Our poor doggie

Ok, so Ken decided it was time to shave Zoe completely, head to toe. She got matted pretty badly while I was away and there was nobody to take the time to comb her out. After he shaved her down, we noticed just how bad her nails were. They were so long they were curling and even growing crooked. Her "toes" were splayed out funny to accomodate the length of her nails, and 2 were so long they were curling under her pads and pushing into them. There's no way she hasn't been in pain! I've taken her to PetSmart because it grosses me out to think I might cut her quick when I cut her nails. They have barely been cutting anything off because her quick is so hard to see, but now I'm sad because there's no way she hasn't been in a lot of pain. I ordered a Peticure last week and it's on its way. It will round off her nails and will also eventually reduce the length of the quick so her nails can be shorter and shorter. Perhaps this pain has been her problem!!!! She has the skinniest legs I've ever seen, I'll try to get a picture and download it, she looks like a rat. We also brushed her teeth. I swear she feels better already. Who wouldn't, after a full day of spa pampering?

No, I'm not one of those people who thinks their dog is a person. I have four kids, not five. I don't dress her up and take her everywhere with me. I just feel like she's in my care and depends on me/us for everything, and we need to do a good job for her sake. I think it says a lot about people how they take care of something/someone helpless in their care. We have two parakeets and one a long time ago jumped off my shoulder and hit the hard tile floor. (With his wings clipped he couldn't fly, or even "fall with style".) He broke his leg and split the skin open on his chest. We took him to the vet, who x-rayed his leg, gave him an antibiotic, and stitched his chest closed. The vet also put a small cast on the bird's leg. This cost over $140. Keep in mind that parakeets cost about $20...and they all look alike! But we just had to take care of him, it was our responsibility. In this picture you can see the "cast" and a little of the stitches on his little chest. His name is Sam and he is still with us. We've decided he needs to live at least 20 more years after what we paid to have him fixed up!