Friday, July 17, 2009

Ninteenth

I know its only been 2 days since my last post but I just had to write about my "wonderful" trip to the vet's office this morning.

We are proud owners of a 4 yr. old Akita. He is very spoiled and loving! He loves anything smaller than him to the point of aggravation! He also hates the vet's office, and who can blame him? I don't know anyone who likes to go to the doctor's office and get shots either! He starts whining and barking to be let outside every time we go in there and never wants to stay on command. I don't like the visits, he doesn't like the visits, but the state requires me to have a registered vet give him a rabies shot so I deal with it. And while we are there I have them do all the other shots too. (why be the bad guy when someone else can.)

So bright and early this morning we are at the vets with the dog and one of our cats.
Out comes the vet and I groan, "please do not let this be our vet!" this man has seen us once before and he likes to contradict everything on the charts, takes forever to fill out paperwork and has a condescending bedside manner. Well lucky me,
he calls us back.

First off he insists our cat does not have kidney disease. I tell him that according to the other vet at the clinic he does. So he proceeds to say "he's bloated because he eats grass." So I ask "why then has he been bloated for the past three years and can't control his bladder?" He looks at me and calls the tech in to give the cat shots.

Then it's the dog's turn. We drag him in to the exam room, his tail between his legs, whining his head off, and shut the door. the vet comes in, looks at the dog and starts the exam. I tell him not to bother with temperature because our dog just sits down and I really don't want anything punctured, if you get my drift. So the vet checks eyes, ears, feet, heart, (I had to hold the dog's mouth shut because he was panting so hard) and then sticks HIS hand INTO our dog's mouth to check his teeth. All this time our dog does NOTHING but stare at the door and whine! Not once did he snarl, growl, or lift a corner of his lip!!

So now out comes 2 shots. I grab our dog's pinch collar to hold him, and the "brave" vet pokes the needle in, dog barks, out comes needle, out comes MY teeth! I growl, "you can't pull the needle out, just get it done!" I grab our dog who is now trying to crawl away, vet pokes the needle in, dog barks loudly, vet throws himself against the wall, out comes needle flying in an arch across the room spraying vaccine all over the place, and vet screams, "HE BIT ME!" I look at him and say, "He doesn't bite." Vet says again, "he bit me!" so I say, "no, he didn't bite you". Then vet yells in my face, "HE BIT ME!" Soooo I yell back, "let me see it!" He presents his forearm and points to a small, small, small red dot on the skin. I roll my eyes and say very, very firmly and loudly, "HE DID NOT BITE YOU!"

I ask for someone "less timid" to come give the shots, and on his way out of the exam room the vet tells me, "don't say he didn't bite me because he did!" I didn't argue, but I did stare him down! Our dog is 110 pounds, has a "hard" bite, and possesses all four canines! actually he has a mouth full of very sharp, very big teeth! So the logical conclusion to this is- If our dog bit him wouldn't there be a mark on the underside of his arm to match the one on the top? why was there only ONE when there should have been four? why was there NO SWELLING or BLEEDING at the site? why for pete's sake was his arm not dangling from my vicious dog's jaws??? Aaannnddd, just how did he get bit when I was holding onto the dog's head??????????

In comes the tech who weighs about 80 lbs. and says she'll do the shots. In my dog's best interest I ask for a muzzle. In the four years we have been going to this clinic our dog has NEVER had to be muzzled!!! But now we are looking at 4 shots instead of 2 so "better safe than sorry," right? I wrestle the thing on and grab hold again, tech pokes the needle in, dog tries to run, (can't bark because he's muzzled) out comes needle!!! THERE GOES MY TEMPER!!! I grab the dog, pin him against the wall, and very quietly tell the tech, "do. not. pull. that. needle. out. again." She pokes the needle in, Dog tries climbing the wall! wrestling match proceeds while we give the second shot, dog makes it half way up the wall, then we are done!

I open the exam room door to be dragged about 50 feet to the exit, while the leash cuts off all circulation to my wrist when I try stopping at the desk to pay for our "stress-free" visit and the secretary grabs a broom to combat the huge amount of hair our dog is loosing in his mad dash for freedom! While filling out the check I ask for our dog's rabies tag, and you know what? That woman looked up at me and asked, "oh, you wanted him to have a rabies shot too?" If I could have blamed it on rabies, I would have done some biting!!!!!! So on goes the muzzle, took three people to hold dog, rabies shot was given, quickly, only took one poke. Fancy that. Poor dog, it took SIX pokes to give 3 vaccines! Now you can sympathise with him.

I paid, we left. I drove home in a car that had flames of temper crisping the dog hair that was flying all over the place. Replaying the visit over and over in my mind, I wish I could have been another client in the waiting room hearing this going on, I think that vet should find a less dangerous job, I am writing one of my famous complaint letters, and I think I'll be looking for a new clinic to take my "babies" to. Today rates right up there with visits to the opthomalogist's office, which is another story altogether. But when I calmed down I had to laugh, I am pretty sure that the "bite" on the arm was probably a needle poke! Hope he's had all his shots!

"If you can't give the big dogs their shots-stay out of the office"

1 comment:

  1. Ha!! Love it!! I still wish I could have been there to watch that one!!
    One good thing came out of it though, you brought that big teddy bear in to see us instead!! Thanks for the laughs and we will see you next year when he due for some more shots.

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I am a wife by choice, mother by chance, massage therapist by trade, and saved by grace.