What happened to Freud this week? He may have got ill from trauma associated with the dog attack. It may have been the stress associated with the dog attack. Or it may have been something else altogether. Just because something happens after something else (e.g., illness after attack), it doesn’t necessarily imply cause and effect.
The vet told me to think of Freud as a vintage car: he’s got lots going on and we just have to deal with the most pressing symptom at the time. The vintage car is doing well. His ravenous appetite has returned and he’s back to barking at cats and pedestrians. I used to tell him off for such barking but at the moment I’m enjoying hearing it so much. I thought he was dead. Ben says I’ll get over it and we’ll quickly go back to whingeing about him. He’s probably right. When do you stop spending money on a pet? One ultrasound cost $350. The vet asked me first and I got the impression from him that many people just say no and take their sick pet home. I imagine many people just could not afford this sum of money. We’re not exactly rolling in it either but we did buy a new computer this year for $1500 so how can we say no to an ultrasound for $350?
Freud’s bills all up amount to over $2000 and he didn’t require surgery. The vet told me that surgery is thousands of dollars: $4000 – $6000. This particular vet is a specialist vet and can only be seen on referral from another vet. He was brilliant and had no shortage of patients, mostly dogs, some cats. The owners of these animals no doubt spending a fortune on their pets.
We humans get very attached to our pet animals and the grief when they die or get sick is very real. If we say no to $350 ultrasound only to watch them die the next day, does that make the grief worse?
A photo of Freud from his younger days, chasing a ball:
rachel.blog 
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