Who Says I Don't Love My Dog?

OK family, don't answer that.

Yesterday Q-man asked me what the heck that big lump on Ashes' ear was. I hadn't noticed any lump on her ear so I found her and confirmed that she indeed had a big gross lump on her ear and I reported to Q-man that I had no idea what the heck that big lump on Ashes' ear was.

I have a bit of an active imagination and tend to go a little overboard so I started imagining the vet telling me that the lump was cancer and that Ashes only had a few months to live and I started getting very sad. I also started to feel some guilt about the fact that she has been neglected since the chitlin came along. To be totally honest I also felt guilty about being kinda sorta mean to her lately and by lately I mean for the past 2 or so years. I know, it is an ugly truth and I am ashamed of it.

I decided to give the old girl a bath today partly because she is FILTHY from spending most of her time outside and partly because I wanted to inspect the lump.

While lathering up her head I scrubbed her ears and felt some cakey dry stuff on top of the "lump" so I began to pull it off in an effort to clean it off. Upon close inspection I saw the lump begin to ooze---THIS GETS YUCKY SO IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH---so where were we...oh yeah, the lump was oozing yellowish greenish nastiness. I did what anyone would do- I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and I squoze. ew ew ew ew ew ew ew Miles and miles of stringy puss shot out of the lump. Just thinking about it now is making the hint of lime tostitos I ate a few hours ago do a dance in my tummy. ew. I then globbed a healthy dose of neosporin on the now lump-less area.

Here is a picture of old puss-ear herself:



I guess it wasn't cancer (sigh of relief).

That is the thing about pets. Occasionally you have to do this really really gross stuff. Like the time Q-man and I were up Millcreek Canyon with her and she decides to squat right in the middle of the trail and starts pooping out an entire paper towel. Q-man had to get two sticks and help her finish getting it out because it got stuck. Meanwhile I hid behind some trees and watched the horror on the other hikers' faces who saw a man pulling complete paper towels out of his dog's butt. Being a pet owner definitely has it's ups and downs.

I really sympathize with Ashes. She used to be our baby before we had real ones. We took her everywhere (I think my parents must have cringed everytime they saw the dog jump out of our car when we came to visit). Granted, we never took her to the mall to get pictures of her on Santa's lap (ha! can you imagine)but she did go from getting tons of attention and being the center of our world to just being the dog. When it comes right down to it I know dogs don't live forever and when that day comes it will be a very, very sad one.