Buttercup needs Surgery and some new purchases

So I've been talking all winter about how bad Buttercup's back legs have been. The whole time I've had her she's had luxating patella in her back legs - her knee caps go in and out - but I've always been able to control it through lots of exercise - by giving her a big dog lifestyle since I've had Charlie and Daisy - we've always gone for long walks and had tons of exercise. But last winter was the first year that she started to show signs that her legs were beginning to be less than perfect - and this year they got even worse. She's at least 12 years old now, and I guess I've always known in the back of my mind that I'd have to deal with it at some point.

When I first got her in 2003 - her luxating patella was really bad, but it got better - and she's always seemed to get younger the longer I've had her - but now she's seemed to get old just all of the sudden and it's awful. My life completely revolves around her - as I'm sure a lot of you who read this blog have dogs you feel the same about. I say that "all light from the universe shines from Buttercup's asshole" - because it does.

And on April 10th she's going to have to undergo anaesthesia to have her left leg operated on - Dr. Eric Carnegy is going to do the surgery - he says they dig into the knee socket and tighten up the tendons, and hopefully that will do the trick. I took her to the vet today because I got all freaked out on the weekend - I could feel a bone on her hip - and it turns out it is her pelvic bone because her muscles have atrophied so badly.

Buttercup is such a trooper though - she's continued to put up with me exercising her, even though Carnegy says that her knees are completely out of their sockets all the time - they can't stay in at all. It's probably only the Metacam - an analgesic - that's been keeping her going - and I ran out of it last week - so that's why she went completely downhill in the last week. This weekend she didn't want to walk at all and wasn't using her left leg at all. It was awful. It is so awful getting old - but I figure that little dogs don't really get old until they're 17 or 18 - so she's got at LEAST 5 or 6 more good years left, AT LEAST.

I tried everything else, physiotherapy, seacure, glucosamine & chondroitin, apple cider vinegar, metacam, coq10, NRG dog food, every different dog food, recreational dog bones - now it's only surgery left.

So I bought a new bag - see below - to carry her around in for the next little while - I bought some other things last week too -

This is Charlie and Buttercup playing a bit tonight to show off a new shirt that I bought last week at Naughty Dog and Glamour Puss - it says "Purebred Princess" - we won't tell anyone that Buttercup's not really purebred.
More playing
This is the bag I bought - out at Four Feet on the Ground - I've decided to lessen my stance on them - I've said I wouldn't shop in there because they have a huge sign that says "No dogs Allowed in store" - but it seems that dogs you can carry in there are allowed - because I've been able to take Buttercup in there several times now, and if you're a patient of the clinic you get a 15% discount. Right now all their coats are 50% off - and they've got some really nice ones too. Buttercup here is telling Jack - "Keep on moving - there's nothing here to see!"
I've had to put carpets down everywhere in the house because with Buttercup's bad legs she can't grip anything - and I saw this little bone shaped rug at Naughty Dog last week and I HAD to buy it - isn't it cute!
And there's been some competition for the dog bed under the computer table - so I went to Wicker Emporium and bought a wicker basket and put some dollar store blankets in it - it fits the dogs perfectly! And it's a lot cheaper than a pet store dog bed!