Price of Beauty

The above is a picture of Kona lying on the couch with an Elizabethan collar to keep her from licking her wound and accidentally removing her stitches. My little Kona has been through a lot in her short life. She's had two knee surgeries, been to the ER to induce vomiting after ingesting ant bait, had a tooth extracted, and been attacked twice by the neighbor's dog. The latest incident happened at the groomer's yesterday. We had a free day on Wednesday so I called the groomer we've been going to since a hack job at PetCo last summer. Canine Showcase is just 2 minutes away, they've always done a superb job and Kona appears happy there. They were able to take us last minute. I brought Kona there at 9am and expected to pick her up at 2pm.

Mia and I spent the morning running errands and then at 1pm while Mia was napping I received a phone call from the owner of Canine Showcase saying that she accidentally cut Kona's dew claw (an appendage that most dogs have removed at birth) and that it was bleeding. When I picked Kona up an hour later, she was still bleeding and I saw that the dew claw was half cut off. I took Kona to Sunnyvale Vet Clinic and long story short, they needed to sedate her to remove the dew claw. The bill came to a whopping 525 dollars and some change! That included all the meds during surgery and post-op as well as the two follow-up visits she needs. Luckily the groomer said up front that she would pay the vet bill and I have to commend her, she was very apologetic and took full responsibility for the incident. I could tell she honestly felt terrible about what happened.

The whole incident has helped teach Mia a little something about compassion and caring for a sick pet. She kept saying, "Sorry Kona" and that she wanted to get Kona a toy.

Below is a picture of Kona's sutures.