A bit of philosophy

The Critter Chronicles
Mousse’s Eating Disorder and Other Bad Habits

Mousse in his later years
Sunning in one of his favorite spots

If I had thought to save a small piece of each thing that we retrieved from Mousse over the years it would have made a very interesting art piece. But, who thinks of something like that with the first incident?

The first “big” incident was when Mousse ate a tennis ball. We didn’t know about it, and by the time we figured out he was ill, he had a complete bowel blockage. I'm pretty sure he saw the light at the end of the tunnel and even glimpsed the big dog park in the sky. Major surgery and $1500 later, he was home with a big scar but having learned nothing. It wasn’t long before we began talking about Mousse’s “eating disorder”.

We got Mousse as a puppy from a breeder who raised Chocolate Labs. He always had a good home, and he always had plenty to eat, so that’s not the reason he ate anything, really ANYTHING. I came to joke about his inner puppy having been damaged, but it got less and less funny over time.

Just a couple of months after the big surgery, Mousse ate part of his purple leash. Maybe he didn’t like the color. Anyway, he chewed it up and pieces were missing. So, we loaded him into the car and went to the vet’s office. Because we had noticed the missing leash right away they could give him a shot to make him throw up. And, he did - threw up the leash pieces that is. The vet said to be really careful because it appeared Mousse liked to eat things. Yeah. That was just the start.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but Mousse kept eating stuff over and over. He even had to have a second big surgery, this time after he-who-shall-remain-nameless gave him a piece of corn on the cob to see if he would like it. He did, cob and all. Over the next couple of days we thought he had passed it. Wrong. Once again he had a blockage, and this time the corn started to ferment. Mousse almost died. Charges this time were about $3200.

We had the incident when Mousse ate a pair of my lace undies. Again, we got him to the vet quickly for the upchuck medicine. The vet tech, with whom we were on a first name basis by then, brought them out to the waiting area in a baggie and asked if I’d like them back. Ha ha. We had the time Mousse ate who knows what along with the plastic bag it came in. Scott followed him down the sidewalk in Pt. Loma pulling on the bag as Mousse tried to walk and rid himself (through the rear end) of the object at the same time. There was the time he got into a bag of cat food and ate at least three pounds before he was caught. He was bloated and emitting the worst dog gas in the world for days on end even though we kept him on a rice diet. There was the deer hoof he found, ingested, and delivered a day or so later in a roadside stop while we were headed out to shop. And on and on it went.

We came to say “that’s just the way he is“. Mousse simply couldn’t help eating things. It’s was just Mousse. Some dogs like to chase cats. Mousse didn’t. Some dogs tear up furniture. Mousse didn’t. But, he ate anything. That was his bad habit. And, we continued to love him. And take him to the vet. And worry that some day he would kill himself via something he ate. And refer to him as the $7000 dog.

So, why has it always been so much harder for me to muster up this kind of acceptance with humans? Why did my mother’s neediness drive me nuts? How about my husband’s obsessing on his diet and exercise? Why can’t I come up with the same generosity of spirit to truly say “It’s just the way he/she is,” and mean it? And, do you suppose there might be another human who finds some of MY habits irritating? Could be.

Mousse loved us with all his heart and we returned his love. Over the years we were blessed to have him in our lives, we learned many, many lessons. But, I think absolute acceptance was the biggest.

Yes, it would be a better world if
we’d all just let one another be who we are!