and my pasta is about to overcook, I peroxide it, put some benadryl cream on it (with a Q-tip, not my finger...Ewww!) finish my cooking and go to sleep.

First thing Saturday, I call the vet's office and they tell me that the vet won't be in 'til Monday and I can bring her in Monday afternoon. There's nothing they can do for her then. So Monday, I take the oozing boxer in, the vet (a new one) looks at the "growth" and tells me it's a "sebaceous cyst" and it may or may not be cancerous...they have to remove it and send it out for testing. So Cookie gets all of her shots done, her blood work done and some antibiotics and antihistamines (to the tune of almost $300). They schedule surgery for Thursday.

She goes in and comes out Thursday fine (I'm broke, but never mind my checking account's well-being) Everything is going well for Cookie...she's got some stitches but it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all. However, apparently it was really bugging my Dachshund, Al, that she was getting all of the attention, because yesterday afternoon (yes, Easter Sunday) he decided to rip one of his claws out of his front paws and was bleeding out on my back patio when I finally realized I hadn't seen or heard him for a good 15 minutes. Again, blood=freak out. I grab the dog, page the vet's office, jump in my car and head.....where? Where the hell am I going with this poor little bleeding wiener dog? Aha! My dad, our family's version of the Dog Whisperer, is at my brother's house. I call Dad and tell him what's going on...he says he'll take a look at it but he's "not a vet". Really? Thank you, Captain Obvious. Can't a girl just need her dad?

I get to my bro's house and the whole fam's there...I was going to be there a couple hours later sans dog, but whatever. We clean it, look at it and decide there's nothing the vet can do. My sis-in-law calls her friend who's a vet-tech....apparently she should be my friend too...and the girl confirms that we should just clean it and wrap it and keep him off of it.

When I got home last night and sat down to watch TV. Both of the dogs wanted up on the couch, of course and since they're both "hurt" I have to pick them up for that to happen. I started crying. I took stock and all I have to show for myself right now is 2 gimpy dogs and a cat that plays with makeup sponges. Super!