The third shoe drops

Poor Cotton, he can't seem to catch a break lately. First, he spent most of the spring and summer in a constant state of panic. It took a quite while, but we eventually found the right drug and dose to keep him calm and happy.

Then he developed an ear infection. We caught that fairly quickly, but ear infections are never a romp in the park.

Silly me, I thought he was finally on the mend. It's been weeks since he's had panic attack, and his ears and eyes are clearing up. Winter - the season, not the cat - is thinking about arriving, and Cotton's slowly oozing into hibernation. Cold weather dog, he's not; and he's OK with that. He's all about lounging around under the blankets and taking it easy.

Then, the other shoe dropped. That's right. I forgot that bad things happen in threes.

Today, Cotton woke up in pain. He's crying out and yipping in pain any time that he sits, lies down or switches positions.

Off to the vet we went...

Have I told you about our vet? Very nice lady. Very compassionate, good listener, and a very talented veterinarian. She's also a mother of 4; which is important to me because I, personally, will be financing three of her children's' university tuition. I suspect that if I added another dog to my home, she'd add another child to her family.

She checked Cotton out, watched him walk around and asked him where it hurt. It turns out that he has either pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in his left shoulder. She doesn't think it's overly serious, and expects him to feel better in a day or so. In the meantime, she sent us home with some pain killers for the little dude; and instructions for the owner to - and I quote - let him be a dog. No crate rest. No lifting him up onto places he can jump himself. No carrying him around.

I know she means well. I truly do. But. When you've got an 8 pound dog who has gone through so much in a matter of months, how do you not baby the heck out of him?