THE FUSE

Since July, I’ve had to take my dog Shelby to the vet ER twice because of breathing issues and an awful, croup-sounding cough. The first time, they told me her tongue turned blue as they were taking x-rays, so they put her in a pressurized oxygen chamber and kept her overnight. When I went to visit her in the evening and was sitting outside the apparatus, as soon as she recognized me, she began pawing at the door. I started crying and asked the staff if I should leave because I felt as though I was upsetting her. After I took her home the following day, she was so traumatized from our separation that she barely ate for the next two weeks regardless of what I tried to entice her with.