Animal Insting

Anyway, Dr. Patricia cut that tiny little mole thing out yesterday. I think she got kind of carried away because I ended up with 14 stitches, just to get rid of that one little growth! And then, guess what! She found ANOTHER growth, which was teeny tiny, and she decided to take that one off, too. So I have 3 more stitches where that one was. 14 stitches plus 3 stitches adds up to 17 stitches total. It's just not a nice thing to do to a cute little basenji girl like me! Thank goodness the scar will be on my underside where people won't see it too much. Just think if it was on my face! I would be so ashamed that I would have to wear a mask!

And as I correctly predicted, they made me wear the Cone of Shame! I HATE the Cone of Shame! I never had to wear it before, even when I had surgery on both my knees. Mom did not think I would need it this time either, but they just put it on me without even asking Mom. And then they wondered why I kept trying to take it off. Did they ever try walking around with one of those things on their head? No! Gabe knows how horrible the Cone of Shame is. He tries to bite Mom anytime she goes near him with one in her hand. Gabe will usually let Mom put a Bite-Not collar on him, though. The Bite-Not collar just looks like a neck brace, and it keeps you from reaching the places you want to lick, but it does not keep you from seeing where you are going, like the Cone of Shame does.

Anyway, when Mom was driving me home from the clinic, she started trying to take the Cone off me, but she couldn't get it untied. When we got home in our garage, she had to cut it off of me with the little scissors in her Swiss Army knife. So far, I have been good about not licking my wounds or chewing my stitches. All I did was lick the blood off, which was okay with Mom because she didn't want blood on the furniture. Then I mostly slept all evening while Mom and Gabe and Barry watched TV.

I slept good all night, too. I slept on the big dog bed on the floor in the bedroom, which is where I usually sleep. Gabe slept with me so we could cuddle up and stay warm. Lately, Gabe has been sleeping in Mom's bed, but I think he felt sorry for me last night, so he slept with me. Mom got out our Winnie-the-Pooh sleeping bag that she bought at a thrift store last winter so we could stay warm while we were sleeping. It has been chilly at night lately, even though it was only August until today, when it turned into September.

Last night my surgery wounds hurt me, but I tried to be brave about it. Sometimes when I moved, though, it hurt me and made me whimper. We dogs don't like to let on that we are weak or in pain because then some predator might eat us. Here is a list of predators that might eat a small dog, if they had the chance:

1. Eagle

2. Coyote

3. Wolf

4. Bear

5. Lion

6. Shark

7. Tyrannosaurus Rex

It is a very dangerous world out there, and if you are a small dog, you have to be careful! Right here in Kansas City, some small dogs were stolen out of their back yards and eaten by coyotes. So watch out!