Wilson goes to the vet

Wilson was due for his annual check up and vaccines so we made an appointment with an animal hospital that's a 20 minute walk from home. His previous animal hospital in Georgia was an all-female operation that we really enjoyed. We brought his records to the appointment, along with his microchip info.

The new place is bright and airy, newly renovated. They've been in business for a long time and are one of only 7% of Canadian animal hospitals certified by the American Animal Hospital Association (for the 55th year!) The staff were excellent and the vet we saw was very kind. Wilson has some behavioural issues and I got some counselling for those, as well as some suggestions for collars (ones that give a whiff of citronella or just plain air when he barks) and pharmaceuticals (sedatives to use, for example, when we're having people over and he needs to mellow out a bit.) We'll give these options some thought.

The vet found him to be very compliant, and was able to cut his nails without any problem. (That's apparently one of his tricks to see how easy it would be to deal with behavioral issues.) His view is that with some desensitization and a lot of tummy rubs, we can help Wilson learn how to relax in situations that are stressful to him. We'll see.

Wilson's in great health, other than some tartar build-up on his teeth, so he's booked for descaling in a week. Unfortunately, this requires a general anaesthetic which, frankly, stresses ME out. We want Wilson to keep all the brain cells he's got! But we also don't want him to lose his teeth.

There are a couple of differences here in Ontario: we don't give the monthly heartworm meds in the winter as there are no mosquitoes to spread the disease from November to the spring. Also, the vaccines are on a different cycle. Previously, we got everything, every year. Here, some are given every 3 years (Distemper, Hepatitis, Adenovirus, Parvovirus), some every 2 (rabies), and some annually (Leptospirosis and Bordatella). The three year cycle ones are in one shot, so he got a total of 4 shots today. But next year, he'll only need one.