2010 Lilly Wellness Exam

With work and family things, I haven’t had much time to do any training with Lilly lately, but I wanted to share a behavior and health update from Lilly’s wellness exam this week with our “new” veterinarian.

We switched dog doctors last year after being with the same one for ages. While the adjustment period is ongoing, I still have hopes for a good partnership. I won’t say high hopes, but hopes … nonetheless.

A couple things about our visit this week gave me pause.

Canine Vaccines

Because leptospirosis is a risk around here and because Lilly has vaccine reactions, I dosed her with some benedryl about an hour before her appointment, and they injected her with a steroid in addition to her vaccine.

She seemed a bit subdued the next day, which is saying something for my active girl. We tried playing a bit in the morning, but after a few fetches, she got this look on her face like, “Man, I don’t feel so well.”

Poor sweetie.

She seems fine now, so I won’t worry too much. I wish there was a longer-acting vaccine for lepto, but there isn’t. So, even though I’m much more in the light vaccine camp (like every 3 years), this one is important with the wildlife and water around us. That means Lilly had to have a shot and potentially feel a little bad for a while each year.

General Health

I didn’t get to see all of Lilly’s exam and handling because this year they chose to take her to the treatment area so that they could draw blood and listen to her heart and such. Is there still a hint of a murmur? I don’t know.

Other than agreeing that Lilly should NOT gain any more weight. (She is at 38.2 pounds, and I think her ideal is 35-36.) All I really know is that her coat looks amazing. Her internal organs appear to be the right sizes. She is generally a healthy girl.

I didn’t see them check her eyes, her ears, her temp, etc. Maybe they did all that in the back too.

I wrote an article once for HealthyPet on what should be included in a pet’s physical exam, if you’d like to know.

Still no news on the blood work. Ginko goes for his exam on Monday, so I guess I can ask then, if no one calls.

Prescriptions

I did ask for written prescriptions with enough refills for a year for our human and online pharmacy, and they were ready all except for the doctor’s signature when that dog who was not breathing got rushed in. The emergency trumped my need for those scripts right then and there, for sure. So, I’ll pick those up when we take Ginko as well.

Fear Behaviors

So, here is the rub. I didn’t much like not getting to be with Lilly the entire visit. And, what made it worse is that when Lilly returned to me she was completely freaked and had an anxiety-induced kissing fit.

In addition to the medical handling she got, I know that there were at least four dogs in the back area. Lilly didn’t get reactive toward them, but that’s probably because she was WAY over her fear threshold.

When I heard that she did fine, was no trouble, in the back, I shared that it was likely because she was so afraid that she was just very, very still. Lilly can become very compliant (with strangers at least, when she sees no escape route) when she is afraid.

Kid you NOT, our new doctor replied: “Sometimes fear is our friend.”

That phrase continues to loop through my head and make my stomach hurt just a little.

Indeed some dogs do much better when their parents are not around in a veterinary setting (at least in terms of staff being able to handle them), but I don’t like hearing that fear might be used to an advantage.

Tell me I’m being overly sensitive.