Being a responsible pet owner can be costly

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Our American Eskimo puppy is now six months old.

We are not planning on showing or breeding him, although both his parents are Grand Champions, so we decided it was time to get him neutered.

I guess this is what good pet owners are supposed to do. We had some blood work done prior to his surgery to make sure he was healthy.

I think that cost about $200.

When we took him to the vet, we found he had a problem. It would not be a normal procedure. Instead of one small incision, three were needed to make the operation a success.

Of course, he had to come home with a large surgical collar to keep him from ripping open his belly.

From a short recovery and under a couple hundred dollars, it would be 14 days and $400.

We had to give him assorted medicine several times a day.

A pill wrapped in cheese would go down quickly, so that wasn’t a problem. We could have wrapped the pill in paper towel to feed to him since that is his favorite food.

After four days, the puppy who was famous for eating anything that would fit in his mouth wouldn’t eat his dinner. I knew something was wrong.

We immediately took him back to the vet. His stomach around the incisions was swollen and hard. They gave us some medicine to reduce the swelling and inflammation. They said to let them know if things didn’t get better. Another $80.

Eight hours later, we were rushing him to the 24-hour emergency veterinarian. The swelling was worse; he was bleeding and had a severe infection around his cuts.

The emergency vet said he was in trouble, but he was young and strong and should be able to survive. That didn’t sound good.

They gave us a page-long checklist of everything they needed to do for him. They told us it would be expensive.

I figured $700 or $800.

I was wrong!

The total was about $2,000.

They kept him overnight, and we took him home the next afternoon. More medicine and stitches, which would have to come out in 10 days, and another 10 days in the collar.

Of course, he wasn’t supposed to run, jump, etc., which was all he does besides eat.

They gave him some “slow down” pills to help us control his activity. I also had to take him out on a leash every time he needed to potty.

Four o’clock in the morning, raining, and I had to get dressed, put on my raincoat and stand in the rain while he looked around the yard to see if anything was different from the last time I had him out.

For the next three days, we had to put an ice pack on his belly to help reduce the swelling. That was fun. It took both of us to hold him down for 10 minutes three times a day. The icing is now over (I hope), but medicine and potty breaks continue for at least six more days until his stitches come out.

To get any outside work done, we carried his crate to the back patio and let him sleep there while we mowed, worked in the garden and planted our third Dunstan Chestnut tree.

I was able to get some time to buy a few tomato, pepper and melon plants at the Pendleton Garden Club sale in the park.

My garden is almost dry enough to till if I can get it done before the next heavy rain arrives.

I will be planting my lavender seeds. I have about 50 assorted cactus plants I started from seeds in small terrariums. I plan on replanting them in a larger container soon.

Between the dog, the garden and the yard work, I don’t think I will be getting anything done in the kitchen for a while.