Bo, our dog with Pica* Bo came VERY close to rupturing his intestines and dying this weekend.
He has Pica, a mental disorder characterized by the consumption of non-nutritive items and objects, such as chalk, sand, and clay. It's commonly found in dogs, and can include other objects such as wood, plastic, paper, metal, leather, fabric--essentially anything that isn't food.
Bo has torn apart our wood privacy fence and eaten it. Ditto for the huge wooden hot tub outside. He eats tennis balls, toys, our couch, two upholstered chairs, paper, collectibles, leather, cardboard, his bed, shoes, pool equipment, pool floats, concrete, and a dead cat he found in the yard.
We found him in our yard two years ago and took him in. No one claimed him so we kept him. He's been the most challenging dog I've ever had. The hubs and I have to be CONSTANTLY diligent about not leaving things where he can take and eat them. But it's virtually impossible to keep Bo from eating weird shit that he shouldn't.
Right now he's on the third day of his stay at the animal hospital for a stomach/intestinal blockage. One of the things he wasn't supposed to eat got lodged in his GI Tract. The vet removed it, but unfortunately his intestines were damaged and couldn't be re-sectioned due to their proximity to his pancreas. If he continues to progress as well as he has, he'll have a 2nd surgery tomorrow to remove the drain from his abdomen. The cost for his medical treatment has already reached $2500 and is expected to rise to $3K or more.
If you'd like to help us defray Bo's medical expenses, please buy my books. I have two novels in print and eBook, and two short story collections in eBook. If you don't read, consider giving a book as a gift. Ditto if you've read all of my work.
All of our dogs and cats are rescued strays or shelter adoptees. We try to do our part in reducing the number of homeless animals, but it's often a thankless job. My dad used to say, "No good deed goes unpunished." Well, we felt sorry for little Bo when he wandered into our yard two years ago without a collar and his bones showing under his skin. He was six months old. My guess is that he ate the wrong thing too many times and someone turned him out. Believe me, it's been tempting to take him to the shelter many a time.
But we didn't and now we're paying the price for helping a poor dog with a serious mental problem.
So, if you'd like to help us help Bo, please buy my books. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, Kobo, and Books-A-Million. You can also check my publisher's website for other online ebook retailers. www.worldweaverpress.com
Thank you!!
And Bo thanks you! Woof!
Later...I wanted to add that while Bo has been the most challenging dog I've ever had in my life, he's also the most affectionate dog I've ever had.
He's seventy-five pounds of cuddle-puppy and still climbs onto my husband's lap in his recliner as if he were still a 37# pup. He loves to give big slobbery dog kisses and gets so excited when my husband comes home from work that I think Bo's tail is wagging his body instead of the other way around. He absolutely adores our other dog, Moxie. As Forrest Gump would say, they are like peas and carrots. It was love at first sight for those two.
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