Competing with "Marley" for the World's Worst Dog Title

My most recent doctor's appointment wasn't for me... it was for my 4.5 year old golden retriever. As if life hadn't thrown me enough to handle lately I spent yesterday stressed out about our canine family member. "I hope R won't die," B1 says casually while taking his bath!

In the summer of 2007 one July day our little "food" hound got into the contents of our bathroom garbage. Ingesting paper products and whatever else we had tossed in there (obviously) didn't agree with her system! 4 hours in surgery, two night stay at the animal hospital, meds, recovery, etc. and all of a sudden we weren't going to Hawaii. Nope, we were left with a $7, 000.00 bill for a dog we had paid $750.00 for. She was so young and it all happened so fast, we hadn't even discussed this sort of thing yet: What else could we do but say, "go ahead with whatever she needs."

You can imagine the nightmarish visions I had when my dog starts vomiting and stops pooping. I cannot go down this road again!

I called the vet and initially we were told to leave her there and they would check her out and run some tests. The bill? $700.00. On second thought, "can I bring her back later today?"

Back we came and the vet was able to dislodge something from her rectum and voila - the culprit. Or, as the vet cautioned, part of it. A couple hundred dollars and a healthy dog at the end - now that I can handle.

We left with instructions to feed her every hour, but only a tablespoon of special fiber enhanced formula dog food. So, last night - every hour on the hour - there I was giving our dog her ration. It didn't take long to notice that she was very, very interested in food again.

This morning I was greeted with our hype case of a pet. I took her outside. Pee? Check. Anything else? Would she? Is everything cleared? Is it all over? I watch her prance back and forth, forth and back [taking her usual sweet time to find the perfect spot upon which to release the contents of her bowels]... and
Defecation! Yes, I recall only being so pleased to see poop as when B1 had jaundice and we were monitoring his every stomach gurgle.

Oh, what we do for those we love!