Vet and Fetching
Baby started bringing me things today. This morning she stood up and took the bag of treats off my dressertop. They were open, but she didn't try to take any out and eat them. She brought me the bag. I gave her a treat because I was so pleased that she asked me for one instead of just gobbling out of the bag. Was that bad? She had also taken down a package of bath stuff that was in her way to get to the treats, and set it on the floor. I asked her to hand it to me so I could put it back, and she did.
She will pick up and bring to me anything I point to and ask her to bring me, including my car keys. I only tried it a couple of times because I didn't want to work her too much right away, but I did want to see if she would do it after the thing with the treats. She would, and did!
I was able to get her in to see a vet this afternoon. Baby does have very infected feet and a severe case of earmites in both ears. So she needed antibiotics, ear wash and ear mite medicine, plus the flea drops (Advantage). Wow, that all adds up fast.
The vet said it was the worst case of foxtail feet she's ever seen (foxtails aren't common around here). They will have to sedate her and explore the wounds tomorrow to see if there are still foxtail seeds in them. She suggested that I go ahead and get the teeth cleaning done while she is sedated, and they will do the blood draw, microchip, urine sample and fecal sample while she is sedated also.
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The vet said we should wait at least 6 weeks to spay her, both because of her recently having had puppies and because of the infection in her feet. She also said they don't like to do dental work and spaying at the same time because bacteria from the mouth will get into the bloodstream and can contaminate the surgery site.
She also said we should wait for the infection in her feet to improve before we give the vaccinations. I fully agree with that. It's not usually a good idea to vaccinate a sick animal (or person, for that matter).
Baby weighed 50 lbs. The vet is guessing that she needs to gain 10-15 lbs. But since her milk also adds weight at the moment, she may really only gain 5-10 lbs. to be a healthy weight as her milk dries up.
Everyone at the clinic that I met today seemed friendly and competent. Baby growled at the vet when she walked in, but the vet was nice and gentle with her, and Baby was fine letting the vet handle her.
The growling thing is wierd. Some people/animals she growls at, and others she doesn't. Usually it's just a very momentary, soft sound and then she is fine. I don't know how she decides who is scary and who is not. But I walked her around PetsMart and had several strangers give her treats and pet her. She liked that, but was really nervous and stressed out, and was SO glad when we left the store and went back to the van. I'm hoping that once she's in less pain and less stressed out, she'll relax a bit and be more social.
She will pick up and bring to me anything I point to and ask her to bring me, including my car keys. I only tried it a couple of times because I didn't want to work her too much right away, but I did want to see if she would do it after the thing with the treats. She would, and did!
I was able to get her in to see a vet this afternoon. Baby does have very infected feet and a severe case of earmites in both ears. So she needed antibiotics, ear wash and ear mite medicine, plus the flea drops (Advantage). Wow, that all adds up fast.
The vet said it was the worst case of foxtail feet she's ever seen (foxtails aren't common around here). They will have to sedate her and explore the wounds tomorrow to see if there are still foxtail seeds in them. She suggested that I go ahead and get the teeth cleaning done while she is sedated, and they will do the blood draw, microchip, urine sample and fecal sample while she is sedated also.
#########################################
The vet said we should wait at least 6 weeks to spay her, both because of her recently having had puppies and because of the infection in her feet. She also said they don't like to do dental work and spaying at the same time because bacteria from the mouth will get into the bloodstream and can contaminate the surgery site.
She also said we should wait for the infection in her feet to improve before we give the vaccinations. I fully agree with that. It's not usually a good idea to vaccinate a sick animal (or person, for that matter).
Baby weighed 50 lbs. The vet is guessing that she needs to gain 10-15 lbs. But since her milk also adds weight at the moment, she may really only gain 5-10 lbs. to be a healthy weight as her milk dries up.
Everyone at the clinic that I met today seemed friendly and competent. Baby growled at the vet when she walked in, but the vet was nice and gentle with her, and Baby was fine letting the vet handle her.
The growling thing is wierd. Some people/animals she growls at, and others she doesn't. Usually it's just a very momentary, soft sound and then she is fine. I don't know how she decides who is scary and who is not. But I walked her around PetsMart and had several strangers give her treats and pet her. She liked that, but was really nervous and stressed out, and was SO glad when we left the store and went back to the van. I'm hoping that once she's in less pain and less stressed out, she'll relax a bit and be more social.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:28 PM[Permanent link]
2 Comments:
Is it possible her growling isn't really growling, but is just a noise to tell you someone is there... or something like that?
Yes, very possible. That growling-sounding "talking" is actually a pretty common Border Collie trait. They tend to be talkative, and their voice is one of the things they use for herding I think.
She definitely does make growl-like noises that aren't really growls, like when she wants food. I'm still trying to figure out all her noises, body language and communications.
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