Pee U

Maggie, my 12 year old Manchester Terrier, never ceases to surprise me. Considering the vet thinks she should have BEEN DEAD, I guess that shouldn't surprise me any.

Maggie, you see, contracted heart worms when she was a wee little pup before I adopted her. While we probably could have put her through the chemo-therapy -ike treatment for heartworms, we were risking her death and quite frankly, we could not have afforded it and would have been on the installment plan with the vet for several years. Instead, we opted to let her live as long as she would and put her quietly to sleep when it became painful for her.

While she will on occasion cough a bit (especially after running after one of the boys rolling down the road for a few miles on a bike), she seems to have no particular problem keeping up or acting as if she is in any discomfort.

I believe she is one of those rare dogs that actually was able to fight off the heart worms using her own immune system.

But given her age, living in the country, and being allowed to run whereever she pleases, this dog has really out done herself. This dog survived being shot by a crazy neighbor about 8 years ago. (And yes, I called the sheriff's department on him for cruelty -- and he sold his house and moved away not long after that). She has tangled with ground hogs and won. She has fought with other dogs and come away unskathed and fears not even the snakes that roam my property.

A couple of years ago Miss Maggie started getting a little grey around the muzzle and then developed an incontinence problem. If she fell too deeply asleep, her bladder just let loose. So off to the vet we went. He put her on estrogen. I bought her a new dog bed. We have a perpetually renewing 3 month prescription. I figured, as did the vet, that I'd be buying the little purple pills for about a year. As of this week we are into year 3.

She's also one of those dogs that doesn't seem to ever slow down. She still jumps up high enough to dive into the car window when I pull into my parking spot in the front yard. She still runs down the road after the kids on their bikes.

Today, while I was at work, Ken was sleeping and the kids were out in the yard goofing around, she found something dead. We have no idea what it was. But whatever it was clearly smelled lovely to her and she rolled in it so thoroughly that her collar was caked in decaded flesh and had to be put in the burn pile and torched. She has had two bathes so far today -- the kids took the initiative to do this because she stank so bad. They called me at work and I purchased those little dog wipe sheets on my way home. She still stinks.

She's not going to like it, but Miss Maggie will be relegated to the laundry room tonight and I will bathe her again tomorrow before I go to work. I'm thinking tomato juice or lemon juice even though we aren't dealing with skunk. AND somehow, I need to brush her teeth... ewwww.