Even Leapin' Lillys Get the Blues

Ever notice how some days are better than others and some days just plain suck?  Today, for instance, was a great day for the humans in our household.  It started out with an early morning knock at the door from the Furnace Guy who came to blow out about 20-something years worth of built-up dust bunnies and debris from the furnace ducts.  That's a good thing; kind of like clearing out the sinus cavities of the house.  With the new furnace we had installed last week, the ducts needed a good nose blowing.

In the larger picture of the past week or so,  we've been nursing the respratory systems of our dogs, Miss Lilly Leapinhopper and Miss Shela.  While Dave and I were in Southern California for a few days last week, Lilly and Shela had their first ever experience staying at a dog kennel.  This particular kennel got high ratings from personal friends who board their own dogs there, so we didn't have any concerns about the quality of the facility.  Being the good Doggy Mommy that I am, I made sure the girls both had all the appropriate vaccinations in the appropriate time frame before their scheduled stay.  A couple of days after our return, both dogs started coughing and barfing.  A quick trip to the vet revealed they both had "Canine Influenza", the dog equilivent of the Swine flu.  My joy at having found $100 round-trip airline tickets for our trip last week were quickly dashed when I got the $277 vet bill for the dog's exams, antibiotic shots, and medications.  And this was on top of the $250 it cost to board the dogs at the kennel for 4 days.  All I can say is "Ouch!"  The dogs have been on their meds for 6 days now.  They're still coughing, but seem to be slowly getting better.  Funny thing is, this initial trip to the kennel was to be a sort of "trial run" for the bigger trip we have planned in a couple of weeks.  The trial run was an initially apparent success with the dogs happy to see us when we picked them up and receiving great comments from the kennel staff.  I'd say the experience was nearly perfect, aside from the dogs contracting this very nearly fatal disease.  And I won't even get into how one of our cats nearly cashed in the last of his 9 lives while we were gone.  Countdown to our next trip is on.  They say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  I sure hope that applies to animals as well!      

                                        

"What? Us worry?"  all photos by Deby Alm http://www.flickr.com/photos/debyc/