Adoption

So I recently (a week ago) decided to get another Pomeranian. My previous Pom died of old age at 15 a few years ago.  Before he died however, he had some health issues just like old people do.  He had Cushings disease which cost us a bundle in doggy dermatology bills and meds over his last 5 years.  He also displaced a hip one day just laying on the floor (I can identify with that!) which cost about $800 to fix.  By the time he had all these problems though he had been part of family since he was 8 weeks old. My daughter picked him out of the litter and he grew to be a whopping 17 pounds.  Not the runt of the litter but also not a champion Pom either.  Way too big for that.

This time I decided to contact a rescue organization.  I had to fill out a long application about my house, my yard, and what hours I worked.  They wanted to know who would watch the dog when I went on vacation, if I had a gardener or pool man, and if I had pool with a fence. Sorry, no fence but dogs can swim. It was more personal than a mortgage application or a rental application. But the picture looked adorable and her description said she was three or four years old.  Perfect I thought.  Not a puppy but not an elderly dog either.

The volunteer brought her from Riverside three days ago.  She is adorable in life as well as online. The volunteer told me she had no cataracts, a benign mammary tumor and had just had her teeth cleaned. Lexi, the dog, not the volunteer, promptly made herself the alpha bitch pushing my other dog around like he was a toy.  She marked the yard as her territory and made herself at home.  Only problem is she has terrible breath and I'm not talking a little doggy breath here, I'm talking, I'll gag if I have to take another whiff of her breath. So, experienced dog owner that I am, I took her to my vet for a once over and a mouth check.

You're beginning to see what's coming aren't you. You try to do a good deed and even though it costs you a $300 "donation",  even though you have to fill out paperwork as if adopting a child for god's sake, they lie to you.  They think you'll fall for their lies or they think you'll fall for the dog and not care that they lied to you.  Frankly, I don't know what they're thinking. At this point I only care that they lied and right to my face. Did I mention I was told she wasn't a barker? Guess what..she barks...a lot.

So my vet gave me the straight poop about this little pup.  For one thing she's not a pup, she's old, about 10 years old.  For another thing she does have cataracts.  She also has severe periodontal disease which needs attention including cleaning and extractions.  And that benign mammary tumor? My vet says it needs to come out because at least 50% of the time those tumors become malignant and it might malignant now. So we're talkin' $800-$900 to fix her mouth and take out the tumor.  Who knows what other ailments are lurking just a year or two down the road? Obviously whoever had her before didn't take good care of her or her mouth wouldn't be so diseased so who knows what else could be wrong with her.

Of course now I'm in a quandary.  After 3 days I quite like the little bitch but another $800? Seriously? No one would adopt a senior citizen with the possibility of heart disease, Alzheimer's, stroke, and arthritis right? People want to adopt babies or small children that tend to be healthier and live longer.  Who wants to adopt someone who's going to die shortly? You might feel sorry for the old folks but you don't adopt the elderly even if they have no other family.  It's expensive and you won't have them that long. So then you'll feel really bad when they pass away after you've gotten to know them.  But you've known them for such a short time it'll piss you off because now you're in debt for their medical costs and damn it they're gone.

What to do? Can't win either way.  If I return her I'm heartless and if I keep her she'll break my heart sooner rather than later.