The trials of The Kone

Even though I now live in the city, I continue to use a vet in the suburbs, Becker Animal Hospital, for The Kone. Why? Well, they’re simply the best people ever, hands down. They took care of my Huddy for all his years, and were almost as sad as I was when it was time for him to go play in greener pastures. And even now, when I go in there with Kona, Dr. Luke fondly reminisces over how he’d always know that Hudson was here because he could hear him all the way down the hallway. Yes, my Huddy was a bit, shall we say, chatty. Not barky or whiny – he just made these sounds that sounded like a chicken or a seal, with some “hoo hoo hoo”s thrown in for good measure. Like I said, chatty.

And they got to know Hudson and me very well, because Huddy was what I referred to as my Million Dollar Baby. One ailment or operation after another, year after year. And so far, it looks like Kona is following in his pawsteps, so last week we found ourselves at Becker for Kona to have his stitches out, after he had a weird bump on his paw removed. So I’m sitting in the front waiting room, chatting with Frankie, one of the wonderful women who works there, when a vet tech/assistant brings Kona back out. Who, as usual when he sees me, acts as if we’ve been separated for months and months instead of the actual 5 or so minutes that it was.

Vet Tech: Okay, so we removed the stitches and everything looks pretty good.

Me: Great!

VT: But then it’s still swollen in that area…

Me: Yeah, I was wondering about that…

VT: And that’s normal inflammation for the most part. But it also comes about from his leg being pressed against hard surfaces.

Me: Really? That’s odd bec….

VT: So the key thing here is that he needs to stop sleeping on hard surfaces.

I’m not quite sure what my expression was, but I know it was a combination of disbelief, incredulity, amazement, and hysterical laughter.

Me: But he…

VT: That means you need to pull out every soft dog bed you own.

Me: I….

VT: And it’s very important that he have soft bedding to sleep on!

Me: Bu….

VT: No cement! No hard floors!

Me: Bu….

VT, sternly: Do you think you can make all of that happen?

Me, sighing, resigned: Sure. I’ll try.

She leaves, and Frankie then comes over to give Koney some treats. She knows us well enough to know what the real deal is, thankfully.

Frankie, wryly: So he needs to stop sleeping on cement floors, huh?

Me: Exactly.

I look down into the open, guileless face of my little conman, and I can tell what he’s thinking:

Kona: See, Momma, see how important it is to keep me in the style to which I’m accustomed? Or not accustomed, I guess. Well, you know what I mean. Hey, can we go get another petite scone at Starbucks for me, huh huh huh?

It is a sign as to how well my friends know the Life of Kona that when I posted an update about this on Facebook, they responded appropriately. Here’s the dialogue, unedited by me:

I think that kind of says it all.....