Thanks to everyone for the kind words. That picture on the bike was taken just last wednesday. My daughter thought it was the greatest thing ever to see a dog on a bike.
My wife and I were just talking about how much he had gone through in is life. Here are a few of the highlights:
He ate a fabric swatch and had to have it surgically removed from his stomach
He ate one of my wife's socks and had to have it removed along with 18" of his intestine
he always had a craving for anything paper. We have never kept toilet paper on the dispenser for our entire marriage because he would eat it straight off the roll. He once ate my letter for jury duty.
Had 2 surgeries to remove bladder stones - has 30+ each time
Started eating prescription only dog food when he was about 5 (about $40 a month = over $4,000 on special dog food)
Ate another sock, but that time I fed him a cup of Olive Oil. It shot right through!
He had two tumors removed from his stomach an neck
Developed multiple Eye diseases, Dog eye doctor specialist prescribed $127 per month. he wanted us to give him 16 different drops and creams per day. It lasted about 2 days. So he gradually went blind. he could still see light and movement, but would bark at the wall.
Lost all but three of his bottom teeth by the time he was 6
About a year ago he was diagnosed as a diabetic and required two shots per day with 14 units of insulin (cost of about $800 over the last year)
We had to check his blood glucose level on a regular basis. that is not fun. you have to clip the toenail til it bleeds to get the sample.
About a month ago he started having seizures for over an hour at a time.
And the doctor informed us that he had severe heart disease.
He actually had gotten his three year rabies vaccination and a year supply of heartworm medicine just a week ago.
We added it all up and we figure we spent just shy of $20,000 on him over his lifetime. I'm not complaining, he was was worth every penny.
I guess this is what you get with a pure bred Shih Tzu. My next dog will be a mutt.
