I am Benny

I was born to a Shih tzu-Maltese mamma and a Westie-Poodle dad on October 24, 2018. I lived an action-packed two years until December 21, 2020, when I rolled up to my forever home and new family. I helped them heal from the recent loss of their senior dog who died on my birthday two months earlier. The humans took it as a sign that this was meant to be. I accompanied them in the ups and downs of everyday life thereafter.

My new family has five human members. The oldest one (he thinks he’s the Alpha… heh heh!) comes and goes because of work. He gets aches and pains from the hard work that he did, so I sometimes lend my warmth to him for comfort. He rewards me a lot with treats even though I don’t have to do anything for them.

The mom of the family works from home most of the time. She calls me her third son. I can help her keep to a schedule. I know when 5 o’clock rolls around that I need to bother her to begin dinner preparations (mine included ). I am a great carrot-tester and can read the cheese wrapper. I’m always glad to help my mom in the kitchen.

The oldest of the human pups just finished her doctorate, and I earned an honorary PhD alongside her. I experienced every up and down of her journey. Boy, things can get stressful sometimes, but it makes me appreciate the good and relaxing times more.

The second youngest human used to be at work a lot until he got sick with cancer in 2024. He almost lost his leg. He hasn’t been able to walk for over a year now but I’ve learned to stay out of the way of his crutches. He likes to read so I love to hang out with him, laying next to him in a sunbeam and listening to music.

The youngest human was sick in 2023. He was in and out of the Emergency Room while I stayed home to comfort the other members of my family. It ended up being a couple of things that were wrong with him, and one of them was blood cancer. Again, I could feel the stress and anguish of all the people around me.

I dutifully did my best to cheer people up and tried to take on as much of the stress and worry that I could. Maybe this was all getting to me because I really liked chewing on toys and no-hide sticks. I started to have a sore tooth. Of course, I couldn’t tell my people, but they knew something was wrong. After several trips to my doctor and one where I was put to sleep, they figured out that I had a tooth abscess. Boy, that felt good to get that tooth out, but I didn’t heal properly. I ended up with a fistula, so more trips to the doctor. I had to get that closed up and another tooth removed. I’m pretty sure that I had used up my emergency fund by now.

My shoulders were starting to get sore with the weight of the worrying that I was doing. It started to affect my front paw, then both and eventually my hind legs too. I could barely walk with help. I went back and forth to the nearby doctor and they couldn’t figure it out. They decided to send me to Canada West Veterinary Specialists, suspecting I may need surgery or something else. It was terrible going there and having my joints and legs moved around when I hurt so much. I had to be put to sleep a few times for different tests and I did not like it one bit. The last time though, I think was the charm. My family had phone calls with the specialist, and they said that I had IMPA. I don’t know what “LMNOP” is , but I started to take some medicine and could walk again without so much pain. The first thing I did was walk over to my toys, which I hadn’t touched in months, and brought one back to my family. I had been wanting to do this for so long and finally I could again!

The medicines that I’m taking are prednisone and an immune-suppressant called Leflunomide. I overheard my humans talking to my latest doctor, Dr. To, at one of my many appointments saying that they wish it could be less expensive. Apparently, this was the less expensive one!

We were just getting into a routine when I started to sneeze a lot. My family circled me every time I had an inward sneeze, but I really didn’t like this kind of attention. Then I started to sneeze outward, blowing out some chunks that got my family very interested. A few days later, it was blood that was coming out. Back to my doctor I went. They took a swab from way up in my nose and did a blood test. I have more medicines to take too. I would really like to get back to my old jobs of sentry-duty, food taster, and comedian. I sure hope I can soon.

Any donations will be used directly for procedures, diagnostic tests, and interventions at Canada West Veterinary Specialists located in Vancouver, British Columbia.