All right, my dog Mia is totally completely nuts. She loves going to her vet. I mean, LOVES it. More than going for walks probably and almost as much as eating (though a trip to the vet almost always includes treats, so . . . ). This is the same vet that's knocked her out and dug into her hips (twice) to try to fix her up. The same vet who pokes and prods her every time we go. The same vet who jostled around her hip joint yesterday to show me how its so loose that you can grind her femur into her pelvic bone and actually feel the bone on bone. Ouch! But there she was, as excited as can be. She lit up in the car when she realized where we were. She practically dragged me into the office and then jumped onto the reception desk, bad hips and all. She then raced straight towards the scale so she could be weighed and stayed until I told her to get off. In the waiting room, she immediately started sniffing the cupboard where the treats are hidden. Then waited, tail wagging, for the vet to come in. I don't know what kind of voodoo operation they're running over there, but it works.
And whatever it is, it seems to work on me too. Or maybe Mia's excitement is contagious. I kinda love going myself. If he weren't all the way out in Santa Cruz, I'd be taking all our dogs there. Everyone there is super nice. And the vet is awesome. Yesterday, during our check up, he cleaned my rings. That's right, you heard me -- its a one stop shop they got over there. While we talked, he cleaned my wedding/engagement rings! It probably would have been a 10 minute appt, but we shot the breeze for 45. They always throw little discounts my way without me asking. And their customer service can't be beat. Granted we've paid them thousands of dollars, but the money does seem to go a little further than at most vets.
Unfortunately, despite all their services, Mia's hips aren't a 100%, though they've improved drastically. On the right, she's hopping around like its perfectly fine. The left is better but not completely. The left is also the hip where the joint is completely disjointed. So I guess it was worse off to begin with. We decided for now, the best option is to just wait and see how it goes, see if exercise and time help. She's bearing weight on both sides now -- and she's jumping on vet desks -- so surgery might be overkill at the moment. I've been given the OK to exercise her normally and see how she does, so I guess I'll slowly start lengthening our walks and taking her back to the dog park.
In other news, Bandit also had her vet appointment yesterday. Her vet is not nearly as cool. Well, she could be but since the only time we've seen her is at the initial appointment, the most I can say is that her nurse seems nice. At one of our visits, I waited in the waiting room while the doc entered notes into the system that the receptionist later read to me. I know Bandit doesn't enjoy her visits as much, though Bandit's no fool. No amount of treats will trick her into liking the poking and prodding. But she has been doing a lot better now that she's getting meds for Cushing's (which are super expensive but beat peeing in the house any day of the week). I just got the call too that her blood work looks awesome and that her med dosage levels are perfect. So hopefully, it'll be smooth sailing from here on out.
What I find somewhat curious is that Mia's vet and Bandit's vet went to school together and are actually good friends. No that's not entirely true, both seem pretty brilliant as far as I'm concerned. And the doc was extremely nice on the phone just now when she called with Bandit's test results. But definitely their interaction with patients is quite a bit different.
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