NATIONAL MUTT DAY, by Barry

Today is National Mutt Day, but more importantly, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!  Yep, I'm in the double digits now -- a big 10 years old!  I think it's especially fitting that they chose December 2 to be National Mutt Day, since it's my birthday, and I am such a handsome mutt myself.

It turns out that National Mutt Day has been going on since 2005, but Mom and I only just found out about it this year.  It was started by a woman named Colleen Paige, who is an animal welfare activist.  She wanted to promote the adoption of mixed breed dogs in shelters, since sadly, they make up the biggest percentage of dogs that are euthanized.  I don't even know why anybody would want to adopt a purebred dog, when they could have a perfectly nice, incredibly cute mutt instead!  I guess I will never understand humans.

The National Mutt Day Mascot this year is a dog named Tyler.  He is 4-1/2 years old, and he is probably a mix of hound and pointer.  Tyler's mom is an Emmy-nominated actress named Charlotte Ross, who is totally gorgeous, as you can see from the photo.  I think that I should have got to be the Mascot for National Mutt Day, since it's my birthday, but Mom says there is no way she could look as pretty as Ms. Ross, so I am out of luck.

Anyway, Tyler was adopted from the South Center Los Angeles City Shelter.  He loves treats and he loves swimming.  His mom has a real swimming pool, which is something I wish we had, but Mom says we can't afford one.  Tyler also really likes to play with his human brother, Max, and with his doggy brother, Taco.







But that's enough about Tyler and National Mutt Day.  Now I want to talk about ME, because it's my birthday and I'm allowed to do that!  And the fact is that I have had a truly lousy two days, and today will probably be just as bad.  It all started Tuesday night, when my stomach felt icky, and I threw up.  Mom was annoyed because she was busy watching a TV show at the time, but she didn't really have to do any cleanup work, because I took care of it for her, and Piper helped a little, too.

Then pretty soon, I threw up again.  Mom managed to get a little of the puke away from me, and she flushed it down the toilet.  But I ate quite a bit of it.  And then I puked again while Mom was cleaning out the kittens' crate.  After that, we all went to bed, and slept until about 4:30, and then I puked one last time.

So on Wednesday morning, Mom called Dr. Patricia's office first thing to see if she should bring me in, and also if I should get any breakfast or not.  Nurse Debbie gave me an appointment for 9:30 and told Mom not to feed me, but I did manage to grab a mouthful or two of Piper's food.  Also I ate some poop out in the yard.

Dr. Patricia examined me, and she pulled some poop out of my butt, which was pretty embarrassing, and the poop had something in it that Mom thought was part of a blanket that is on the floor in her office.  Then Dr. Patricia took two x-rays, and she thought maybe I needed surgery because the "gas patterns" in my intestines showed that I had a blockage, or was about to have a blockage.  But Dr. Patricia wanted a second opinion from a specialist, so Mom and I went home to wait for the verdict.

We waited a long time, and then Mom went to the Humane Society board meeting, and we were still waiting.  It turned out that the specialty clinic was getting reorganized because they have a new owner, so nobody got around to looking at my x-rays until 7:00 or so.  And whoever finally looked at them said that I did need surgery.

But since Dr. Patricia's office was closed by then, she and Mom agreed that Mom would just watch me very closely all evening, and if I got really sick, she would take me to Mission MedVet for surgery.  But if I didn't get sick, Mom would just take me to Dr. Patricia's office first thing in the morning for more x-rays.

So what happened was that I had to spend all of yesterday at the office getting IV fluids, but I didn't have to have surgery because my x-rays looked better than they had the day before.  Another chunk of fabric came out of me, but it took a long time for Mom to figure out what it was.  Then finally, when we were getting ready for bed, she realized that it was part of a different blanket.  Of course, I have eclectic tastes, so I can't limit myself to just chewing on one particular thing.

Anyway, I have to go back to the clinic again today, which I am not happy about because it's my birthday, after all.  I don't know if I will stay all day or not, but I have to get a bunch more fluids, which is pretty boring because all you do is lie around in a cage all day with a cone on your head.  Mom says that my birthday present is that I don't have to have surgery, but that doesn't seem like a very good present, if you ask me.  I'd much rather have a nice squirrel to eat, or maybe a rabbit or a fish!