Our Loving Sidekick

Recently we discovered that our 5 year old dog, Dante "Dewey" will need TPLO surgery. A few weeks ago he went on a long run with my husband. After the run he began limping around the house and not putting any weight on his left hind leg. We took him to an orthopedic veterinarian who ran tests and evaluated that he completely ruptured his cranial cruciate lligament (CCL).

Some dogs can recover without surgery, but that's not the case with Mr. Dewey. You see, he's had chronic environmental allergies all his life and has been on steroids since he was 9 months old. Now his lifetime of drug usage is catching up to him by affecting his knee ligaments; preventing scar tissue from building which will lead to arthritis. With surgery arthritis issues will be delayed. He will also be able to run again and play, and have a better quality of life especially because he's still fairly young.

Currently our little guy is fighting a Staph infection due to skin allergies. He is yet on another type of steroid and antibiotic for at least 4 weeks. This means another visit to the specialist to access his infection and to fully make sure he is in the clear for surgery. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this round of medication will fully clear the infection. Time is of the essence here, especially since we are moving overseas even sooner than expected (another topic to blog about). Which leads me to the next topic: preparation of shipping Mr. Dewey overseas.

Most recent United Airlines (the airline we will mostly use) changed their pet policies. They have announced that pets will need to fly as cargo and not excess baggage. Of course the new rule will take effect before we depart. Usually flying a pet overseas as excess baggage is a few hundred dollars. Flying a pet as cargo changes the dollar amount from hundreds to thousands. There is also another issue. Airlines do not fly pets into countries when temperatures reach 100 degrees. Where we're headed temperatures reach well over 100 degrees between June-August on a daily basis. We are slated to arrive in Riyadh late June or early July. This is not looking good for our 4-legged friend. We're hoping we can reserve a flight and land in country in the wee morning hours when the temperature is around 80+degrees. In the mean time we need to focus in getting all his paperwork and shots organized, as well as certificates certified and translated so he is permitted to arrive in country.

Oy vey...when we rescued our 2-time pound puppy from the shelter we had no idea he would have so many issues. We also never thought we'd be in the foreign service traveling the world with a dog. Though for a brief moment we have entertained the idea of giving him away to a loving home, we have realized we are his loving home and ultimately can't get rid of him. We would feel incredible guilt and regret.  He has captured our hearts with his unconditional love, and even with all his issues we continue to want our Dante Dewey around.