It sure is nice to be the best at something, or at least in the top 10 out of hundreds, don't you think? That's always cause to celebrate.
This is Ruby. And we just found out that she is in the top 10! She is one of the top ten most frequent patients at Alta Veterinary Hospital. We're so proud.
And lest you think that we're overprotective and we just rush her there every time her breath stinks, think again. She goes to the vet for all kinds of interesting and exotic illnesses. Behold:
1. Giardia just after being spayed. Who knows how she picked up giardia? Possibly from eating her own excrement when she was a puppy.
2. Gastric torsion. While on a hike in the nearby Dimple Dell canyon, she collapsed on the trail. We had to haul her 115-pound frame down the trail on a large beach towel. It turns out her stomach had flipped upside down and pinched off at both ends. Major abdominal surgery ensued.
3. Enlarged spleen. During her major abdominal surgery, the doctor discovered a spleen that was three times the size of a normal dog's spleen. No more spleen for Ruby.
4. Tunnel foot. That's the nickname Jeremy gave her a couple of summers ago when a little foxtail weed burrowed between her toes and traveled through her leg, causing a pronounced limp for several weeks. The weed eventually popped out just above her ankle. I'm not kidding.
5. Abscess and swollen face. This is her latest trick. On Saturday, the right side of her face swelled up, her tongue turned blue, she drooled incessantly out of one side of her face, and she stopped eating or drinking. She's now on pain meds, an anti-inflammatory drug, and an antibiotic because of a large abscess. It's probably a little weed or a piece of bone that got lodged in her right tonsil. Seriously.
6. Hypochondria. Sometimes she just fakes sick so she can go visit her friends at the vet. She did this thing for a whole day where her back legs would collapse whenever she tried to walk up the stairs. When we arrived at the vet, she started chasing cats and doing calisthenics for the vet tech. "We swear she was acting sick at home!" we say before dragging her home.
7. through 10. Add to this list the frequent visits for her chronic ear infections, occasional yeast infections between her toes, and the one-time staph infection in her skin that caused her fur to fall out in patches, and you have one attention-seeking canine.
She's so adorable that we gladly put up with it. But what's next? Aliens sprouting from her stomach and tap-dancing on the counter?
Ruby photos by Mr. Travis Lucas. Check out more of his stuff on his flickr gallery.
