Louder Than Words

Yesterday, the Aggie and I paid $908.12 for Sonny The Pug to have his ears cleaned out and two teeth pulled. I nearly peed myself in the vets office. $908.12! For an ear cleaning? I was a bit shocked. As it turned out, Sonny had an ear infection of unimaginable magnitude. The poor guy was in so bad of shape that his eardrums have completely disintegrated, effectively rendering him deaf. This apparently has been plaguing STP for a number of years. (And way before he came to live with us.) Well, clearly our love for STP exceeds $908.12. He's the Aggie's best friend and constant companion. And that's not something you can put a price tag on.

Looking back at all the times I was convinced Sonny was ignoring me, it does my heart good to know that the little booger was just unable to hear my pleads for him to STOP PULLING THE COVER OFF OUR BED while we are trying to sleep! And to LEAVE THE CAT ALONE! And to QUIT POKING AROUND IN THE LITTER BOX! To think that all those times I told him to stop begging for ham and stealing packages of meat from grocery bags I just brought home from the store that he wasn't being bad. He was deaf.

The vet, who is a sweet young Aggie, innocently tried to explain to me that we could teach Sonny sign language commands. I laughed until I snorted and nearly peed on myself a second time. When I pulled myself together, I apologized for my behavior, which was clearly due to sticker-price-shock. Then I explained that in the two years STP has been with us, that I haven't been able to teach him to NOT poop on the floor. So I seriously doubt -- especially since he's 10 pounds overweight -- that a hand signal alerting that its time to eat is necessary. No, we're not going to change a thing. We're going to love him hard and make him happy.

Sonny The Pug might be a little messed up, but then again, so are we.

~~~

In honor of STP, I'd like to show you a video of what I imagine Sonny would have been like when he was a puppy. It breaks my heart to know that if we'd had him the entire 10 years of his life, he wouldn't be in the shape he's in. The Aggie and I would have given so much love and care. Nonetheless, this is a very accurate demonstration of how much STP HATES cats, including his sister, Gertrude. Its a different pug and a different black and white cat, but the hatred is the same. (Also, at our house, the cat still wins.)