Poor Sasha

Last Friday, after battling with this tooth that has been giving me problems and finding out the dentist I've been seeing all these years has really done some crappy work in my mouth that's going to take tons of overtime to fix, I found out my dog needs emergency surgery.

The day before, she peed on the floor. This, in itself, is a big deal because neither of my dogs make "BAD outside" in the house. I seriously believe they'd rather die than do that. Just uttering "BAD outside" in their presence makes their ears go back and they slink away from the speaker. So to pee in the house is bad, but to pee in the house right in front of Mommy, is a cardinal sin.

As I'm yelling "BAD outside" and cleaning it up, I notice it's very dark and smells really bad. Now, pee doesn't smell great anyway, but this was foul. Now my mommy spider-sense starts tingling and I know there's something wrong with the dog.

Of course, the hubster says "Let's keep an eye on her for a few days and see how she is". But I overruled him. I whipped her into the vet Friday.

We found Sasha about 5 years ago. Someone had brought her into the police station where I work. She was barely 6 weeks old at the time. No one claimed her, she was dumped which was blatantly obvious by the fact that she was literally attached to each one of us when I brought her home. We spent those first few weeks dodging her every time we walked because she was always underfoot. She's got some issues. She refuses to play with toys. Balls, squeaky toys, tug-o-war...she refuses to play, which really drives our Chow-mix, Bo, nuts because he tries so hard, squeaking the toy right at her, dropping it in front of her, nudging her with them. She won't bite. She'll chew bones and she'll play wrestle with Bo, but she won't play with any toys or chase any balls. In addition you can't pick her up because she yelps and pees. She's always been this way and very rarely have we ever had to pick her up; we usually avoid it so not to make her upset.

Of course the vet wants her up on the examining table. I warn her she's going to pee but that was a good thing--they wanted a urine sample anyway. On that white tile floor you could clearly see blood in her urine. Not a good sign.

Then the vet starts feeling her tummy and says the dreaded words "I need to get an xray, I feel something". They pull me into the back room a few minutes later. As soon as I saw the xray, I saw the mass. It was big and oval shaped, right in her bladder. There was barely any bladder left, it was so big. My first thought was "tumor", but the vet said she was almost positive it was a bladder stone, and a huge one at that. And it's got to come out, there's no waiting. They scheduled surgery for Monday morning.

I felt so bad for her all weekend while we waited. Per the vet's instructions, we let her out every 1/2 hour so she could try to pass urine. Luckily she was getting some out each time, the fear being that the stone would block all passage of pee and then Houston, we have a problem.

Monday couldn't come fast enough. She came through the surgery with flying colors and while they had wanted to keep her overnight Monday, they told us to come and get her because she was anxious and they felt she'd rest better at home. It's been a few days now and I can see she's getting much better. The first few days her appetite was off and she was very lethargic. She's still resting more than normal and she's not interested in fighting with Bo, although he keeps trying.

It's funny, those first two days, he really left her alone. A few sniffs here and there but he really didn't try to engage her in play. I think he knew she was feeling bad.

That was the good news. Bad news...surgery was $450--OUCH. I suppose the timing is never right for such a thing, but it really came at the end of a bad month anyway. The vet's office is pretty terrific though; they're allowing me to make payments. So while it was a hit for the down payment, at least I can absorb the balance over a few months.