I’m just back from walking our dog. My wife, Laura, rescued him about a year ago. When she learned , his name is Toby, like Tobias, she thought it was a sign that he was the dog for us. We’ve had dogs before, but neither us is getting any younger or healthier. I wondered, could we handle another pet?
Toby is very cute, but he’s very stubborn. When you walk him, it’s his way or the highway. Toby is also very loud; if you’ve ever heard a Yorkie-poo bark, you understand. And then there’s this: Toby was never completely potty trained. He’s an 8-year-old who wears diapers when indoors.
Let’s go for a walk
We walk Toby four times a day. Each time can be a bit challenging because it requires me to bend over the side of my scooter to pick up the poop while holding the leash and a cane in one hand and a poop bag in the other. (I’ve already had one scooter topple in the past six weeks, without any animal involvement. I don’t need another.)
But this little guy is such a mush. I mean, just look at that face. He’s sooo hugable. And Laura is head over heels in love with him. (Happy wife, happy life, you know.) But the dog isn’t a solo act.
Meet Freddie Mercury
There’s also the cat.
Freddie Mercury arrived about six months before Toby. He’s a Maine Coon and he’s big boy — more than twice Toby’s size, at 20 pounds. He’s a kitten who plays rough and has teeth like a tiger and claws like a cougar. He bites and scratches sometimes, but hey, he’s just playing. Still, it makes for an interesting dynamic between cat and dog, and between cat and us.
Freddie and Toby rise with the sun and are ready to rumble. We’re awakened by a chorus of barks and meows, more urgent than Alexa’s alarm. “Time to eat,” they demand, and their demand is our command.
Hitting the road with a pet
Twice a year, Laura and I drive between Florida and Maryland, and we’ve just completed that 1,015-mile trek. Toby and Freddie both love riding in the car, which is good. But we have to overnight with them at a hotel at least once during the trip, which is not good. Laura has her own health issues, and getting the pets, their food, a kitty litter, my scooter, and me in and out of the hotel is a serious challenge for all of us.
We enter the room hoping that Toby won’t be too vocal and that Freddie won’t have the zooms, where he launches himself between tables and bounces between walls. I’d hate to have to sleep in the car.
As it turns out, this year they were perfect traveling companions. In the hotel, they behaved better than some children I’ve seen. On the road, Toby curled up in Laura’s lap, and Freddie spent most of each day’s nine-hour ride stretched out along the center console.
Pluses and minuses
My BioNews colleague Jenn Powell, who also has MS, has two beautiful golden retrievers. She tells me that “the joy is unparalleled, and I do believe that joy has sustained me when times have become frighteningly dark and lonely.”
Jenn says pets are incredibly healing, but she cautions that the responsibilities are hard, if not impossible, when her pain or disability interferes. It’s sometimes tough to walk, groom, or even feed her dogs. But she says, “The healing powers of these creatures cannot be overstated.”
Halsey Blocher feels the same. Halsey, who has spinal muscular atrophy and writes a column for SMA News Today, uses an electric wheelchair to move around. Even so, a few years ago she brought a puppy, Thor, into her home, in addition to the other dog and a cat already there.
Fortunately, Halsey has family to assist her with her four-legged friends. At the time, she wrote that “the challenging parts of puppyhood will soon be in the past, and like all great investments, it will have been worth it.” Today, she told me, “Thor still fits pretty perfectly in our family, and the cat might even like him.”
Look before you leap
Pets are wonderful companions, but if you have a a disability, understand the animal’s needs as well as your limitations. How much can you physically handle? Do you have someone to help you? Will your pet be a tripping hazard? Walking the dog when the weather is bad is difficult, never being able to sleep late is tough, and the stress of a demanding animal isn’t something my doctor would prescribe.
So, do an honest analysis of your situation and, if you go for it, choose a pet that can fit into the unusual life of someone with a disability. The benefits can be the best.
(A version of this post first appeared as my column on the MS News Today website.)
