Supreme Championship Wrestling

Story time with Ravyn (which is also the nickname I use for online gaming, not just this character, lol).

A little over a year ago (mid-January last year) my two and a half year old Miniature Dachshund Cookie started throwing up on a Saturday morning. She kept being sick intermittently all through Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday night, she barely slept, mostly just feeling cold and shaking, so I stayed awake all night giving her cuddles and telling her everything was going to be ok. The vets opened at 8:30am, and I intended to walk her in the door at 8:30. However, at 8am, she died in my arms.

For months after I was paranoid the same thing was going to happen to my Patterdale, Jax. In truth, my paranoia didn't really calm down, let alone go away, until a month later when I got a new doggo, who ended up being two doggos. I contacted a breeder the week that Cookie died and inquired about puppies they had. Picked out an adorable miniature Dachshund who I intended to name Ororo. Shortly before I was due to go visit her for the first time, I found out another of her sisters wasn't yet adopted. Long story short, they were being picky with who they sold to as they didn't want to sell just to people who'd breed them and not have them as pets. So... I made the guy an offer, and ended up with TWO new fur babies. One "red" and tan, named Ororo, and one pure tan named Maya. The breeder said he knew I'd be good for them because I was crying when I told him about Cookie.  

On Sunday night, Maya threw up. She was shaking. She continued throwing up on Monday morning, and my paranoia went THROUGH THE ROOF! I barely slept Sunday night, I just kept cuddling her telling her that I wouldn't let it happen to her. Yesterday, I took her down to the vets who gave her a thorough examination. There's an outside chance she might have pancreatitis, but it's more likely (given that she's not been sick again since) that she's either had a reaction to something or she's just got a very bad stomach. Either way, she got an injection, some medicine to take for three days, and has 2 weeks of special (and expensive) food. This is the same doggo who had an operation last month and needed 2 weeks of me stopping her running around like an idiot with the others so she didn't tear her stitches, not to mention the "I don't feel good" cuddles she seemed to need every 10 minutes.

Today, I woke up with a serious question to all parents of humans out there... HOW DO YOU DO IT?! How is it you're not terrified every time they go outside?!?! I swear, being a parent of a fur-baby is hard enough, but a human baby? I think I'd go insane with worry.

I was paranoid the majority of the time with my first son. He wasn't crying or moving when he was first born, but luckily the doctors got him to cry and move. Even with my second, I can still be paranoid. But with my first, I realized that my kids were going to get sick. They were going to get hurt. They're going to be little shits from time to time. That paranoia never really goes away, but I've learned that things are going to happen no matter what I do, or how much I try to control the situation. Now, yes. There are things I can control, and that can probably get annoying to my kids because I'm overprotective as fuck, but so be it. Some situations call for it.

All in all, I've just learned to adapt.

I literally thought to myself the entire first year, "how am I going to keep this thing alive?!" It just came with time. And I am like it with both my, for those of you who know me and want to feel old, now 10 year old, and all of my four legged babies as well. We sadly lost one fur baby last week but we immediately noticed something was wrong and acted. But when my dog was honestly on the verge of dying, I was sitting by his crate and worried constantly until the meds finally killed his sickness.

Honestly, I say this... What you are feeling isn't paranoia, it's not anything negative... It's love. It's love for your family. Whether it's two legged, or multi-llegged. We all experience this and it's shitty, but it boils down to one thing... Our love for those who help keep us happy and complete.

And let me just add, before my daughter was born I had a dachshund who I had since he was weaned and lost him 3 months before my daughter was born. He was 7 and I fell to pieces. He was my baby boy and he's still my lock screen on my phone. So like I said... It's love... Plain and simple...

<3 for the replies.

After Cookie died I spoke to a therapist who told me that she wasn’t “just a dog” but she was a family member, so yeah, you’re so right about them being family.

Also, I have positive news. Maya is near enough fully recovered. She was very unhappy for all of last week, just wanting cuddles and reassurance, but come Saturday she was back to playing again and now it’s like it never happened.

While I was out today I bought and dropped off a box of chocolates to the vets to say thank you for how nice they were, because they were amazingly nice and I wanted to do something to say thanks. And after reading this I thought I’d say thanks to you guys too.