Walk the Walk if You Talk the Talk

I can't work at a Veterinary Center and not make sure my own dog is healthy.
We've had Lacey for over 7 years now. For the first two years, we we're faithful and active in taking care of her and making sure she was vaccinated and on the medications that she was needing. Then, we just became neglectful...cheap...and Del being an Idaho farmer who never believed in taking animals to the vet did NOT help the situation. We ended up not taking Lacey to the vet at all.
Then I became the abusive one...feeding Lacey not just table scraps, but full blown plates of human dinner. She especially likes Italian food; spaghetti being her favorite. This has gone on for over 5 years...and it has added up to one very overweight beagle. How much???
I took Lacey in to our office today for a new doggy exam. She should weigh around 20 pounds. She weighs over 33. UGH!..But, the good news came back from her tests that we are extremely lucky in that she does not have heart worm and appears to have good eyes, ears and only ONE fatty deposit on her body. She is desperately needing an orthodontist, but since I doubt Dr. Henao would be willing to straighten Lacey's teeth for me, I will pass on putting braces on her. Lacey received all of her vaccines and shots and is ready to go for another year or so....BUT ON A DIET. I promised the vet I would not feed Lacey table scraps anymore and would, in fact, portion out her food and put her on a diet plan. The office manager was BEYOND kind and caring in offering a 6 month supply of excess heart worm medication to Lacey for free. I was really touched with the thoughtfulness of the whole office staff. They were very tender with my Lacey and very considerate of my financial situation. I feel very lucky to have such good co-workers.
Well, that's at least today...tomorrow I will blog about some of the humorous conversations going on in the office with me and the office manager, Heather...charming girl...she had three strikes with me already by lunch today but was able to start a new 'ball game' with a clean slate due to her generous gift of heart worm medicine. She is known and has proven herself to be one that tends to open her mouth and speak before thinking through the possibilities of what may come flying out...thus, her foot lands inside more often than not. FUNNY to see her recognize those embarrassing moments. You HAVE to love her because she's soooo cute. Very good office manager and friend to everyone in the office...all the staff seem to have genuine feelings of friendship and consideration for each other. It's very refreshing and makes the working conditions very comfortable and enjoyable. I'm going to love this job....I just want and need to make sure I contribute to the established ambiance.
But this afternoon, I cried for the first, of what I imagine, will be MANY times. I took the phone call...a 4 yr old beagle had snuck into his owners secret Dove dark chocolate stash and had eaten the whole 11 oz bag. I took the information to both of our doctors in the office and after giving them the weight of the dog and the amount of chocolate eaten, they both feared the results of the little escapade would be fatal to the puppy if it didn't get to our office ASAP and be forced to vomit. I insisted the owner bring the puppy right in.
When they arrived within 5 minutes, the dog, which looked exactly like my little FAT Lacey, was taken right back to the clinic where an injection was given into the leg of the dog and within literally seconds, the dog was vomiting violently on the clinic floor. It broke my heart...I cried watching him struggle to rid himself of something that brings such wonderful pleasure to so many humans and yet, was threatening to take his life.
The process was not pretty. In fact, I'm quite sure I won't have a problem resisting chocolate for years to come. And I doubt the puppy will find anything appealing about chocolate or any candy for at least...well...until the next time. After 2 hours, the owners came back to pick up a much happier and still living, pet from our office. But I was so emotional about it, realizing how close to death that adorable little beagle, that looked just like MY beagle, had come.
I think this and the many future experiences I will have with this new job, are going to make me a better and more aware pet owner.
At least, that's my intention.
Until the next time we have spaghetti.
UGH :(