Roly Day

After a week of knowing something is wrong with Roly, our little boy dachshund, and continually getting the message NOT to take him to the vet, I finally got the go ahead from inner guidance, and decided it was time to look once more for a holistically-oriented vet here in Denver. The last time I tried to find one was when our dearly departed Luna was very ill, and the “regular” vets ran out of things to try for her, and when I couldn’t really find a holistic vet with a broader repertoire, I ended up taking her to a classical homeopath, who prescribed remedies that didn’t seem to help her much if at all. Not dissing homeopathy—it just didn’t do the job in this case. I thought about taking her to Boulder to see Dr. Silver, a well-known holistic vet in the area, but for various reasons, that turned out not to be the right thing to do, either. So, in that case, I took matters into my own hands and brought her back from the brink based totally on my intuition about her treatment, and she lived another 8 weeks—a great 8 weeks—before her time on the planet with us finally expired. I never had a moment’s regret about the choices I made at the end of her life—I was really in touch with my intuition and all kinds of things lined up to confirm that all was in harmony with the timing, etc. Very empowering.

Anyhow, I haven’t been too happy with the vet clinic we’ve used for years—bought by a corporation, lots of changes, one of our favorite vets left, etc.—so I just didn’t want to take Roly there with a somewhat mysterious ailment. I had thoughts of test after expensive test and them still not having a clue and ending up with them wanting to put him on steroids or something. Sooooo, last night, I set about finding a new vet in earnest, and was thrilled to find a couple of new options. The one I chose is not too far away (there was a closer one, but every time I thought about that one, I felt my solar plexus shutting down, so I took that as a sign that it was not in alignment with Roly’s highest possibilities). So we went to see Dr. Kris Abbey today, and it turns out that Roly apparently has a back injury, which surprised me a little bit because I am very dachshund back-savvy, having had not one, but two dachsies crippled from spinal disk problems. I say “apparently” because she could not see a rupture from the x-rays, but saw some narrowing of the space between the disks in the area where he seems to be extra tense. His symptoms are not really consistent with what I’ve witnessed before with dachsie back issues—thankfully, they are not nearly as drastic. He won’t use his tail, he whimpers and balks at the one step from the back patio into the house, and sometimes when he’s walking, he’ll whip around and check his rear and just sit down. But Dr. Abbey says he does, indeed, have a back issue, and though the radiologist won’t be available to interpret his x-rays thoroughly till Wednesday, we are proceeding as if he has a disk problem. He had his first acupuncture treatment today and he was so great during it. I think he might have felt a little better afterward—or maybe he was just so glad to get out of there and get back to the car there was an enthusiasm for walking that wasn’t there when we arrived! I'm just so happy that we have a plan--we're going back for more acupuncture and the verdict from the radiologist on Wednesday. Meantime, lots of rest and I'll be oiling him with a blend of essential oils known for helping with back problems.

Interestingly, today was Roly’s “Gotcha!” day—the anniversary of the day he came into our lives in 1999. When we moved into our house and could finally have more than one dog, I put my intention to have a little boy dog in high gear. I diligently did all the research, checking into dachshund rescue, and there didn’t seem to be the right dog available in Denver. I found what I thought was just the right one through Hearts United for Animals , a wonderful no-kill shelter in Nebraska, but they needed someone local to do a home check for them and there was no one they knew of that was available, so things were stalled until someone could be found to do one. On Nov. 9, 1999, I wrote a “put up or shut up” letter to God saying, “Look—I’ve been patient, I’ve done all I know how to do. But I want my dog and I want him NOW or I want to lose the desire for him!” The next morning, the Colorado Dachshund Rescue lady I had left a message for a few days earlier finally called back and when I told her the situation, she said she’d be happy to do a home check as a courtesy to HUA, and that she’d be right over. When she pulled up, out came an adorable little 7-month-old black and tan puppy on a leash and he pranced up to door and into my heart. He’d been living at the rescue vet’s clinic in a cage and the rescue lady “just happened” to have picked him up on the way over so he could get out and get some fresh air and attention. When I heard he was living at the vet’s, I called Rick to see if we could foster him until “our dog” arrived. Wise man that he is, Rick said, “Sweetie—maybe he IS our dog!” and I said, “Oooooooh. I think you might be right!” After months of being shuffled around from foster situation to foster situation, Roly finally had a home! Here is a photo of him with Luna the day after he came to live with us.