Sometimes It Pays To Know The Boss

Today was go to the Vet day.  My boy was due to get that thing out of his ear. And we needed to take our chubby Doxy in for his breathing that was concerning us.

Over the last few years, we've developed a friendship with one of the Vets who is also a co owner of the practice.  We even went to her wedding.  She grew fond of a couple of our fur babes and cried when one in particular had to be put to sleep.  But the "gate keepers" as I like to call them, the girls that run the front desk and such, it feels like they try to keep us from seeing her. 

Well, for today's appointment we made sure to get in with her.  And as always she was delighted to see us.  Listened to our concerns over the Doxy and then checked him out.  She then proceeded to ask about each of our other dogs by name and after Sisters #2 and 3's dogs...by name!  Asked after the other cats too, but alas not by name as we have several and they don't go in very often, except for our diabetic cat who needs a glucose curve every so often.

After that we moved on to my boy.  And well let's just say....she was NOT happy.  She didn't understand why on earth they put that lace through the holes, that turned out to be umbilical tape.  She was already aware that he has been having difficulty with this procedure.  Found out she did the surgery on his other ear back in May.  She was also not pleased that on the 2nd visit that basically nothing was done to his ear and we got charged for it.  He was put under 3 times in a month for something that should have only needed the initial surgical visit.  The last 2 times weren't full sedation, but all combined is enough to weaken his immune system. But nothing serious.

His ear, because of the tape/thread (aka the shoe lace), is slightly infected.  It did however come out very easily.  He's on some antibiotics for a week to clear up the infection and anything else that might be going on in that regard.  Each visit we asked for his ears to be cleaned/checked.  We were told it could be dirt or mites but no one checked.  She did today and it is mites after all.  A simple and quick check under the microscope was all it took. But the other 2 vets that saw him in the past month didn't even bother. 

Again...she was not very happy.  We asked her if it was okay to complain.  Something we don't like to do.  In the seven years we've been going there, we have never had to complain about anything.  But this....this just felt like lazy and sloppy care from the other two.  We told her too how we specifically asked for her on the third return visit when it filled back up.  And how we didn't get her as requested.  She said that shouldn't happen.  If we ask for her, we should get her.  Unless of course she's not in.  As sometimes she has to go  out to the farms to care for a cow or something.

All in all baby boy is doing well.  Have to give him the penicillin for a week, he had a dose of Revolution to treat the mites which should also help with his itching.  And we have to watch him as he does have a heart murmur.   Testing on an animal is almost as much as test a human!!!  $250+ for an echo, $400 for allergy tests!  For the Doxy, who might or might not have Cushings it's over $300 for that test and then $80 a month for meds!  We're starting with diet because he is a bit overweight. In their cases, there isn't anything really that will change by not doing the tests.  And we can give baby boy regular old benedryl in small doses as needed.

We left with the meds he needs, reassurances that cat and dog are well, and that anytime we have questions we are free to message her directly.  Thank the gods for Facebook!  I left a little less worried about baby boy who will now have a floppy ear.  Now if we can just have the rest of the year be uneventful in the way of our animals.  Heck, this year can just be uneventful period!!!