Monday, October 09, 2006

No more hurt, please!


It was a year ago this month that my grandmother died, 7 months ago that both of my dogs died, and 6 months ago that we got our new puppy Teddy Bear. A bernese mountain dog. Our decision to get him was not hard, because we knew we wanted a new dog and we fell in love with the breed because of their gentle nature. We found a wonderful breeder right away who truly loves the breed and her dogs. Teddy's parents are wonderful, true hallmarks of the breed; gentle giants with mellow and friendly temperaments. Teddy's mom is having her second litter of puppies tonight- she is such a sweetheart, three puppies born so far. I have stayed in contact with Teddy's sibblings/ humans and each one of his siblings is beautiful, smart and healthy. Teddy is healthy too, except that I have come to understand that he has Hip Dysplasia- severe. I do not know why I did not look into it further earlier, but I have finally accepted his disease and plan to meet with the vet later in the week to discuss treatment options. I think I had hoped that it was a mistake, it would go away, and I was in denial. So I may have the choice of whether or not to do surgery, I want to hear all of the treatment options first. I understand that with severe dysplasia, he will have pain, and I do not know that I can bear that. But I know with surgery he will also have pain. I have read a lot about the procedure called Triple Pelvic Ostomy, which can only be performed on dogs under 1 year of age- usually around 7 months. Teddy is 9 months, today, so I do not know if this procedure is an option, but I would like to consider it, because the success rate appears to be the highest. Perhaps the answers will come, but I am feeling exhausted once again, the same way I felt earlier this year...

2 comments:

Vikki said...

I'm sorry Colleen...

Kristin said...

Poor big Teddy. Well, he has a good mama