My dog may be broken, but Trevor's is an idiot...

Since the weather forecast was calling for severe thunderstorms today, I left Alley and Haskell inside the house with their doggie door off the kitchen open so they could come and go as they pleased. Haskell could probably care less about anything that doesn't involve his bed or sleeping, but Alley has squirrels to hunt and birds to annoy and random things to bark at. So, for her, I figured it was a win-win.

Cut to eleven o’clock this morning. It was dark-like-midnight outside, pouring down rain and hailing. My next door neighbor called to tell me that Alley was in the dog run crying. This meant that Alley had either forgotten that the doggie door was open, or that Haskell had figured out how to lock his sister out of the house.

I’ll let you decide which is more likely.

In other news, the saga of Gypsy's ear continues. She had the stitches and tube removed on May 6th, but (surprise, surprise) the incision site had developed an infection. So, for the next ten days, I got to administer antibiotics twice a day AND gently express this clear discharge out of her ear flap through the hole where the tube used to be. This is almost as fun and pleasant as it sounds.

Then, on May 15th, the hole closed up, so there was no longer an area to drain the fluid. At first, I wasn't very concerned. But twenty four hours later, Gypsy's ear had swollen back up like a water balloon, which translated into yet another trip to the vet. The doctor opted to lance her ear open so there would be a new hole for me to express. Oh, and yet another round of antibiotics.

A week later, though, and Woo’s ear is STILL draining. Not only that, but the tip of her ear is thickening and starting to curl. Somehow, I managed to play rugby for years and avoid cauliflower ear, but my dog isn’t so lucky. I know it is superficial and all, but it makes me so sad that one of her beautiful, soft ears is slowly deforming like a wrestlers.

The worst part is that if the draining does stop soon, we will most likely have to repeat the surgery. This, other than the obvious trauma to my dog and wear and tear on her poor, little, eight year old body, isn’t cheap. So, please keep your fingers crossed that the drainage will clear up soon.

Oh, and that Alley remembers how to use the doggie door. I hear more storms may be in the forecast for this afternoon.