Maddie and the Vet

When I first got her I took Maddie to a clinic on Neil Street just north of Armory for no other reason than it was a convenient location. I liked the young vet immediately because she got down on the floor with Maddie and sang "Paddling Madeline Home," a song I hadn't heard of before or since. When Maddie got her first shots she made a sound like a car alarm going off, which lasted what seemed like a full minute. It made my heart ache.


When I started working at Vet Med, I was advised away from that clinic, which closed about that time anyway, and I started seeing Duane Dust, mostly because my friend Connie had taken her dog Molly there. I also relied on Connie's judgment for plumbers and heating professionals.


In 1998 I enrolled Maddie in a clinical trial through the dermatology section at the vet school. It had something to do with a certain brand of dog food. I wrote a story about it featuring a photo of, and a quote from, Maddie. "I'm so proud to be eating for science," she was said to have said.

Dr. Dust took great care of her. Over the years she had several flea infestations, chronic ear infections secondary to an allergy I never had the patience to pinpoint, an eventual bilateral ear canal ablation subsequent to the ear issues, surgery to repair a torn ACL, multiple tooth cleanings, and of course the usual complement of vaccinations. Nothing too major. The last several years of her life she was on low-dose pred, daily Proin to treat incontinence, and at the very end, a daily antibiotic and Enalapril for the kidney problems and stubbornly recurring UTIs.

The last time she had her teeth cleaned, I was standing at the counter to pay and waiting for her to be brought out. They brought a white dog around the corner wearing a VCA bandanna tied around its neck. It took me a couple of beats to recognize this as my Madeline, the once black and tan puppy.