Mavis Mail – Aubre From Louisiana Sends in Her Pug and Hen Photos

I recently received an email loaded with pictures from One Hundred Dollars a Month Reader Aubre who is a Veterinarian in Louisiana. To be honest, it was more like a good book about how she came to own 3 pugs and I couldn’t stop reading it.

So grab a cup of tea, and get cozy, it’s a long one.

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As a child, my husband wasn’t able to have dogs (or cats, or hamsters, or anything else with hair for that matter) due to his dad’s severe allergies.

I learned of his desire (or rather, obsession?) for a dog – I mean Pug – while we were dating in college.  As a future veterinarian, I constantly reminded him of the many different health issues Pugs are faced with.  Anytime he brought up the subject, I would rattle off my list:  “There’s skin problems, chronic ear infections, dental disease, their eyes can fall out … and don’t even get me started on the snoring!” {Oh my word, our Lucy totally snores!}

{Cayenne}

The years passed by.  I finished vet school, and shortly after we were married.  We adopted 5 cats, and then a parakeet named Peep adopted us in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (that is a story in itself!).  When we had our daughter in 2006, our family was complete.  Or so I thought.  A few years later, we moved into a new house with a very large fenced backyard.

I still  lobbied against having a Pug, but my husband had adopted a new tactic – flattery.  He started saying things like, “I know that Pugs are prone to certain health problems, but that’s why I have YOU, a wonderful veterinarian, to take care of it!”  How can you argue with that logic?

And then it happened.  It was December 2008.  I left my work during lunch to run to town and do a bit of Christmas shopping.  I returned to my office to find my entire staff huddled around a cage, staring intently at a dog inside.  I walked up behind them, confused, and said, “What are we all looking at?”

They all turned around and started talking at once.  “Please don’t be mad, Doc!”  “She just looked so sad!”  “We had to take her in – it’s so cold outside!”  “We can’t send her to the shelter!”  I was finally able to look into the cage, and what I found was the most pitiful looking Pug ever.

{Pepper}

She was several pounds underweight, and she had a very bad corneal ulcer on her right eye (it was just a few days away from perforating, leaving her blind in that eye).  She had Heartworms and Hookworms, and too many fleas to count.  She was young (<2 years by my estimate), but had obviously already had a litter of puppies.

One of our clients had picked her up in the parking lot of a local salvage store.  The client had knocked on several doors and asked around trying to find the dog’s owner, but no one claimed her, saying that she’d been hanging around the parking lot for several days trying to scrounge up food.  And so in that moment I knew that she was to be my dog.

{Cole}

I got to work fixing her up, but I kept her existence a secret from my husband, as I intended to surprise him for Christmas.  Within a few weeks, she was perfect … well, except for the missing teeth that I’d pulled due to dental disease, and the scar on her right eye from the corneal ulcer, and the fact that she was still a bit underweight.

On Christmas Eve, I wrapped up stuffed Pug along with a giant box full of treats and other dog paraphernalia.  I had my husband and daughter (then 2 ½ years old) open the box together.  My husband, understandably confused, looked up from the box just as the dog walked straight into his arms.  That’s when the tears started flowing (although later he would claim it was an acute allergy attack).  At the age of 30, my husband had finally gotten his first dog!  He thought long and hard about what to name her, and finally settled on Cayenne.

Cayenne proved to be a great addition to our family.  She got along well with our cats and our Parakeet, and she didn’t object (too much) to being dressed up in different outfits by our daughter.

And then it happened – again.  It was July 2011.  I received a call from one of my employees about a stray dog.  “Hey Doc!  I’m here on Sunday afternoon taking care of the patients who are boarding with us, and I hear a knock on the door.  It’s the neighbor behind us.  He found this dog running down the middle of the highway.  He was hoping we could keep it till tomorrow and then have the shelter come pick it up.”  I said “Sure, not a problem.  What kind of dog is it?”  She replied, “A Pug.  Black, female, small.  She reminds me a lot of your Cayenne.”

The next day, I examined the stray Pug and found her to be in similarly poor condition, like Cayenne had been.  She was very underweight, and had a bad skin rash.  She also had Heartworms and Hookworms, as well as fleas.  Like Cayenne, she was young (<2 years by my estimate), but had already delivered puppies.  After a few weeks of medical treatment, Pepper was settling in to her new home with us.

Just when things seemed to be going smoothly with our crazy zoo of animals, it happened – again.  It was November 2012.  My receptionist handed me a message from one of my clients.  It was a very difficult decision, but she was letting me know that she needed to find a new home for her dog.  Her work situation had changed, and she felt she was no longer able to provide the best home for the dog.  He was a middle-aged black male neutered Pug, and she wondered if I knew anyone who’d be interested in adopting him.  Oh I knew someone alright.  It was just a few days later, and Cole was coming home with me.

The next couple of pictures were of our three older hens, who are not quite a year old now.  The Black Austrolorp is named Midnight, the Rhode Island Red is named Pot Pie, and the Americana is named Sam.

The final pic was taken just this past week of my son hanging out in the yard with our new baby chickens (both 6-7 weeks old).  The Light Brahma on his lap is named Gumbo, and the Barred Plymouth Rock is named Star.

I have a theory that I often share with clients, “When the time is right, your pet – and I mean THE pet that you are meant to have – will find you.  You won’t have to look far, he/she will be there right under your nose.

Whether you adopt or purchase or pick up him/her up off the side of the road, you just have to be patient and trust that it will happen in time.”  I would love to say that we are “maxed out” on Pugs, but I know my husband would say otherwise.  Besides, if history repeats itself, it’s only a matter of time before another one finds its way into our lives.

~ Aubre

{April’s Strawberry Tower}

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

• Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so,  show me some picture of how you are going about it.
• Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
• Cool Arts & Craft made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
• Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go  HERE for the official rules.