For Love of a Basset

Since bringing home our Mollie over 5 years ago, she has kept it interesting… to say the least. The reason we got a Basset Hound in the first place, was that my husband grew up with one named “Gus”. He was a rascal, and got himself into quite a bit of trouble. His wild streak, and strong will left my husband with fond memories of his childhood pet. The adorable photos of my husband when he was young, holding an adorable, squishy basset hound puppy… that is what did me in. We acquired Mollie from a local pet store, boo, hiss. I know, I know. I won’t ever do that again! Now that we have that out of the way…

[caption id="attachment_886" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Seems harmless enough...[/caption]

The first revelation was that her front legs were not the same size, according to x-rays taken by our vet. She had to have surgery, which the pet store actually reimbursed us for! Poor Mollie. She was only 8 months old when she had her first surgery. It didn’t slow her down! After the first couple days, she wasn’t so ‘drugged up’ and she started running around on her cast… and her three ‘good legs.’ We snuggled, we played, we nursed her back to health.

I could go on for days, but I blogged about the most recent episode here. This weekend, I discussed what our ‘plans’ were before going downstairs. Once I walked downstairs, I saw her licking and licking and licking. So, I looked and she had licked herself raw – likely overnight. TO THE VET! She not only had ‘unidentified insect bites’, but we ended up getting a biopsy of two different TYPES of lumps on her body. What this means is that she has many more bumps, but only two TYPES of bumps. One type turned out to be a keratin cyst- which is equivalent to an ingrown hair, and totally harmless. The other was a tumor. The vet sent the biopsy to the lab, and luckily it’s just a fatty tumor.

[caption id="attachment_882" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Oh, Mollie...[/caption]

Incidentally, the entire experience was hilarious because the vet tech was in love with her and carried her to and from the exam room. He carried her out to the car, because, “She just LOVES being held!” I had to discuss tumors in the waiting room, while ignoring little J’s pleas to help him stuff a giant stuffed parrot into its cage and the enormous poodle sniffing me. Anyways, Mollie is just fine. For now. Everything they tell you with a Basset Hound seems to be OK ‘for a basset.’ Her teeth look fine ‘for a basset.’ Keratin cysts are normal ‘for a basset.’ It seems we are the best customers at the Ladera Ranch Animal Hospital ‘for love of a basset.’