(Phoenix, AZ) Ever since we got Boogie, he’s had a little problem. We’ve had vets check him and we’ve monitored him very closely. It’s been gradually getting worse and yesterday about lunch time we noticed Boogie was really bleeding a lot. So we immediately rushed him to the vet. They glanced at him (in our opinion) and suggested we do a urinalysis and a complete blood workup. We did that and they sent us home. As you can tell by Boogie’s activities yesterday, he is feeling just fine.
I was patient all the way until 8:20am this morning and then I just had to call to check on his test results. Fortunately, everything came back pretty normal. There was only one number that was out of whack but they said all by itself that number didn’t cause them any concern.
So we had to go back in for x-rays. As seems common, we saw a different vet today than yesterday. After doing the x-rays (which all looked really good) he examined Boogie very closely. And, to make a long story short, Boogie needs to have surgery. The exact procedure is called prepuce reconstruction surgery. It is not a common surgery and the vets here can’t do it. So they referred us to a specialty surgery center that has five board certified surgeons. We got an appointment for an exam and surgery on Monday.
We’re very concerned – who knows if those surgeons have ever done this surgery either. Supposedly it’s a very delicate surgery and if not done properly there can be bad and leave on-going problems. After doing some research on the internet we were even more worried as everything we could find (which wasn’t a lot) was very scary.
So we called Boogie’s breeders to see if they had any ideas. I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful they are. I’m totally NOT kidding when I say that within 15 minutes, they had gotten everything arranged for us and had calmed us down and made us feel very comfortable with our plans. They have a vet lined up for us that has done this surgery successfully before. They have known this vet for over 20 years and feel extremely comfortable with her. In addition, they said we could stay with them and they even said they’d give us all the warm fuzzies we could handle. How comforting is that!
Mike and I can’t begin to believe the support system that we and little Boogie have. It is truly amazing. We feel so blessed to have such an amazing support system for Boogie. I don’t know if all breeders take care of their puppies like this but no one could possibly do any more than Meg and Harriet do for us.
So instead of going to California (and possibly Washington) for three weeks, we are going to be heading over to New Mexico next week for Boogie’s surgery. We will be staying at Meg’s place (one of Boogie’s breeders) over the Christmas holiday while Boogie recovers from his surgery.
As much as we truly love all the help we are getting (and we do love it) it made us realize how mixed breeds really are second class citizens. Had one of our rescues had a medical problem (and believe me, we’ve had major medical problems) there is no support or help available. We had to figure out everything totally on our own. The only advocates for our rescues are us.
Whereas when Boogie needs anything at all, no matter where we are, we feel as though we have guardian angels here to take care of us and make sure everything is all right. There just aren’t words to explain how well we were taken care of. I can tell you one thing for sure, Boogie will never be alone in his life – no matter what. He is one lucky little guy.
We had planned on leaving early this morning to head back up to Cottonwood. But as you can probably tell by now, those plans were delayed a little bit. By late afternoon we did make it just in time to take a short walk before dark.
During the walk, the girls did get to go on a nice little deer chase. The boys were very dismayed that they weren’t allowed to join in. As always, the girls were very good and came right back (with big smiles) after their chase.
A fun ending to a bit of a stressful day.
Debbie
12/4/07
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