Veteranarian's Day

Yesterday was vet day for Smeagol. Money has been so tight for so long that she was like 4 months overdue on all her shots and stuff. She was also scratching her ears a ton and scooting along the floor (nothing makes me laugh harder than to watch her scoot, but I know that it means she's very uncomfortable). And she also seemed very sad. Normally she only hides under the bed when we are fighting (I know) but lately she runs under the bed at any provocation.

So, we decided that Paul's income tax refund couldn't be put to better use than to make sure The Baby was okay. Paul's usual vet is far away so we decided to see someone new who is just a few blocks away. He was a very nice old German man. First, they put Smudge on the table and weighed her. She was 18.5 pounds, which the doctor said was very appropriate for her build. (YAY ME!!! I put her on a diet about 2 months ago and she lost about 2 pounds and seems ( before these problems) much happier. I even had to tighten her collar a notch. I can't put myself on a diet, but I can diet a pug like a ninja!)

He said her lungs and heart sounded good. No problems with her knees, which is common for pugs. The problem was that her ears and muzzle were 'chronically, badly infected'. I could barely stop myself from crying, I felt SO guilty. Everything else was okay though, except that she needed her yearly booster shots. The vet said that she couldn't get antibiotics for her infections and shots on the same day, so we chose to take care of her ears. They told us to leave for a bit and when we came back they had flushed out her ears and trimmed some of her hair outside her ears so they could clean up all the infection. She smells so good now! Then they gave her an antibiotic shot and gave us pills and medicine to give her for a while. They also tested her for heartworm and she was negative :)

Poor girl was scared the rest of the day. She sat in my lap with her paws on my chest looking into my eyes with great upsettedness all evening. But before bed we gave her her heartworm preventative chewie, which she loved; and then her ear drops which she seemed to enjoy; and then I tried to feed her her pill. I couldn't do it and Paul couldn't either, so Paul dipped the capsule in sour cream and that did it!

This morning I ear-dropped her and pilled her and she took em both fine. Oh, and the vet also 'expressed her anal gland' which I had never watched before. Um, ew, would cover that section of the visit. So, the baby is okay, thank God. I have to learn how to clean her face and ears better, and she needs to take these pills and drops for 2 weeks and then go back and get checked and get like 4 booster shots. Its costing a fortune, but she is (pathetically) like our baby and really, no cost is too much to make sure that she is happy and comfortable.

On another topic, Paul should be eligible for health benefits on April 1, so I'm filling out his forms right now. That would help us a lot.

On yet another topic! A year or two ago, I was hanging out with Andra, Matt, Chris and Angie and I, for whatever reason, said something about 'doctor, lawyer, Indian chief'. They were horrified and accused me (basically jokingly) of being a rascist. I kept whining at them that it was just an expression, but they had never heard of it. BUT! Yesterday, I came across a reference to that. "Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief". So, I looked it up and it was originally a childs rhyme, often used for skipping. Since then, it has become an expression that people use to indicate that something is, sort of, good for anyone. As in 'who do you hire at your firm?' "Oh anyone, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief"

SO, in other words, not particularly politically correct, but a perfectly cromulent expression. Nerts to you!