[Kathryn_V]

I am so happy to hear that they are doing ok!!!! I had the same scare turn out not so good many years ago...

Just a little story to all of you moms out there with little ones....

Princess the poodle....

We had a dog named Princess who we adopted from a girlfriend, she was a very prissy poodle! She loved her bows! She wore one at the base of each ear. She went to the groomer every two weeks for new ones and a touch up! She always looked great! Everyone made such a fuss over her! My Katie was only 5 and was Princesses favorite human! They were very close! One day Princess lost one of her bows! Katie must have found it and thought she could put it back on... This is the part of the story where you have to put yourself in the head of a five year old.... She had used rubber bands to do her own hair before and was very good at wrapping them around to make a good tight pony! So she "fixed Princesses bow. Thinking that all of it was hair she wrapped the band around the whole ear! about an inch and a half from the base. The bow was a bit off but was very well placed. It looked just fine and did not raise any eyebrows. Katie did not tell anyone that she had "fixed" the bow so nobody knew! Its hard to say how long the band was in place since Princess never onced complained. But can you just picture my face when I discovered it! Her ear was cold and hard when I was petting her... I thought... what the *&@#? I looked at it closely and about passed out! I quickly grabbed her harness and my car keys and headed straight for the vet! 10 minutes later we were discussing how we were going to have to remove the ear. How it was good that I had not taken the band off as the tissue was now toxic and dead. We were talking about how long the recovery time would be, what the effects of the sugery were. All the while I was screaming in my head about what a terrable mother and owner I was! Calm as can be but screaming on the inside! I was not sure how I was going to talk to my child about it! Infact I was not even sure at the time that she had even done it... It was after a long talk with her later that next day that I learned about the "fixing" she had done.

Needless to say, I have been a nut about rubberbands ever since! I was afraid for months that she would loose a finger or a toe or something!

Princedd recovered and with the long poodle hair managed to grow out what was left of her ear hair long enough to pass as a real ear!

She never once complained, never dug at it, never gave us a single sign... And poor Katie had no idea she was hurting her... Kids really don't know any better and that can be very dangerous! I learned the hard way!

The vet did all he could do to make me feel better.. he said that he sees it at least once a month... How sad... I wish I had taught my daughter better! But we never think of everything do we? I hope someone else can learn from my mistake...

Again... I am so thankfull that your two are doing well... I am guessing you had the same talk with your daughter that I had with mine... Its tough being a mom sometimes... Having to put ourselves in their shoes..