In Search of One Good Vet
As planned, it's been a pretty laid-back day. Rennie, of course, woke me up at 6 a.m. to feed her so I got up and gave her some food and immediately high-tailed it back to bed. Slept until about 9:30, when I HAD to get up to take her to the vet.
Our appointment was at 11 a.m. for her second set of shots and a regular well-puppy check-up. As usual, I didn't leave myself enough extra time to get lost and ended up getting there about 5 minutes late. It all turned out ok, because the doctor was in the exam room with another animal. I sat there with Ren for about 15 minutes before he eventually came out. The place was old, decorated with 70s style wood paneling and linoleum, but clean. Turns out it's a one-man clinic and he treats all the animals and does all the paperwork himself. Interesting.
Dr. A is a short, stocky Indian man in his mid-50s. He's nice enough and thought Rennie was pretty cute (but who doesn't?) and after sending a woman out of the clinic in tears he had Ren and I come back. (He'd just put her cat to sleep, so I don't blame her for being in tears... ) Anyway, he looked in her ears and eyes and listened to her heart and all that, but didn't take her temp. Red Flag. Then he gave her vaccine for Distemper, Hepetistis, Leptospirosis, Para-Influenza and Parvo, along with another for bordetella. When I asked about Lepto vaccine complications he said he hadn't ever had any trouble with them, which was another red flag for me at the time. (But Aunt CJ said Dr. Fred says the same thing, so who knows.) Anyway, Ren didn't seem to mind TOO much and only gave a yelp at the second needle prick. Yuck - poor puppy.
So I brought her home (by way of the local chinese restaurant and Hollywood Video) and let her play in her pen for a bit. When I picked her up around 2:30 to bring her upstairs with me, she let out a yelp of pain - at the slightest pressure. Poor thing... I called Dr. A just to confirm that it was just tenderness at the injection sites (it was) and he said she should be back to normal in a day... so we shall see. Regardless, I've never seen her voluntarily go into her crate and fall asleep there!
She doesn't want to be touched and at this point doesn't seem too interested in eating. If she's still refusing food in the morning I'm calling the doc again, but in the meantime, I've got a temporarily mellow pup.
