MILLION $ DOG

This is Cidney our bullmastiff. We refer to her as the million dollar dog. A little history why. Cidney was born Aug. 1st of 2001, she became ours when she was 8 weeks old. Cost.. $200.00

She was a smart dog getting the potty training down the day we got home. Then... recurring bladder infections for the first 6 months of her life, living on drugs. We had her to numerous vets who couldn't figure out why. The greatest vet that we used was back in California so a phone call I made. I was willing to take her out there. Good news tho... Dr. Dave was returning to Cody to start his own practice. He found the problem. Stenosis of the vaginal structure with puppy vaginitis... what is this, her vaginal opening became restricted further down the tube. After she urinated the urine would just stay in the tube and cause infection. How do we fix this? Spay her. It worked, no more infections. Yeah!! Now we think nothing else can go wrong. Ha Ha! She comes up lame on her right front leg. Back to Dr. Dave. X-rays couldn't quite tell us what was really going on. Dr. Dave wasn't sure if it was shoulder or elbow. He told us about Dr. Taylor at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver. If you watch Animal Planet you may have heard about the vet clinic or him. The show is called Emergency Vets. Dr. Taylor is the older gray haired gentleman. Wonderful guy. You quessed it, we are making the trip to Denver. Dr. Taylor examines Cid and is positive it's elbow and not shoulder. A quick MRI will tell if it's the elbow. If not, to the CT machine to look at the shoulder. Hours later he shows us the pictures. It's the elbows.. Yes both of them. Bone spurs are cutting into the cartilage, so he will do arthroscopic sugery. It's genetic he tells us. Cost $3,500.00. A few days after returning home she comes down with pneumonia. An emergency visit to Dr. Dave shows that a lobe on both her right and left lung were collapsed. Now she's recovering well from surgery and it's time for therapy. We find out that Dr. Brown in Billings has a treadmill in water, so up to Billings we go on a weekly basic.

Here she is walking on the treadmill.

Loving the jets after working out. AWWW

A year later Cid goes lame on her left back leg. I suspected it was an ACL. Hello again Dr. Dave. X-rays proved I was correct. 70% torn. So in March she has surgery on that.  After two months of therapy, yes I'm her therapist. I learned all the correct ways to stretch and massage her leg for a full recovery. Maybe I should be doing dog therapy on the side.

Here she is after surgery on the left leg.

 Mom made me where dads shorts so I wouldn't lick the incision. Ha I always had them off when she got home. 

Two months later she had to have the right leg done. Dr. Dave said that the right leg would take on so much strain because she wouldn't be able to walk on the left one for a month. Cost $1,200.00 per leg. 7 weeks out of surgery, Cid goes to chase a bunny in the yard and blows out the meniscus on the right leg. Cost $980.00. I pretty much spent that summer caring for her. Stretch, massage, walk her, stretch again and then ice it down. It took at least an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. 

Here I am after surgery on the right leg.

Mom put me in little girl tights this time. How embarassing.

So we had a trip planned to go to Reno and returned to Cidney blowing out a disc in her back. Well two, one on the right side and one on left side of her lower spine. The only thing to do for her is to confine her to a crate big enough to turn around in for 2 weeks. O she hated this. She is diagnosised with Degenerative disc disease. Then Ken comes home one day after work to... blood all over the house. Looking like a crime scene, and Cidney about on her death bed. So she gets to stay the night at the vet clinic with lots of fluids pumping in her. Diagnosis...Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. For short HGE. It's and intestinal condition. Dr. Dave just loves us. We make his house payment, I'm sure of it. Or I have bought some damn good equipment for him at the clinic. I even had a plate made for him to put on maybe the x-ray machine that says, "Donated by Tara and Cidney Posey". Yes she has the thickest file at Advance Veternary Care Clinic.  Well we get by for almost a year with out any problems with her. She plays with her sister, chases bunnies in the yard, sleeps on the  sandy beach  soaking in the sun and just enjoying life. Not so fast. Today we got to go see Dr. K. (this is Dr. Dave's wife). Cidney has blown out the C-2 in her neck, still part of the degenerative disc disease. She is just a genetic nightmare. Lots of pain meds on board, steroids, and tons of love, she will have to wear a neck brace for up to 2 weeks to let it heal. So to date we have a price tag of $12,500.00 on her. I know you think we are crazy huh? Well I could go buy a car for the same price, but it doesn't give me unconditional love every day and it will die too.  She's only 7 and has been through alot. She's a tough girl with a will to live. We should have called her lucky, cuz she's damn lucky we got her, no one else would have spent the money on her.  If you knew her you would fall in love with her. Everyone who has work on her from here to Denver to Billings tells us how much they love her.  She loves anyone and is really a sweet heart. Just dealt a bad genetic makeup. You can say I'm attached to her big time. The lesson? This is what happens when you breed with in the family. Now you know why she is our million dollar dog.