Ever have a change of heart this costly?

Warning: No knitting content ahead. I couldn't sleep.

We vehemently objected against my cousin giving my mother a puppy, but she's stubborn. A few months ago, the DH's brother didn't want him, and we didn't want him at the time he was offered up. So my mom insisted on keeping him instead of trying to make every effort to find a new home for him. I thought things were going fine. No news is good news, right?

Fast forward to late Monday night. My mom says the youngest dog hasn't been eating since last Saturday and asked if it would it be possible for us to take him to the shelter since she didn't want him anymore. I got a little upset because she didn't say anything about it during our previous phone calls over the weekend. She had wished us a Happy Anniversary and passed on some family gossip. DH and I said we would do it Wednesday, since on Tuesday we were going out to dinner. She assured me the dog was doing okay and that it could wait until Wednesday. I should have trusted my instincts and went over there after that phone call. We get to my mom's house last night and the dog was in deplorable condition. He was seriously emaciated and ill. That much decline in health doesn't happen in just 5 days. I was livid. I was literally shaking in anger at her treatment of the puppy. I hadn't been over to visit the dog in a while, although we've seen my mother aplenty otherwise.

As we were driving down to the shelter, something just snapped inside of me. I knew what would happen to him if we took him to the shelter in his condition. We decided to keep him and took him to the emergency animal care hospital. We renamed him Bear on the way over. GK was not a suitable name. The vet took some x-rays and found a piece of a corn cob in his abdomen. What the *bleep* had my mom been thinking giving the puppy something like that?! After the vet attempted to remove the obstruction non-surgically, we gave the okay late last night to have the vet perform surgery early this morning.

We want Bear to survive so much. His chances for healing healthy are at 75-80%. I think he's received more attention in the last day than he ever has in the past. We can see it his eyes. The vet says that Bear is a bit small for a Shepherd mix at 9 months. We hope that the lack of good nutrition and proper care hasn't stunted his growth permanently. Of course we're worried about how WishBone will react to a new dog in the house, but we'll cross that hurdle once we get Bear healthy enough to come to his new home with us. WishBone already knows something is up. He could smell Bear on our clothing when we got home last night. DH is counting the chickens before they're hatched and is looking into installing either a large kennel shelter or a radio fence for the dogs. We even bought a crate for Bear already.

It's been seriously expensive so far. I'm on a very strict yarn/crafting diet and the DH is also on an equally strict gaming/miniature diet as of last night. Ramen noodles here we come. It'll be just like in college. Just kidding. We hope Bear grows into his full potential after all this expense. We just can't tolerate the thought of him being put to sleep.

I felt awkward asking my mother for $ to help with the medical expenses. She is *extremely* apologetic and has offered some financial help. She's got to realize that these type of mistakes are costly. She says she never gave the dog the corn, but I'm thinking that she must have given the dogs some leftovers, not realizing there was corn cob in it. We believe the puppy was just being a puppy and chewing anything he could get ahold of. I was half tempted to bring the "souvenir" home and take it to my mother as a present, but she raised me well, and I'm actually ashamed at the fact I even considered it.

My mom seemed to be able to handle the care the two dogs I left with her when I moved out (they're a lot older), but when the puppy came along, it was just too much to handle and she was too proud to admit it until it was almost too late. The other dogs were just fine when we left last night. We made sure the yard was safe, checking for signs of ill health in the other two dogs. The other dogs were playful and very healthy. They were slightly mournful while we were taking the puppy away. I told my mother last night on the phone that she better take excellent care of the remaining two dogs. We'll be checking up on her with periodic surprise "inspections" and that we wouldn't hesitate to take the other two dogs away from her if we sniff anything of neglect in the air. I hope it was a stern enough threat. She loves the other two dogs quite a bit, but *miraculously* didn't get too attached to the puppy.
How could you not love a puppy?

Originally, we were going away this weekend on a mini-trip to the Central Coast and our alma mater for our anniversary, but that won't happen with Bear coming into our lives. We're delaying any vacation travel until early fall. Although I may have to travel to NYC and SoCal for work in the next few weeks, the DH will be home.

Thanks for the comments about the One Skein Wonder, Kiri, and for the anniversary wishes. We did have fun at La Fondue. The food was excellent, but the service was unusually so-so rather than great. I gave DH this. My gift hasn't arrived in the mail yet apparently. DH jokingly says that he'll cancel the order and call Bear my gift. Hopefully, the next post will be about a healthy Bear coming home. Please keep him in your thoughts.