No, I'm not talking about Sex & The City.
I ran over my dog. It was an accident....seriously, it was!
This is the dog I really didn't want. Pud begged for him and promised she would take total responsibility for him. I knew better, but Big Joz gave in, so we got Mr. Big. And, in all honesty, he was pretty cute and hard to resist...at first. Now, he pees and poops all over our house. It disgusts me. It disgusts me more that Pud doesn't clean up after him like she promised she would!
As if the peeing and pooping thing wasn't a big enough issue, he started having seizures. Initially the vet thought he was hypoglycemic, so following a seizure, we'd give him a spoonful of Karo syrup. The seizures were pretty sporadic, but often enough that it was a little frustrating. In August, he had five pretty major seizures in about a 16-hour time period. Out of Karo syrup, I took him to the vet. Turns out, Mr. Big is epileptic and now takes Phenobarbital twice a day.
OK, so we have this dog I didn't want. Now the dog uses our floors for his toilet. And he is on twice-daily meds for epilepsy. Gosh, I just don't understand why I would rather he live somewhere else!
Big Joz threatened to just turn him out and let him loose, but I just didn't have the heart to allow him to go through with it. He also threatened to take him to the pound and say we just found him. Again, I couldn't do it...what would he do without his medicine?
Sunday night, it happened. As I was pulling into the garage, I saw our other dog, Ben, run out from the back yard (the fence had been left open). What I didn't see was Mr. Big run towards me. I heard this spine-chilling noise, instantly realizing what had happened. Our little six pound nuisance got under my more than six pound vehicle and tire. Oh, the sounds he made. I panicked... should I pull forward? Should I back up? I think I did both. Then put the car in park and hoped to high heavens he wasn't completely mangled, enough to make one's stomach sink further into the pits of Hell.
He was obviously injured. I brought him inside to see how badly he was hurt. He wouldn't even look at me (although hearing my voice did seem to calm him down). I went outside to turn the car off and when I came back in, he had wandered off and hidden from me. Then Big Joz and the kids started arriving home. I secretly told Big Joz what had happened and he went looking for Mr. Big. When he found him, he brought him to our bed and wrapped him in a blanket. Big Joz thought Mr. Big would be fine. Whew!
The next morning, Big never made his presence known. It alarmed becuase he is usually underfoot every time I turn around, peeing or pooping somewhere else. When I found him, he still wouldn't look at me. And his injured leg was really warm to the touch. And swollen. And kind of dangling. So I went against what Big Joz had told me and I took him to the vet, where I left him for tests and x-rays.
Yesterday morning I got the call saying that he had a compound fracture in his leg, he was dehydrated and his liver enzymes were high. Because of the medicine he takes for epilepsy, they had to be really cautious with the anesthetic they would need to use the set the leg (or to put him to sleep for surgery if the leg couldn't be set). The vet had hoped to set the leg yesterday morning, but Mr. Big had had some seizures, so he waited. I just called the vet's office again this morning to check on him. The vet was able to set the leg this morning and he has a soft bandage/cast that he will wear for (hopefully) about three weeks. He will also be on antibiotics for about three weeks (in addition to his Phenobarb). I get to pick him up at four this afternoon. I wonder if he'll look at me?
Mr. Big, I'm sorry you were stupid enough to get under my car. Mr. Big, I'm sorry you're going to end up costing us mucho cash for this. Mr. Big, I'm sorry you'll come home and pee and poop in our floor. Mr. Big, I've missed you snuggling in my bed. Mr. Big, I promise I didn't run over you on purpose. Mr. Big, I do hate some of the things you do, but I do love you, too.
