Family Pets

I have been thinking a lot about family pets this week, especially ours. I have been wondering why I put myself through the agony of training those creatures when we get them only to go through agony when they get to the place where we need to say goodbye to them. It really doesn't make much sense to me. But I do it over and over again! We have had Marty, Brandy, Rugby and Rudy.

Our current dog, Rudy, has been a member of the family for over 8 years. He was over a year old when we got him. So that must make him what, 152 in dog years (there is some formula, but I don't have a clue what it is). Recently he has been having some problems and this past weekend they became so severe we expected to find it necessary to end his suffering. Now that is always tough for me to do, and no matter what people say about family pets, its dad's pet when its time to put them down.

So today I had to take our Rudy to the vet and I fully expected to find out he had cancer, or some other very serious condition, that would result in his life coming to an end. Not so! The doctor took an xray and showed me that our dog had dozens of kidney stones that were creating all kinds of difficulty for him, but were not terminal. And you know what comes next! With surgery he could be as good as new! Nine years old new, that is! Now I am about to be unemployed and the last thing I need is a big bill from the dog's doctor. When I asked about the cost, I got that horrible "how could you ask me that, does it even matter" look from the doctor, who then told me it could run from $1,200 to $1,500, depending on what he had to do. I told him I needed to talk with my wife about it and he allowed me to call her. She wasn't home. I tried her cellphone, and it wasn't on. What was I to do?

Well, I have kidney stones and they are painfull! And when I am passing one I often wish I was dead. But I don't want anyone to kill me just because I have the stones. I told the doctor to go ahead with the surgery.

Rudy had the surgery today and is spending tonight at the vets. Tomorrow we will go pick him up and bring him home. It's going to snow tomorrow and I don't know exactly when I will be able to pick him up. But as I was thinking about all the money this was going to cost us at a time when we don't have a lot of money, I remembered a verse from Proverbs. Proverbs 12:10 says,

"whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast," (ESV)

I wonder if paying that kind of money to take care of some kidney stones in my dog qualifys as having regard for my beast?