It’s time to begin thinking seriously about having Kuma’s balls removed. He’s going on seven months now, so whatever hormones they’ve provided up to this point will have done their job in offering him a healthy life. Besides Kaizer and our very first dog, Fang the Wonder Dog, the others have been females. We never had Fang neutered, but then he only had one testicle but just having one didn’t prevent him from visiting the ugliest dog down the street when she was in heat and procreating what became our second dog, Tusk who we did have spayed.
With all the
other dogs, we weren’t allowed to bring them home until they had been spayed or
neutered. Karma was, of course, over a year old and had had nine puppies so her
being spayed didn’t raise any red flags. With Midnite, Mia, and Kaizer, we
could not bring them home until they’d had the procedure, so they were fixed
very early in life. Now I understand that’s not a good idea because it affects
the animal’s future health.
I already have
an appointment at the vet for Kuma later on this year, but the fee is $500-700
for the procedure. That’s a lot of money. A friend told me about the Seattle
Humane Society and how you can get your dog fixed for a whole lot less…$150 for
a dog Kuma’s size.
I’ve been
looking into this possibility. It’s for low-income folks, i.e., I cannot make
more than $68,000 and change in a year. Hell, I don’t make anywhere close to
that figure, so I guess I would be considered low, low, low-income. The thing
is you have to be able to get on their schedule. They open the appointments for
one day only each month. I don’t know if the appointments are available at
12:01 am or at 8:00 am of that day. I’m going to hedge my bets and try the
early time and keep at it until I get an appointment for Kuma.
Not having Kuma’s
regular vet do the surgery makes me feel a bit bad because I do like the doctor
and all her employees. Still, to be able to save up to $500 or a bit less rather
than paying such a huge sum seems to be good sense. I was telling a friend
about this today and she was horrified and offered, “I’ve got a pair of
scissors I can bring over.” That did make me cringe.
Kuma is already such a wonderful companion, I’m
wondering if having his nards removed will change his personality in any way.
We had a very nice cat decades ago that had a complete personality switch when
he was neutered. It was like we sent in a wonderful cat and got back a cat from
some horror show. A little something else for me to consider. There's also the fact that never having a male dog (Fang the Wonder Dog doesn't count) with testicles before, I have to admit they look kind of cute nestled in his feathery fur when he's spread-eagled on the couch.
Anyway, if you
rub Buddha’s belly, light candles, pray, think positively, please do so with
regard to Kuma’s upcoming appointment…I’d really like to pay the lesser figure
rather than the higher one.