Roscoe P. Coltrain

By: @Lymmerik

My Big Reason is Roscoe P. Coltrain! What a Critter!

Roscoe, a Cuban descent Chihuahua, was a Christmas gift from a dear friend in December, 2008. He will be nine years old October 25 this year. It is hard to believe that he will be nine! But Roscoe is not the only Chihuahua that I have. I also have Cracker Jack, Chi Chi LaRue and Pinkie Storm. But for now, we'll write about Roscoe. Roscoe, Cracker, and Chi Chi are the same age, Roscoe from one litter, and Cracker and Chi Chi (brother and sister) from another. Pinkie is Roscoe and Chi Chi's daughter and she was born one day after my birthday, making her birthday August 17, 2010. Cracker and Chi Chi's birthday is October 31, 2008, Halloween!

I love them all, but Roscoe is my Bubby, my Doodle Bug and he will not let me forget it. When they were just three months old, Roscoe knew he was alpha dog. He can put the rest of them in their place to this day. He was also the most wanderlust of the whole "pack."

Once, I guess he was six months old he got an ice cube stuck on his nose and ran around the kitchen crowing like a rooster, trying to get the ice cube off his nose. Oh, I forgot to mention that his bark sounds line a rooster clucking. Sometimes when he is startled, he sounds like Dino from the Flintstones. Well in the entire six months of his existence this was the first time he barked. We had one of those laughing fits where your side hurts so bad, but you can't stop laughing.

They loved being outside. I lived in the country, so the front yard was their territory, but Roscoe would wander off and I'd have to go up on the side of the hill beside the house to *rescue* him. He would walk back home, but only after I got him from behind a rock or from under a tree limb. He still has that wanderlust. So I started calling them back to the door of the house, calling "Check In," and to this day they still come on that command!

Recently, he got an abscessed tooth and I had to take him to the vet. the vet had to perform surgery and I gave it little thought. however, as revealed in this post from a few weeks ago, Roscoe's Surgery Post.

Long story short, the vet was negligent and gave him 1st degree burns under both of his front legs, and down his left side. It was burned down to the muscle. I exploded. It seemed that the vets heating pad had malfunctioned and was put aside. So they used linen bags of rice with a heating probe inside the rice. NO ONE monitored the temperature of the rice and Roscoe laid on it for 45 minutes. At first, it wasn't evident that he was burned, except that he was always moaning. Then three days later, it looked like he had an infection under his legs and the skin was falling off. I rushed him back to the vet and that's when they told me of the "error." Ultimately, they paid for his recovery and the surgery bill and mentioned that they would rather not be sued. Well I didn't sue them, we all make mistakes, but I am Roscoe's voice and I stood up for him.

Come to find out that this had happened to five other dogs the same day. I was so sad for them. They cannot tell us what happened, but I sure as hell will fight for each and every one of them. The vet would not give me the names of the other patients citing "medical privacy." Yeah right.

Anyway, that was 8 weeks ago and he is doing well, he has zero teeth and now he is even more spoiled rotten. He only has one more scab and the skin looks healthy. The vet said that if there were ever any complications due to the "accident" that they would see Roscoe at no cost for the rest of his life. I think the vet was truly sorry and the fact that they fessed up to it gave me assured confidence that this will never happen again.

Epilogue:
The other night I had company over for pizza and a movie, and I was cooking steak at the same time. They were bummed when I told them that the pizza was theirs and the steak was for Roscoe!

Cracker Jack

Chi Chi LaRue

Pinkie Storm

*All the images in this post are the property of me, Rickie O. Pauley, a.k.a. @Lymmerik and were taken by the same. these pics of my dogs are a bit dated, but I have a busted hard drive with recent pics on it and it is dark and pics would be horrible, so I decided to use these.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings!
@Lymmerik

@OriginalWorks