Puppy Liberation League: Pupdate 4
March 30, 2015
Life with DOG!
Seamus has adapted to his life with his (ridiculous, loud, demanding) sibling without batting an eye. He shares his space without comment, lays around quietly just being with us as we tend to hir and focus on surviving. He leans on my leg or sniffs my head to wake me for attention every so often and plays with his toys alone when we’re busy.
He is hir protector, but he’s a little less concerned now. It’s like he’s realized ze’ll quite likely survive our shenanigans even when he’s disapproving of them. He has a particular distaste for when PiC swings hir either in his arms or in hir chair – I can feel his big brother eyes boring into the back of my head, questioning our fitness as parents.
He’s taken to walking with the stroller just fine as well. I worried about how that would work, but as usual, I shouldn’t have. He keeps pace with it, and works around it as appropriate so that I can manage the two of them alone quite handily. Even after romping off leash he’ll voluntarily come back to me and hir stroller, escorting us home.
As near to perfect a dog as you could ask for, under the circumstances.
Medical woes
Poor guy had a terrible infection that just looked like a nick on his paws at first. He let me clean and wrap them every morning with Neosporin, stumping around with club looking bandaged paws good naturedly, but then the swelling started so I knew it wasn’t working.
It’s taken a vet visit, a culture to confirm the staph infection, and three refills of antibiotics to get him on the right path.
We found out he’d gained 13 lbs in the last few months at this visit as well. I noticed he was getting heavier but at some point he cracked 100 lbs and we didn’t notice. Sympathy baby weight? I’m just surprised the vet was relatively unconcerned.
A Dog and Our Money
I’ve been using the saved proceeds from this blog, a mere trickle over the years, to pay his vet bills. Call it his allowance. We’re still doing ok but it’ll need some income soon to make up for the recent inroads!
He’s slowly getting more expensive to maintain between his supplements, chronic medications for his skin, and all that food he’s eating.
I’m happy to hear Seamus is adjusting well to his new life and sibling!
I just noticed the “Want a Specific Subject” area. I like it!
He’s pretty great, honestly.
Yay I hoped that section would be helpful! I just have to remember to properly tag everything.
I’m glad Seamus is making sure you guys are treating LB appropriately š
Generally, I’ve read pet insurance is not recommended – is that what you’ve found as well?
He’s very concerned about us as parents. š
I knew about three people who felt like they were really getting their money’s worth from pet insurance and they purchased it when they first got their puppies. I tend to feel like that’s the time when it makes sense: you get coverage from the very beginning, your premiums should be reasonable, there aren’t any pre-existing conditions to exclude. With our boys, being as old as they were, insurance wasn’t a great bet but I think it’s worth pricing out for your newbie.
[…] Seamus racked up another $450 550 in vet bills. […]