tobi-the-wimp

Tobi went to his first Vet visit (with us) today. He was very happy and excited, wagging and sniffing, greeting all the people. He was even happy when he got back into the exam room, lots more good smells. Then a nice lady (the technician) comes in and pets him, admires him, what's not to like. Another nice lady comes in and pets him, he's thinking this is fun. The first tech gently puts her arm around him and the second one gently takes his front left paw. He's sitting there contentedly until the moment he sees the needle. Bam! Different dog. Wriggling, squirming, determinedly trying to get away. The second tech gets the needle into his vein and he shakes it free (bleeding quite a bit). So they change tactics and one holds him tightly while the other takes blood from the vein in his left hind leg. He's fine until the needle goes in and then goes nuts again. Luckily they get just enough blood that, when tested, reveals that he has Lyme Disease.

He gets a couple of freeze dried liver treats which he likes and we sit there waiting for the Vet. I pet him and tell him what a good boy he is. He's sniffing the room again and trying to get out. Not on the patient side, on the lab side, he wants to follow the techs.

Dr. comes in, admires him, examines him, tells him how handsome he is, he's loving this. Then she asks me to hold him so she can give him his distemper and rabies. One goes in the shoulder the other in the rump. The shoulder is first. She pinches his skin and he's fine. The needle goes in and he starts frantically wriggling to try to get away. Luckily she gets the full dose in there. Then the rump. As soon as she touches his rump to pinch it he ducks under and to the side. The Vet almost stabs me with his shot. I wrestle him down and she injects him. More liver treats, he calms down and he's okay again.

He's on doxycycline, we're changing his tick medicine to something stronger and I'm going to have to figure out how to help him calm down when he gets shots. Luckily I have a whole year before we have to do this again.