Hiya,

Haven't done one of these in forever, but frankly, after the day I've had, I need to vent!

First, about 2 weeks ago; my poor dog tore the ligament in his back leg. From the way the vet explained it, it's like what happens to football-players. Basically, it means he can't put his back-leg down anymore, and has to have surgery for it. The final cost for the surgery and everything is just over 4000 GBP! (And people wonder why more people aren't adopting dogs nowadays? Who can afford it with prices like this?)

I had to get referred to a specialist at a vet hospital, which was all the way across the city. Took me an hour on the motorway to get there. I had to go there and back at least a few times due to tests they needed to do. and consultation with me. Eventually, it was all confirmed he needed the surgery, and we arranged for him to have it done this Friday. I was going to drive there the day before, and let him spend the night there before they did the surgery, because there was no way I could drive across town so early in the morning, because they were going to start the surgery early in the morning.

But then; tonight, as I was driving home from work, my car broke down! Luckily, it happened while I was only 10-15 minutes walk from home. I got there, called my breakdown service to come help. They arrived a couple of hours later (pretty fast for them), but sadly the man could do nothing for it. He said, according to the sounds the car made when I turned the key, it's most likely my cambelt has broken. He took my car to my local garage and left it there. I have to go in the morning to give them the key and such. And, of course, this all happened on the night before I was due to take my dog to the vet hospital!

I spoke to a neighbour, and they said they'll see about giving us a lift there themselves, or if not then with a friend of theirs. They'll let me know tomorrow morning.

Oh, and the average price for replacing a cambelt in a car is about 1000 GBP, or most likely more!

Needless to say, this month has not been my favourite one of the year so far.

00000000000

Further life update! I just brought my dog Prince home from the vet hospital after he had his surgery. Poor guy is still drowsy from the sedatives they gave him, but they said the surgery was a success. The only thing to clear now is the next 10 days we have to put up with a cone-collar on him! He's constantly trying to lick/gnaw himself, so obviously I can't take it off. But, he also has trouble reaching his food/water bowl with it on, and I can't find an easy way to take it off and put it back on, so I'm nervous about trying. For now, I'm just feeding him by hand.