Ripley and his love for veternarians

My wife and I just returned from visiting Ripley Wild at the Critical Care and Veterinary Specialists of Sarasota LLC. This was his second surgery in under a month - you'll recall the "peach pit" incident from prior blog entries.

This time, Ripley had what I think was identified as a crushed disc in his back, which we believe happened a week ago when he was with his girlfriend Bonnie, the young West Highland Terrier. We've warned Ripley about younger women, and how you don't want to rough-house too much, but he didn't listen apparently. We humans were in the other room, while Rip and Bon-bon were chasing each other. We heard a loud YELP from Ripley, but have no idea what he ran into, but clearly he hit something. We took him to our vet, who recommended Dr. Anne Elizabeth Chauvet, DVM/DACVIM - Neurology. She's not only a specialist, but like most animal doctors, she's very special to her patients. She and her partner Dr. Schneider, took good care of our boy, and from the report following surgery, Ripley will have a full recovery and no more pain. We can go pick him up tomorrow she thought.

When he walked into the room under his own power (just a few hours following the procedure) he came straight into my arms. There is no better feeling for this "doggy daddy" to hold his baby beagle boy close, after too many nights without him, and before that almost a week of hope that this could be resolved with muscle relaxants and rest. The surgery wasn't inexpensive, but at my age I'd rather have a happy dog than a 40th anniversary cruise. The dog is never mad at me, while I give my wife plenty of excuses to shove me overboard. I don't have to lock my wife AND my dog in the trunk for an hour, come back, and see which one is mad at me - I know the dog would still be happy to see me.

So, tomorrow we'll go fish out the Royal Caribbean VISA card, and add several thousand worth of future cruise points, and hope September is a slow month in the life of our fast little beagle. I suspect his instruction for plenty of bed rest and only trips outside to do his business will keep him out of trouble. I've told him, no more unsupervised play with Bonnie, and perhaps he should trade her in for an older, more refined French Poodle. His doctor is French, and he seems very taken with her. An international love story - American boy meets Scottish lassie, ends up in the hospital and is nursed back to health by a lovely French woman - let's make a short story out of this and sell it to The New Barker magazine. Who knows, maybe Animal Planet will pick up the option.

Will report again after we pick him up at the hospital, with the certainty that there'll be lots more pain killers in the medicine cabinet. Wonder how "Doggie Darvon" works on 200 pound males? I'm in pain without my boy around to love.

(FRIDAY UPDATE) Rip came home today, and is resting comfortably in his crate. We have a very complete set of instructions to follow, and will be keeping him calm for a fortnight.