The Annual Vet Visit

There is no amount of the treats in this world that can convince our chihuahua mixed puppy, Maxx that the veterinarian is his friend. Our pug Brees however, loves strangers, barking at walls and tug of war with (insert your favorite object here). All and all, he could care less that we were taking a field trip to the vet to get a check up, unlike Maxx who clung to Anthony's arm and shook uncontrollably as we walked through the front door and waited patiently in the lobby.

Brees went first, taking his checkup in stride and even wagging his tail as the doctor scolded him for being slightly overweight. For that he would be getting the smaller of the two treats at the end of the visit but not until Maxx took his turn on the cold, metal examining table.

Maxx is the smaller of the two and the most affectionate, but at this moment he needed a muzzle and lots of cooing to prevent him from biting off the doctor's hand while giving him a shot. During a more recent visit in which I rushed him to the vet because I thought he swallowed too much stuffing from a toy, the same muzzle had to be use in which another doctor implied that Maxx must have been abused or beaten at some point which was her only explanation for his refusal to be held by anyone but me and acting as if being placed on that examining table would seal his doggy fate. Needless to say we had a long talk on the car ride home that day on his theatrics and I believed he listened since he was acting more like himself now during this particular visit.

After leaving Anthony and I alone with the dogs in the examining room for a few moments, the doctor returned with the results of several test they had done on each dog during their checkup. Maxx passed with flying colors while it turns out Brees contracted Lymes Disease. Now it was the vet's turn to scold Anthony and I. In between explaining the symptoms and medications what we both saw in the doctor's eyes was 'you should have known an unwanted tick was clinging to your puppy's skin burrowing under it's fur', and while we check both dogs for bugs normally, we had relaxed on the procedure during the winter time believing that's what ticks did too.

$500 and then some later in doctor's fees, medical bills and medicine, all four of us climbed back into the car to head home. Both dogs rode back quietly without squirming around or panting in car ride excitement. Brees for his part, laid in the back sullenly not because of his current diagnoses but because it had sunk in that he did in fact get the smaller of the two treats.