Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Doggie Dramas

So, my big dog is in surgery today. I took him to the vet yesterday to have them look at a bump on his head. I noticed it a few weeks ago but dismissed it - he's got big feet, long legs and is just plain clumsy. But I've noticed it getting bigger. And then overnight, it seemed to have doubled in size.

I took him to the vet in the afternoon. The vet prodded and poked, and then stuck a big needle into the bump - my guess is to see if anything {pus, blood, etc} came out. She stood up and said, 'Well, normally I would have thought he'd bumped his head and maybe cracked the bone. But the swelling would have happened over a few days, not weeks. So I'm suggesting surgery to remove it and analyse it.' Obviously, I said yes. But now I'm all worried about what it could be.

While we were at the vet's, we asked about our dogs blood test results. We're moving to Australia soon, and the rules to import your animals are insane. The quarantine period can be hardcore. We worked out that if we did the blood tests 5 months before they arrived in Australia, they'd only have to be in quarantine for 30 days. {Much better option than 4 or 5 months} So in November, we rounded the dogs up and took them for their blood tests. We're leaving in April, so the timing worked out perfectly.

The vet informed me that my female dog failed the blood tests. She explained that the Rabies booster jab would have to be re-done and then 3 weeks after that, they could draw her blood again. I was upset because this means, if my girlie leaves in April as planned, she'll have to spend about 3 months in quarantine. We only rented our house for 6 months - it never occurred to us that any of the dogs would fail.

DH and I went through our options. 1 - we could take her as planned and leave her in quarantine for the 3 months. 2 - we could ask someone here to look after her for a few months until she could fly down for a lesser time in quarantine. 3 - we book her into kennels here and let her wait it out until the time in quarantine wouldn't be as hardcore.

Then we went through the problems with our options. 1 - it wouldn't be fair to put her in quarantine for that long. She'd arrive with the other two dogs, and then 30 days later, they'd leave (to come home with us) and she'd be left there for another month or two. She frets as it is, so I'd worry endlessly about her and I don't know how good it'd be for her emotional and physical health. Plus, it'd cost a lot. 2 - She's a rottweiler and they come with a bad reputation. She's the most loving, affectionate dog in the world and is great with kids and other animals. But she's a big dog so it's hard to find someone who'd care for her for that long. Obviously, we'd buy all the food she needed and leave money with the person looking after her, but it's still a lot to ask. 3 - Putting her in kennels here would cost a fortune. And really, is putting her in a kennel here any different to quarantine in Australia?

So, now we're not sure what to do. We've started asking around to see if anyone would be willing to take her. But it breaks my heart that we're going to not see her for so long. DH jokes that the dogs are like my children and I laugh along with him. But really, I love them like I'll love my children and I take care of them every day, so in a sense, they are my kids. {As nutty as that sounds. Yes, I can hear how nutty it sounds.}

No comments:

Post a Comment