Season for change

Winter is a time for changes... temperature changes and so does the whole greens around us... its a time when you see life growing. Changing from a steady pattern of growth, winters signifies rejuvenation. A time for fresh starts and new beginnings... in the nature outside and in my house too...

On the verge of a very personal change, I decided to make some significant changes to the household too... :) And Pluto proved to be the first victim... We got my darling angel "fixed". There are multiple opinions about when a male dog should be neutered...for that matter there are people who think it is not right to neuter. I'm not an expert, but what all I heard, saw and read, I was sure we wanted Pluto to be neutered. There was no way I was going through the rituals of finding him mates and runa round him cleaning up once he started to mark... It seemed more natural that we not cause him to get frustrated.

Did I have an easy way to get him to neuter? Nope. Not really. The hurdles started from my mom itself. Asking would it kill his desire to have family... how do you answer THAT? Sometimes science isn't always the best answer, you know. I had to do some real digging to let her know that Pluto will be a more happy-go-lucky after the operation. I even showed her an episode of Dog Whisperer by Cesar Millan to drive the point home. (apparently, She actually believes him more than she does her own daughters...) Well, its not to say that I was at ease with this tiny tot undergoing surgery... I spent most of the night watching him sleep-at-all-spots in the bedroom. Keeping a vigil on him to make sure he does not drink water from the bathroom faucet. (Since, the vet has set "No Food, No Water" for the night before surgery; and Pluto has mastered the art of opening the bathroom door to drink from faucet there, completely ignoring his own water bowl)

Come 10 o'clock, we were already dealing with an harranged little pup who had no idea why no one had taken him for his daily walk, and no one was bothering with his puppy eyes begging for food... My hubby loaded him in the car and headed to see his vet. After a brief encounter with a street dog and his famous dhoongu-dance on seeing his vet, his day got even a little more wierder. She gave him the sedatives. The hour I and my hubby sat outside the closed door of that operation room was creepy. I've never been a situation like that...sitting outside and waiting for doctor to come out... When she finally came out, I still couldn't bring myself to look inside. I didn't wanna see Pluto knocked out by sedatives and see his stitches and all... It was scary. It was much more scary to actually see him on the table with his toungue lolling out of the side of his mouth...not moving. :(

We waited for another 45 mins there, waiting for him to come around. And when he did, you could see that

Pluto n Amu Dee lounging on bed

he was his usual self. Wanting to investigate everything and wanting to greet everyone. Vet had said he'd be drowsy for the day due to sedatives and all... What we did not consider was his curiosity factor. My little bundle of joy spent entire afternoon, trying to walk...albeit his walk was total drunkerd... and we enjoyed his little antics... trying to keep him upright took some vigilant efforts from our side... but we managed. Post his initial efforts he did sleep through rest of the day though... which is the good part on his recovery cycle.

Three days post his surgery, I'm happy to report...Pluto is back to his own self. Jumping on people, doing his little Dhungu-Dance, licking people frociously and eating voraciously.... Yeah, there come times when I feel guilty for making him go through the whole ordeal. Especially when I see those stitches and realise that he won't be able to tell me if he's sore or in pain or just wanna ask me questions... (I know its me overthinking about the whole situation, but can't really help)

Popatrao, 3 years back

In addition to Pluto's operation, We also pre-poned my schedule for hospital admission. Which brought in the need for taking care of "Mr. & Mrs. Popatrao"... They both were on the "to-take-care-of" list for a long time. And changing circumstances at home FINALLY saw them going up for Adoption and Breeding. They've been in our household for more than 5 years now... and we've been feeling rather lost about their upkeep. With Pluto on-board, the house had become a little unsafe for them... keeping him off their scent used to be another exercise in vigilance. But that story some other time....

So coming back to the season of change... with my impending hospital visit, there is another bunch of changes coming our way... Let's see how fun or non-fun those changes prove to be... But if I've learnt anything about Pluto in my time with him... I know that he will cope and teach all of us to cope with them too...