12/29/12

For Love of a Dog

Zoe honestly came in from the backyard one day with this Plumbago flower stuck just so.


Rick and I have made a decision about surgery for Zoe. It's interesting how decisions about medical care for pets can be so complex. People can be quick to judge others' allocation of money to care for their pets, speculating about how much good could be done for needy human beings with those funds. I sometimes wonder why the same people don't make those judgements about others' decisions about spending on things like electronics, furniture, vacations, cars or hobbies.

We are solidly in the middle class and have had some financial setbacks as Rick's business slowed considerably during the recession. And giving to help human beings in need is just part of our lifestyle as Christians. But when we get a pet, we see that as a commitment to take care of that animal, exercising reasonable stewardship according to our means. Our Weimaraner, Dusty, lived to be fifteen and our Labrador, Shadow, made it to thirteen, both outliving the average life expectancy for their breeds.

Zoe is a French Brittany (Epagneul Breton,) a breed with an average life span of  12-13 years. She has hip dysplasia that has progressed very quickly and at the age of seven years, she lives with a lot of pain. Her back legs frequently collapse and she falls down hard. She can't keep her footing on smooth floors at all. But she gets some traction outside and still loves to go for her walk. I guess the endorphins kick in because she walks fast, if somewhat awkwardly, out ahead of our other two dogs when we take them all out together.

It's pretty clear to us, though, that if we don't do something for her, we won't be able to maintain her quality of life for very much longer. And we just love her. She's sweet, affectionate, loyal and loveable. The neighborhood kids call her "The Lickster," because she can't keep her tongue to herself.

We've always assumed that total hip replacement was the only surgical option and that was just not within the bounds of what we consider reasonable stewardship of our resources. If we had unlimited financial resources we'd do it in a heartbeat.

We recently learned of another option, considered more of a "salvage" surgery, that should greatly reduce her pain, increase her mobility and improve her quality of life, even if it won't make her hips as "good as new." It's called "Femoral Head and Neck Ostectomy," and will involve removing the ragged tops of her femurs and smoothing them out. Scar tissue is supposed to fill in and form something almost like a joint. We've now talked with three veterinarians who agree that Zoe's hips are very, very bad and that she should be a good candidate for this surgery.

She'll have to have one hip done at a time, so we've scheduled her first surgery for mid-January. It's going to be hard on her and hard on our budget, but we think it's our best option and that we can all manage it.

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