You know that
expression, “What’s in a name?”. Well, in the case of Diva, EVERYTHING. I first
spotted her at the HSPPR and named her before I could even bring her home.
Somehow I knew it was the perfect name for her and it did not take long for me
to find out how right I was. A day or two after I got her home she developed
Kennel Cough. I have had dogs with it before but never one who worked it like
Diva. If Drama Queen had not been such an awkward name it might have been an
even better choice. Her ears seemed to
lose all cartilage and they hung limply from her head as she draped herself
over the dog bed. She would stare at me as if her next breath was going to be
the last. And she was sick, don’t get me wrong but probably not sick enough to
rush her to the ER vet in the middle of the night or go to the vet on-call for
her regular doctor the next day as she was still languishing. It was like a
human with a bad cold behaving like the tubercular Camille in the movie of the
same name.
This weekend she
did the same thing but this time because she was experiencing discomfort in her
right front foot. Or maybe her elbow or shoulder. X-rays have been
inconclusive. At one point she simply
refused to budge and laid down where she had been standing. Then, even with no
weight on her leg , she dabbed at the floor with her paw as if the floor were
hot. I gave her pain medication but it
did not seem to help much. So we went to the vet and as soon as we got in the
door and I put her on the floor she was a different dog…inspecting all surfaces, going
into all the rooms, behind the front desk etc. Okay, she had a slight limp but
nothing like the total collapse she had at home. During the x-rays she bestowed
kisses and was as compliant as could be. We left her new fan club knowing nothing
was broken but not what was causing her pain. If she does not improve with time and meds
there will be more tests. But that may not be necessary…when I came home again
this afternoon after leaving her for a few hours she trotted right out to greet
me with only a slight limp. And I am left wondering if I need to get her an
agent or maybe she just needed the extra "props".
