greenfreak
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Member since 9/06 11483 total posts
Name:
greenfreak
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Brinkley's first Vet visit. We have some issues to overcome.
We went last night to Dr. Pete in Hauppauge Animal Hospital (thanks again Suz!) and Brinkley was very interested in the new smells of the waiting room.
A beagle with a cone on her neck came in and Brinkley was SO happy to meet her. She spent the next 10 minutes whimpering and barking and Brinkley sat stock-still, staring at her. He was quite enamored. 
When we went in, I realized we were going to have to lift him up on the table. We had NO idea how to do that effectively. We muddled along and once he was on the table, he layed down and cowered, basically.
Brinkley is 69 pounds, right on target. We cut down his food from 5 cups a day to 4 so on our next visit, we'll see if he's still gaining at a reasonable rate.
Dr. Pete was very nice and explained everything to us. He let Brinkley sniff everything before he used it on him, which I thought was nice.
Brinkley's ears were filthy.  He showed us how to clean him and the gunk he took out of them. Brinkley does have ear mites but now he's been treated for them and we've put him on a schedule for cleanings & treatment.
I had seen my sister's dog with ear mites and it was pretty bad, so when I looked at Brinkley's ears, I didn't realize how much cleaner they should be. Lesson learned, now we know. He let him clean his ears for a good five minutes with no protest whatsoever.
The other issue is that he has irritation and a rash by his pee pee. Not ON his pee pee, thank God, but on the sides on the smooth areas. Dr. Pete thinks it may have been from laying in mud or whatnot because Brinkley doesn't have any fleas at all.
He couldn't really evaluate his hips because Brinkley was so tense and not relaxed. Rusty and I are going to work on rolling him on his back and doing hip exercises ourselves before we go back to the vet in 3 weeks.
He gave him his necessary shots and drew blood for the pre-evaluation for neutering. Brinkley didn't bat an eye at the needles. He was like hi needles, yea, whatever. 
So... We got Frontline, Sentinel, gentle shampoo for the 2x a week baths till his rash gets better, antibiotics, and a spray for the rash. His heartworm test comes back today, and I have to drop off a stool sample tonight.
All told, it cost us $450. 
No biggie. He's worth it, and that sum of money we set aside for him is just fine. Thanks to all YOUR advice on a "How much does owning a pet cost?" thread months ago. 
Thanks for reading. I'm so proud of my boy. 
Message edited 9/24/2008 8:09:05 AM.
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