A bad Country/Western song....

Sometimes it feels like I'm livin' a bad Country/Western song...

Just tryin' to get by

livin just right,

daughter's been home sick,

oh yeah, and my boy too..

feeling quite ick.

Hurt my back,

and oh

tryin not to talk any smack.

Yeah we're tryin' to live just right,

and then one night

Rosie gets a terrible fright,

cause, well ...

The neighbor ran her over!

Yes, you read that right! My beloved Rosie, who has recently saved me from disaster, twice, got run over!  Blessedly, she is fine, feeling quite sore and has a terrible case of road rash to the cheek, but she will be just fine!  One of her friends (a dog that walks the road quite frequently) came to visit and Rosie forgot to look both ways, and our poor Veteran neighbor, who is a dear friend of ours, ran her right over.  Thank god she missed the tires entirely, and pretty much got rolled by the Jeep, or we would have lost her, because he told me he never even had time to hit the brakes.

So, this brings up a couple of points.  First and foremost, if you live near a road like I do, never get lax in your doggy rules.  Rosie is not normally outside without an adult just in case something like a visitor coming by should happen, but with my back recovery and her missing her outdoor play time, she was out with my son watering the other dogs in the pen, and well, obviously accidents happen.

Secondly, I thought I would share a few things about my "vet kit".  It is an old briefcase that I store all of my emergency animal supplies in, and have found myself  on more than one occasion very thankful to find in one handy dandy place; like yesterday.  There have been multiple times that I have simply hollered at the kids to grab my vet kit, and they know exactly what to get and hopefully where to get it from.

My supplies include:

~Betadine (one of my very best friends, I must say)

~vet wrap (like a sticky ace bandage made for animals, I have found it quite handy for kids too!)

~pro-biotic (the best that you can afford, it lasts a long time, and when you need it, you will be oh so thankful you have it!)

~pain meds for your specific breed (cat, dog, llama, horse, whatever...but have some on hand)

~Bufferin for dogs (specifically Buffered aspirin guys, dogs can die from other pain meds, careful, careful!)

~rubber gloves (have to admit...quite a few of these I have gotten from my doctors office over the years, believe me, that's the least they owe me!)

~antibiotics (now this is a tricky one, and I only have them for emergency purposes, do not use them unless your are sure.  I firmly believe the over-use of antibiotics is the root of resistant bacterias/viruses.)

~Acepromezine (doggy valium) I keep this on hand for things like clippings or severe thunderstorms or like last night when I was concerned about Rosie needing it for when I was caring for her wounds.  I ended up not using it, as I was concerned about internal injuries (didn't want her blood pressure to drop too low), but it is great to have on hand.  This is a prescription drug, so talk to your vet about this very safe medication next time you are there if you have a nervous type of dog; believe me, in a pinch you'll be glad you did!

~ syringes for measuring and dispensing medications

~hair clippers

~Last and certainly not least is some sort of wound ointment, I believe the one in my kit is NWZ.

Okay, so there you have it; if you own pets, you need to own an emergency pet kit.  Some folks may not feel comfortable going quite as far with emergency care as I do, but it has so far saved me a ton of money.  All of these supplies (except for prescriptions) can be found at your local feed store or even online and you sure don't need anything fancy to carry them in as you can see.  Make sure your family knows where the kit is located, and have somewhat of a plan in mind, and above all avoid panicking!  Then just have a panic attack that night when you go to bed like I did-ha!  Mostly kidding.