Woof! Furiends, may be hard to believe, in my younger days, I was a special need pet. I know, I know, hard to even imagine! Mom’s friends would not believe her; they understood that my sister, Betty Boop was a special need pet. Now that I am much older, I have special needs that humans can see and understand. This got me pawondering; what is a special need pet? What does special need pet mean exactly?
Did you know that I am a rescue from a puppy mill? I am not pulling your tail on this; Mom rescued me when I was only 8 weeks old, so afraid of the world yet not allowing the world to know, I was afraid. Early on, I showed extreme separation anxiety, which furiends is a special need, just ask any human that has tried to help us pets with separation anxiety. Sure, I was cute and adorable (of course, I still am..bol!), inside though I was a wreck! When Mom would head to the door, I would begin to howl, bite, tremble and even make “messes”; all so I would not be separated from Mom. As the years progressed, my separation anxiety became less but it was always there. Mom just learned through the years how to comfort me, Mom’s shirts were the best comfort. Sure, Betty Boop and Buffy tried to comfort me, just didn’t help as much as having Mom “next to me”. However, now that I am a senior, my separation anxiety is back and it is worse than ever, Mom can’t even leave the room without me having a pawtest. I am beginning to lose my kibble, my wits; to add to this, both my vision and hearing are disappearing too. All of this, makes me very grumpy, I don’t like this; Mom, though is right there to help me through all of this.
Woof! When my sister Carla Mae came to us, she was nasty and mean! She even bit Mom, never heard Mom scream so loud. See furiends, Carla Mae was badly beaten and this made her mean. You guessed it! Mom taught her that there would no longer be pain in Carla’s life; it took Mom years, slowly Carla came around, wanting only to be a cuddle bug. Sadly, Carla’s special needs grew from behavior to physical throughout the years. Carla, like me, has lost her sight and most of her hearing. Also, she has been fighting the nasty dude “C” (cancer); her kidneys are beginning to go to sleep as well as her liver. Just like me, her kibble is slowly disappearing, making her confused and very restless.
A special need pet isn’t always physical, furiends, there are behavioral and emotional (Ruff! some trainers out there will try to tell ya, us pets do not have emotions…talk to the paw on that one! We have emotions…have you seen all the pet videos lately? Grrr of course we have emotions…grr) special needs. If both Carla Mae’s and my special needs aren’t enough to convince you to toss the ball our way, take a look at Twinkle Star and Mini Me.
Twinkle Star and Mini Me, sure, they appear “normal and healthy”; they run around at 1,000mph, jump, bark like any other dog. Furiends, they are not like any other dog, they too have special needs. See, they are afraid of life, badly. Twinkle Star when she is afraid, she wants to run and run and run and run (hey Twinkle Star, come on back!) away from what is making her afraid. Now Mini Me, watch your ankles and toes, he wants to attack. Calm down there pupster, no one is going to hurt ya’. Mom sure does have her hands full with those two, doesn’t slow her down at all, she just uses different approaches for them to help build their confidence.
Of course, there are the physical special needs too; blindness, cancer, hydrocephalus, IVDD, cataracts, glaucoma, seizures, kidney disease, liver disease and the list goes on. Believe it not, Mom has nursed us through these; this includes my late sister, whom I never met, Gizmo. I am told that Gizmo was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Doc told Mom Gizmo would go to the bridge quickly, didn’t happen. Gizmo’s love for our Mom was so strong, she lived almost 1 yr after Doc told Mom. Woofeee!!
See that is the thing, regardless of what our special need may be, we just need a chance and lots of love. As Mom says, when those two are in motion, the rest will figure itself out. Would wuv to hear from you; do you have a special need? What makes it pawsome to have a special need (shhh don’t tell Mom, we are pretty down with all the fuss and attention she makes over us…pawsome it is!)? Has your special need slow you down.
Well, time for my nap…catch ya’ in the yard later.
Mr MaGoo
