It's been a rough road...
It's been a rollercoaster for my husband and I. Karl (my little boy pictured on the couch in this post), recently had surgery for IVDD. He is 4 years old. It almost didn't happen....and we almost put him down. We don't make a lot of money. We live in a tiny house with not so tiny bills. We closely looked at our financial situation, and decided we could afford it without struggling too much. Surgery was 11K. But with everything said and done it was closer to 14K. Between bringing him back and forth to the vet before that, and bringing him to get his bladder emptied after surgery because he wasn't peeing right away. Now, as stressful as this has all been for us, there was more to come.
About a week after Karl's Surgery, my husband had just gotten home from work and took Karl out of his cage to sit and cuddle with him on the floor. Zoey, (my other sweet weenie dog), had her toys out and was doing her normal routine of "Oh yay, daddy's home. Let's get out every toy and run back and forth." As she was doing that, she yelped out in pain and her back legs went completely paralyzed. My husband and I just stood there in shock. We knew of course right away what it was, and he brought her to the emergency vet right away.
Long story short, after trying medication treatments and such, we ended up putting her down. One of the most hardest decisions we have ever had to make. She was 8 years old, and we just could not afford another surgery. It hurts me so deeply that I was able to save Karl, but not Zoey. The amount of guilt I am feeling from all of this is just....a lot. I miss her so much. She was the loud one of the two. Always barking, always playing, always running and growling. It's so very quiet now, but it's not peace and quiet. It's just sadness. I used to wish she would be quiet a lot of the times. Now I just miss her crazy loud weenie body running back and forth, begging me to throw the ball 83 times for her. Karl misses her too. As you can see in the pictures, they were best buddies. Karl always mimicked Zoey's actions. She was like a big sister. Ever since her passing, he starts to howl when we leave the house. He never once did that before.
So maybe I'm a little paranoid now, but I thought I would share this photo of my couch setup. We don't usually have company, and it doesn't bother us, so this is what it is. Karl is about 6 weeks out from surgery and is walking around great. Thanks for listening everyone....I needed a space to vent.