Manhood

Warning : Not for the squeamish. Read at your own risk.

Eddie, our dog and everyone's best friend, lost his "manhood" last Friday. To put it technically, we had him neutered. It was a difficult decision for my wife and I to make for someone we love very much but I guess it had to be done.

You see, lately, Eddie has been feeling a little more needy than usual. It is no wonder especially with our little boy in our lives. Its hard to spread the little time my wife and I have between the three. Emphasis will always be for our little boy but we are constantly feeling guilty when we shower attention on him and Eddie and Casey are somewhat neglected.

To compensate for this, Eddie has been trying to "get it on", for a lack of a more elegant term, with Casey. And Casey, being the strong feminist that she is, hasn't allowed Eddie to get his way - ever! This is apparently causing Eddie a lot of frustration and the two end up fighting regularly these days. So, we had to nip it... er... in the bud.

Eddie has his needs. And it is painfully obvious that Casey doesn't. Perhaps that is our fault too - cos we got her spayed when she was just 6 months old. We needed to help Eddie. So, we did some research on the Internet as well as gathering some background from our vet. As it turned out, the process of neutering has some benefits for dogs. For one, he will no longer be prone to testicular cancer or prostate diseases. Dogs tend to occupy a large part of our hearts but live unduly short lives. By doing this, we minimise the risk of him having diseases that are difficult to treat and ensuring that he lives a long and healthy life. Also, his "needs" will be significantly reduced thus helping him get off Casey's back - literally. One of the other minor benefits is that he will no longer feel the need to leave his calling card at every possible lamp-post.

So, after a few weeks of discussion and decision-making, we agreed to have it done. I felt bad for Eddie the night before for taking something so precious away from him. Being a guy, I would understand. On the way to the vet's, I kept patting him as I was driving telling him that it would be ok. He was dropped off at 10 am and we were told to pick him up at 6:30 pm.

Being the anxious people we are, we got to the vet's at 6 pm. I was concerned for Eddie. Although the doctor assured us that the procedure was routine and there was nothing to be worried about, it still caused me a lot of nervousness. When we got to see him at around 6:45 pm, we were met with a severely groggy Jack Russell who was just waiting to get out of the metal cage that kept him prisoner for the last few hours. His surgery went well. All that is left of where Eddie's family jewels used to be "displayed" appears to be an empty sack resembling a shrivelled prune.

As he tried to leap out into my arms in that sleepy state, I tried to grab him but flinched when I remembered that he had stitches. At that instant, I felt a pain myself - in the same "geographical" location. I think it is called "sympathy pain". I tried very hard to steady him. I think the vet saw the worry (and pain) in my face and comforted me with "dogs are more resilient to pain than we give them credit for".

This was so true. Although Eddie had strict instructions (through us) not to run around, indulge in rough play or jump around, he started hopping onto our relatively high sofa and taking leaps onto the raised up area that is our dining room a couple of hours after he got home. Although a slight limp was noticible, it was obvious the pain didn't bother Eddie too much. But not me. Everytime he hopped onto the sofa, I'd wince just thinking of the pain.

Eddie is still within his recovery period but I am glad to say that he's doing well and running around happily as though a weight has been lifted. Ok, bad joke. But I am glad to see that he appears to be calmer and well-behaved.

More about neutering and spaying can be found here.