Yesterday morning, Gus's father had to take his devoted and adorable dog Cora to the vet in the nearby neighborhood where they have their Madrid apartment (that's Cora, with Chuck in the background).
photo: Stacco
It seemed like she'd been poisoned. In the country, where they'd been recently, there are people who put out poison sometimes for animal control, but it wasn't clear if that's what it was. His dad was pretty upset, and she was in frail shape. She is a lovely, feisty dog, 1/3 the size of either of Gus's dogs (Chuck and Boom), but totally the boss when they're all together. They love to play in the country, and have been very close for a long time.
In the afternoon Gus's dad called to say that Cora needed a blood transfusion. This local vet talked about contacting a blood bank but offered that it would be faster to get a big strong dog in, if one was available. We were out taking care of other things (more on that another time, also interesting), so we rushed home to meet him, the plan being we'd take Chuck over for the transfusion.
Gus thought it would be better (if slightly cramped) to take both dogs along with us. Boom gets separation anxiety when Chuck is gone, and if he was home alone, he might do damage. So, although his dad didn't look pleased, we shoved them in to the hatchback (under the black tarp thing, very weird) and rushed to the vet, about 15 or 20 minutes away by car.
During
the trip, Boom made a complete, anxiety-provoking nuisance of himself by keening and howling without a break. At one point his dad pulled over to make Gus sit in the back seat, so he could attempt to calm him (or just yell at him).When we finally got there, there were no other clients, so it was calm and quiet. Both dogs were allowed to go see Cora, in her little hospital cage. She was the only dog in there, though there was a street cat in the cabin below, looking like a hooker in jail. Cora was so visibly happy for the visit. As far as the boys, I imagined they understood that she was sick, and they were there to help.
Chuck is such a chaotic bundle of muscle, but he was put up on the table, got his forearms shaved, and in went the needle. Boom and I were in the waiting room right outside the open examining room, while Gus and his dad held Chuck steady on the table. Boom, predictably, would not give it a rest, howling his head off. Eventually, his dad came out and asked if I'd take him for a walk, directing me to a park a few blocks away. Boom had a little romp time, and we got to meet an adorable black Lab puppy (and her owner, who spoke English). While chatting with her, I got a call from Gus that they needed Boom right away, come back! Huh?
I got there and Gus met me outside the office. Chuck was with him, back on the leash, with two cute red arm bandages that made him look very revolutionary. As it turned out, big strong Chuck is so hyper-kinetic and tight, that they couldn't draw enough blood from him, and had to give up. Boom now had his big chance to be a hero!
Boom got hoisted up on the table. We massaged and cuddled him, and his dad covered Boom's eyes as the needle went in. Aww! It took about 10 long minutes, but they got all the blood they needed.
The boys got lots of goodies from the vet techs, and got to see little Cora one more time. Later in the evening we heard that she was home and doing alright, so it was a win! And after all the car drama and embarrassed regret about dragging poor Boom along, it turned out he'd saved the day! Yay, Boomcito!!
*of course, the title of this post is a play on this:
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