Day 2961

Dash's blood clot isn't any bigger this month. It isn't any smaller either. His doctor thinks this is good news, but it would be a lot better news if the clot was starting to shrink or dissolve. The vet wants Dash to discontinue one of the blood thinners and start taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug called Carprofen instead. The plan sounded reasonable during the exam, but when I did some research on the drug later I discovered that it is exactly the same chemically as Rimadyl. Years ago, one of our dogs died of kidney failure after taking Rimadyl for a long time. I swore that I'd never use the drug again.

Why is life so complicated? Now I've got to call the vet back and express my concerns. He'll probably say that most dogs tolerate the drug well, just like vets have always told me when they prescribe Rimadyl. Known side effects of Carprofen include increased risk of heart attack, staggering, stumbling, or partial paralysis, loss of coordination, and increased aggressiveness. Why would you ever want to give something like this to a dog like Dash?

I made some calls about the refrigerator Janet likes and discovered that it is on back order at Home Depot until February 28, and isn't available at Nebraska Furniture Mart until March 15. I doubt that our current refrigerator is going to last until then. Again, why is life so complicated? I should have been able to find an acceptable refrigerator and had it installed by now.

Dash seems to be frightened of the alley behind our house now. I can tell he wants to walk when we leave the house, but as soon as we get to the alley, he freezes and won't go any further. This is unfortunate, because the only way to get to the park is to walk down the alley for about fifty feet. Dash has been walking down this alley for his entire life, so I don't know what is going on. After several tries, I finally got him to take a morning walk, but I never could convince him to go on our evening walk.

I think I've come down with some sort of stomach flu. I woke up with a stomach ache this morning and have had one all day. It is very rare for me to have stomach flu, but whenever I do I think I've been poisoned. I picked up a burger for dinner yesterday. Maybe the meat was bad, or maybe the cook dropped it on the floor. Who knows? I am so suspicious of other people that I should probably fix all my food myself. At any rate, I'll probably be getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom for a while, just like Dash.

There's not much point in going out for breakfast tomorrow if I've got a stomach ache. Maybe I'll just fix myself a bowl of oatmeal. We'll see if Dash will walk in the morning. If he won't, I'm just going to crawl back in bed with him and take a long nap.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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