dogs

What does a toenail, a car battery, and an expensive vet bill all have in common? Well, friends, that’s exactly what my husband got for the celebration of his birth this year.

Before we had kids, birthdays were a really big deal for the two of us. Now our birthdays are celebrated in between hockey and dance classes with a crappy cake from the grocery store. But this year would be different, I was going to plan a fabulous birthday dinner for my husband (read: get a babysitter and make reservations). But we know what happens to our best laid plans…

Five minutes before our babysitter was set to show up for my husband’s big birthday date night, I giggled that I was signing his birthday card with a broken crayon and was really feeling guilty that I couldn’t come up with a good gift for him. Eh, at least I had reservations to a fancy new restaurant and would make out with him after dinner. That would totally make up for my crayon scribbled card and lack of an inventive gift, right?

Just as I put the last xo on his card, I heard the running footsteps and the panicked cries of my son, “Mommy, come quick. Suggie is hurt!”

Racing downstairs, I ran every scenario over in my head. Maybe our old dog got into a fight with that creep poodle across the street, or maybe that Yorkie from three houses down finally got revenge for all the time Suggie pees in his yard. When I hit the bottom steps I found what can only be described as a horror movie: blood up and down the staircase. It could’ve been a scene from The Walking Dead (minus the zombies and Daryl)

Her toenails had gotten too long and when she was running up the stairs, one got caught in the carpet and………. *shivers*

You would think after having two kids and several undesirable situations with bodily fluids I could handle this from my dog, but then you would be totally wrong because I was feeling woozy and was going down for the count. My husband had an injured dog in his arms, was blocking kids from the bloody mess with his body, and used his foot to prop me up from sliding down the stairs. And they say men don’t multi-task.

Aaron carried a towel wrapped Suggie out to his car and I ran after them clutching tissues and credit cards knowing both would be put to good use at the after hours emergency vet. But I stalled when I opened the door to Aaron’s car.

There wasn’t a single goldfish cracker anywhere. How could anything we own not contain at least one goldfish cracker? At this point, I just assumed the kids shed the fish like skin.

“Babe!” Aaron barked from the back, “Let’s go!”

When I turned the key, the car sputtered and faltered.

I tried again. Sputter, sputter, sputter, silence.

The battery is dead. The battery in the freaking car is dead. Of course it is.

New plan: get into my car, spend a small fortune at the emergency vet, call AAA, spend another small fortune, drink LOTS of wine when we return home.

We handed over a sad injured dog and the emergency vet returned our gal to us looking like this:

I’ve heard that after a while dogs and their owners start to look alike. Here is Suggie all hopped up on pain meds. Oddly enough, this is exactly what I look like after drinking a bottle of wine!

While waiting for the AAA guy to install a new battery in the middle of the night, I helped myself to the wine I planned on sharing with Aaron. Because nothing says “I love you, birthday boy!” like your wife lulled to sleep on the couch after inhaling a half a bottle of pino grigo.

So this birthday celebration was an epic fail, but Suggie is on the mend, I’ve promised Aaron a do-over birthday, and to think, I was worried I wouldn’t have a gift for him. However, there are no returns on the black toe nail and car battery.

#WalgreensRX #shop #CollectiveBias

When we take our dog for walks in the neighborhood, we always get the question “what kind of dog is that?” She is the kind of dog that steals your covers at night, snores loud enough to wake the dead, and digs her little paws into your back all night long. She is the kind of dog that has barked at the mailman every day for nine years even though we assure her the man is simply dropping off the mail. She is the kind of dog that will steal your breakfast if you get up to refill your coffee, and takes a few sloppy licks from your kid’s ice cream cone when they turn their head. But more importantly, she is the kind of dog that is thrilled every time you walk through the door (even if you just step out to get the paper). She is the kind of dog that is more than just a dog, and when we have a sick pet, we’ll do anything to make her feel better because she is truly part of our family.

She also is the kind of dog that when we make Christmas cards, we do things like this:

While her full name is Sugar Ray, she is just Suggie to us. Even though she was our first “baby,” she has taken well to her role as big sister to our kids. When we brought our son home from the hospital almost five years ago, Suggie had the tiniest bit of gray on her muzzle.

Now she’s showing her age and the stress of raising kids with a pure white beard. Don’t worry Suggie, I feel the same way, but hopefully I don’t have nearly as many grays as you! Don’t let her age fool you. She still finds her way onto my side of the bed, into my purse for a snack, and will wreck anything a little too fragile. Adorable, yes. Graceful, no

After a few years of visiting the vet for normal check-ups, we found ourselves frequenting the veterinarians office because our girl started having seizures. I’ll be honest, I was scared. Really scared. Scared that my vivacious dog would never be the same. Scared that I wouldn’t be able to care for her the way she needed.

Our vet assured us that with daily medication, she would continue being the nightly bed hog we’ve grown to love and adore.

However, this also meant Suggie would be on medication like Phenobarbital for the rest of her life. She may be a member of our family, but she isn’t covered under our family prescription plan. Luckily after chatting with the pharmacist at Walgreens, I learned a few things about medication for dogs.

Did you know some medicines can be made with beef or chicken flavor ? Really, it’s true! Better tasting medicine aside, even though it’s the same medicine, you can save money on most of pet prescription at Walgreens. The pharmacist said the markups are higher at the vet’s office and there’s usually a dispensing fee. Since Suggie is taking mediation every day and needs regular refills, we’re saving money at Walgreens.

Last week I had to pick up medicine for my daughter and grabbed Suggie’s refill while I was there. With the Family Prescription Management, I can manage our entire family (including the four-legged one) online. Plus it cracks me up to see Suggie’s full name on her prescription bottles.

Added bonus to make my life a whole lot easier: Refill Reminders so I’ll never have to remember to refill her pills again! The Walgreens website is really easy to use, and by signing up as a Balance Rewards Member, we are saving even more money. I even downloaded the Walgreens app so I can take care of everyone’s prescription right from my phone!

So nothing is slowing Suggie down, and really, we wouldn’t want this crazy,old girl any other way. But she wants to know if you are going to finish that sandwich?

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