Ducky was snuggled into my left arm for a good cuddle. I thought about how affectionate he is and how happy and excited when I come home at the end of the day.
I thought about the way dogs love people, and then I thought about the way we re-home dogs as if their feelings or attachments don't exist or, if they do, as if they are of little to no importance. It's something we rarely consider when we play god with a dog.
What must it be like for pets to be torn from people and sometimes other animals they love and plopped into homes with new people?
We know they appear to transfer their affections quite easily, as if they've forgotten all about their previous owner. But is that really the case? Or do they grieve, and wonder why, and struggle to adjust, and fear the next great upheaval? We're told that dogs live in the present moment, and I'm sure they do to a great extent, but I'll wager there's more to them than that, too.
***
Scott has had Ducky to the vet again, and more medications came home, but Ducky is still scratching to beat 60. Yesterday he scratched above an eye until he drew blood. We are beyond puzzled. Scott has been doing internet research for months, trying to find home remedies for relief of symptoms, and so on.
The vet insists Ducky doesn't have a mite or parasite, that he is allergic to something. But what? I took away a fluffy blanket I gave him in the fall; maybe there's something in it that he reacts to. He is eating all different food now; lots more real meat, less commercial crap.
Maggie the Librarian says she had a cat that was allergic to flea bites. One bite and it drove the cat crazy. There have been no fleas seen here, but around the time Ducky started scratching, I had a couple bites on my right arm that could've been flea bites; according to the internet, that's what they looked and itched like. It was well past mosquito season. Scott thinks it a coincidence and discounts it. I wonder.
