I may have already written about our not so great experience with our “new” vet but I’m not sure I did. The bottom line is that I liked the vet a lot but didn’t like his support staff at all and then when we took both dogs in a couple of weeks ago, I told him that Rita’s eyes were getting at matter up and she wouldn’t open then . . sometimes, not all the time. He kinda glanced at her eyes .. really just looked at her face from a distance and said “They look ok to me!”
This past weekend Rita’s eyes were horrible. She could barely open either of them. At one time, the vet had told me to use over the counter allergy eye drops in them so I did and by Tuesday, they looked a little better but last night, they were bothering her again so I didn’t want to go into the weekend again without getting her eyes looked at so . . Rita and I were off to yet another new vet this morning.
He gave me some ointment to put in her eyes and he wants to see her again next week. It was ice that he cared enough to ask for a followup visit. We talked about her fear of thunder and he gave me something similar to “doggie Prozac” and said to watch the weather and try to start giving it to her at least 24 hours, preferably 36 hours, before a thunderstorm. Goodness . . I wonder what weather site he’s looking at that’s accurate 36 hours out! The storms seem to be headed right for us and split before they get here and I hate to overmedicate but I really would like to have her not go crazy with the thunder. I guess Rita’s fear of thunder is one reason to be thankful that it rarely rains here.
The vet also looked at my address and said . . “Ahhh, are you seeing lots of snakes this year?” He suggested the rattlesnake vaccine, even though we only take her out on a leash. He said they can strike before you ever see them and he’s seen more rattlesnake bites this year than ever before so I went ahead and got the vaccine for Rita. She has to have a booster in one month and then re-vaccinated every 6 months. We talked about old Speck and he said that even with the vaccine, it sounds like he wouldn’t survive a bite so I’m not going to put him through it. Really, I’m not going to put myself through having to take him to the vet again and th en again the next month for a booster.
Our critters are going to put us in the poor house!
Sandy says
When we lived in San Angelo we had a coon hound and she also had the rattlesnake vaccines. I would rather be safer than sorry.
Robin says
You are right about vet bills. I can not take the cat or dog without spending over $100. Yearly visits with shots $400+ for the dog alone. I always said I spend more on the animals health care than my children!
Sherry V. says
My dogs get better health care than either my husband or myself. I seem to be running them to the vet all the time. We only go to the doctor when we need our meds refilled or are so sick we can barely get out of bed.
Oh what we do for our pets.
Wendy says
When we had a dog – my parents used an epsom salt bath for eye issues. We just used a cotton ball / dipped / then squeezed out / then wiped the eye – a few times a day. Worked great.
Joyce says
Too bad there isn’t a rattle snake vaccine for people…
montanaclarks says
Emmi gets a rattlesnake vaccine but after the initial injection and booster she is only vaccinated once a year. I had a terrible experience with a new Arizona vet–won’t be going back there–I’ll dry to Tucson!
montanaclarks says
drive
Carol Reed says
An opthomoligist once told me to rinse around my eyes with Johnson’s baby shampoo. It worked for a granddaughter that her eyes were matting. I still do this at least once a day. Really helps keep the pollen out. You could probably do this with Rita.
dezertsuz says
Is Speck even going very far from the house these days? I’m glad there is one thing you won’t have to worry about with the snake vaccine.
Paula (Texas) says
I know! I may have to get a part time job! I took three cats to the vet for yearly shots, plus flea stuff. $500. At Christmas, one had to have surgery to remove a mammary gland tumor. $500. Last month, she poked her eye out in the brush and that got infected. More money. My daughter and son-in-law moved in with their two cats and an upper respiratory infection has been passing from cat to cat at about $120 per vet visit. Then Fiona was attacked by something and had a nasty, painful puncture wound on her tummy. We’re both retired now, and really can’t keep this up! To be fair to the cats, most years the only expense I have with them is the yearly checkup and shots. Plus it seems, since I retired one year ago, EVERYTHING in the house that could break down and did. Thank you for letting me blow off steam.?
Paula (Texas) says
Sorry, steam! Not steam?
mjcw@earthlink.net says
My cocker had really bad eye problems, all gunked up in the morning and couldn’t open them, none of the vet recommended drops were helping including the $38 prescription one!!….so I decided to try some generic store brand night time ointment “drops” they are gunky Vaseline/mineral oil based in a tube kinda hard to get in her eye, but they have worked like a miracle no more closed eyes in the morning! I also use a sensitive saline solution to clean around her eye, just saturate a cotton round/ball…this way it doesn’t sting her eye. I also used baby shampoo before we got her eyes cleared up to get the gunk off her face, she didn’t like it but I’m sure it was better than the time my Hubby accidentally pulled out a chunk of hair trying to get the gunk off!!! Good luck with your fur baby!