I believe in dog.

Running behind and no time has become my standard state of affairs these days. So I thought I'd share something I wrote recently in response to a blog post over at Dogster.com. The post posed the question "Are dogs the new kids?"

Personally, I don't view my dogs as my children. Yes, I light-heartedly call myself mommy and refer to Jan as daddy but I don't honestly think Bella is my child. You might even still catch me using the word "owner" in relation to my dogs although I don't really believe one can 'own' a living being.

But not thinking my dog is a child does not, in any way, diminish her worth in my eyes. Dogs are dogs and children are children and each life has value intrinsic to itself. In fact, and here's what I wanted to share:

I believe dogs are a representation of just about every human relationship we will ever know.

As puppies, they are like children: in need of our care, our guidance, our support.

As they mature, they become more like our partners and spouses: someone we have chosen to share our life with through good times and bad, accepting them for all their faults and foibles.

And finally, as they age, they begin to represent our parents: we learn to come to terms with watching them lose their vitality and cope with their failing health. We begin to prepare ourselves for loss and a life without them.

No, my dog is not my child. But she's none the-less for being my dog.

For those of you in the know, yes, this image has been altered to protect the not exactly innocent.
Let's keep that our little secret, okay?

Lilly's Fight For Survival: She Needs Our Help

Hi friends,

We have a first here on Bringing up Bella today: a guest blogger. I'll be handing the reins over to Jana Rade from Dawg Business in just moment. But first I want to thank her for not only writing this guest post but also for spearheading the campaign to raise awareness, and funds, for beautiful Lilly and her amazing mom, Roxanne from Champion of My Heart.

When asked if I wanted to participate in a blog blast about Lilly's continued failing health, I wanted to with all my heart but, as some may have noticed, I've been pretty scarce online lately and knew I simply wouldn't be able to write a post to accurately inform everyone of Lilly's situation in time for a 'blast'. Once again, Jana stepped up and took the lead writing this post for us today.

A lot is said about the amazingly supportive nature of the pet-blogging community. I know we can rally again for one of our own and help Lilly and her mom find some sense of well-being through this. We here at Casa de Bella hold Lilly and her whole family in our hearts and we hope you'll join us in helping to ease their burden. There's a Chip-in at the bottom of this post and one over there on the right side menu of the blog. If everyone helped just a little, it would make for a lot of help for Lilly.

And now, Jana Rade:

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Have you ever lost a dog because you didn't have the money to save their life? Once I have, and once I came pretty close.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how great care you take of your dog, a disaster strikes anyway. Sometimes it won't help you that you have pet health insurance, because they'll cover only a fraction of the cost of saving your dog's life.

Lilly of Champion of My Heart, was a spirited, healthy Border Collie. She was, however, a magnet for medical disasters. Snake bites, a spider bite, things kept happening to her.


Lilly's last disaster was something nobody would expect in their wildest nightmares. On January 23, 2012, she went for her routine rabies vaccination. At first she just seemed a bit under the weather, which was not unusual for her after a vaccination. But things got worse, much worse.

Lilly was hospitalized with high fever, extreme lethargy and inability to walk. Her body reacted to the vaccine violently and she was diagnosed with vaccine-induced meningoencephalitis. Lilly spent a week in intensive care, fighting for survival.

She made it throuth the initial onset but her struggles were far from over. For half a year she was struggling on a way to recovery, paved with challenges and setbacks.

And then the inflammation struck again, with a vengeance. Lilly was rushed to the ICU once again, nearly dead. This time it was Lilly's brain stem that took the hardest hit. For several days Lilly was fighting for her life, again. This relapse was worse than the original onset.

She has survived this relapse, but her life is still hanging by a thread. On top of all the medications she's already on, her neurologist suggest a course of specialized chemo, in the attempt to get the inflammation under control.

Nobody really knows how many treatments Lilly might need, or whether this will work at all. It might be her only chance to ever recover. But Lilly is not ready to give up.

Meanwhile, the financial resources have been exhausted. On top of worrying about Lilly's health, now there is the worry of not being able to afford the care she needs.

This is a very dark place.

Can we help out so Lilly can recover?

Please read Lilly's latest update Chemo, Ho! Treating Brain Inflammation After Adverse Rabies Vaccine Reaction. To follow the full story, follow the Adverse Vaccine Reaction – Recovery from Meningoencephalomyelitis.


All photos courtesy Champion of My Heart.