Hindi, the matriarch (age 9), sitting on a garbage bag on the passenger seat of my car ... on the way back from her operation about 2 weeks ago.
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About 2 weeks ago I took Hindi (mother of Bijoux and Pippa from different litters) to the Vet Hospital to have an operation to remove an external plum-sized growth from her anal area. The vet, Crystal, said that kind of growth is common on older dogs. Often it's cancerous.
Hindi, always a brave trooper, trotted in to the vet hospital, tail wagging, as if she was going on an adventure. "Operation? What operation?" She was more interested in sniffing at patches of grass and people.
My friend, J, whose dog sniffs at many things when they go for their daily walks, once told me that a dog sniffing at something is like the equivalent of humans reading a poem. So, once we got out of the car at the vet hospital, I allowed Hindi to read her poems undisturbed. The grassy poems were the longest ... and she signed each one off with some urine. As she 'read' them, I wondered what they said. Poems left by people's feet, about places they'd been ... poems about all that goes on deep inside of ants nests ... poems about the secret underworld of earthworms ... poems about blades of grass dancing in the wind ... poems about the lives of other animals that had passed by on their way in to the vet hospital ...
My friend, J, whose dog sniffs at many things when they go for their daily walks, once told me that a dog sniffing at something is like the equivalent of humans reading a poem. So, once we got out of the car at the vet hospital, I allowed Hindi to read her poems undisturbed. The grassy poems were the longest ... and she signed each one off with some urine. As she 'read' them, I wondered what they said. Poems left by people's feet, about places they'd been ... poems about all that goes on deep inside of ants nests ... poems about the secret underworld of earthworms ... poems about blades of grass dancing in the wind ... poems about the lives of other animals that had passed by on their way in to the vet hospital ...
The human poems didn't last as long because the humans moved away before Hindi got a chance to sniff them any further.
I had to leave her overnight at the hospital. Whereas Pippa would have been defensively barking and biting everyone (as a result of which the vets had a really hard time with her when she was there once), Hindi was amicable. Once I handed her over to the vet, she trotted off confidently, tail wagging, glancing back at me only once as the doors closed behind her.
I had to leave her overnight at the hospital. Whereas Pippa would have been defensively barking and biting everyone (as a result of which the vets had a really hard time with her when she was there once), Hindi was amicable. Once I handed her over to the vet, she trotted off confidently, tail wagging, glancing back at me only once as the doors closed behind her.
The next day when I went to get her, she trotted to me, looking relaxed and breezy, as though emerging from a spa. Except for some purple stitches around her anus, she was normal.
Her growth was sent for tests and the vet called back this weekend to say that she had received the results. Thankfully the growth was benign (not cancerous).
Hope this pouch is doing well, she looks happy enough. Glad the tumor is benign.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your day.
puch? doggie. pooch! That's it.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting bout the poetry and smell ...I get it...I think it must be like classical music to them too the way you see them doing...glad that this dog is well...hope you find closure on Bijoux one day however it happens...
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the Hindi made a full recovery and her tumour was benign. :-) Dusty sends tail wags.
ReplyDeleteHi, Dusty G!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad she's okay and that the growth was benign!
ReplyDeleteThe word verification today is SPAMIST weird. At first i saw it as SPAMist now i see it as SPA MIST.