(W0)MAN'S BEST FRIEND

I like dogs as much as anyone.  Probably more.  Well, there's this one exception:  Kathy.  Kathy gives her dogs Evian.  I don't spoil mine THAT much.

But I do get them excellent veterinary care.  This is Razzy.  Her formal, calling card  name is Razz Ma Tazz.  But we call her Razzy, Razzi-do, Razzle Dazzle,  or just Girlie.  We rescued her as a puppy from a kill shelter in western Virginia 8 years ago.  She's a mix of Australian shepherd and what appears to be Husky, and she has the disposition of an angel.

When we moved down here four years ago, Razzy started losing weight. She wouldn't eat.  She laid around the house.  We thought she was traumatized by the move, or by the loss of all her doggie friends in Maryland.  Yes, she had doggie friends.  In our old neighborhood, if the humans got together, so did their dogs.  It was a given.

So, after several months of this, and her fur turning dull and her gums getting red, I took her to the vet, thinking that she was suffering emotionally.  She wasn't.  She had lost 21 pounds and was nearly dead!  We had her tested for lyme disease.  Negative. We tried an antibiotic.  No help.  We gave her shots to increase her appetite.  No go.  We switched to another antibiotic.  She began to  respond.  I hand fed and hand watered her for the next three months.  She started gaining weight and then began eating on her own.  Finally she regained her weight and added a few pounds.  Poor thing!  We're pretty sure she had some tick-borne illness, but we never did find out exactly what it was.  But she weighs in at a solid 73.8 pounds these days and is frisky when it's not too hot outside.  She's definitely a cold weather dog.  And the spot that you see her lying in above is her favorite place in the house -- right between two air conditioning floor vents.

This is Jet.  His formal name is Jet Blue, named after the airlines that brought him home with us from California, where we were visiting.  I found him in the parking lot of a Walmart.  A lady was trying to give him away.  He was just a black ball of fur with a pink tongue darting out now and then, and about 5 to 6 weeks old.  She was going to leave him at the pound, so I just HAD to save him, right?

During the time we were in California, we tried several names on him:  Wally, Gizmo, Tazz (for Tasmanian devil), but he didn't particularly care for any of them. 

We knew we'd have to have a carrier for him to go on the plane, so while I was at Walmart, on the very day I got him , I tried to carry him into the store so I could figure out what size carrier to use.  A kindly but firmly disapproving Walmart greeter stopped me by the door and said that no dogs were allowed except for seeing eye dogs.  Even though I tried to tell her that this one was "in training" for that position, she wouldn't buy it. 

My MIL went inside and bought a cat carrier.  After all, Jet was about the size of a guinea pig at the time.   When we got to the airport and were buying his $50 ticket, the lady asked what his name was.  I said we were taking all suggestions and asked what she thought we should name him.  "Why, Jet Blue, of course!"  she replied.

Well,  have you seen the musical "Cats"?  In it there's a delightful song about a cat's REAL name, one that only he knows.  It's his Jellicle name.  Well, "Jet " must have been this puppy's Jellicle name, because he perked up, wagged his tail, and tried to lick the lady's fingers through the grate.  So he became Jet from then on.  His jet black fur went through several moltings until he settled into the present black saddle and silver-tan hair that he has now.  It turns out that he's part Chow and part German Shepherd.  And he believes he's a sled dog.

All of this in preface to their last vet visit yesterday.  All the shots, medications, medicated shampoos, chewable glucosamine, arthritis (Jet has a little) injections (for me to give to him) -- came to something over $852.00!

Yep.  I must love them a lot.

Either that or I didn't want to pay any bills this month anyway.