Today was Cade's annual well dog check up and when I called I forgot to specify to the new receptionist I wanted to make an appointment with my specific vet Dr. K (easy to forget when she was the only vet there for a long time) so they made my appointment with the new guy she hired.
I don't *like* this new guy, the two times I've seen him he's been fairly useless and I've just had to come back to Dr. K after anyhow. At any rate, by that point I'd managed to drag myself, three dogs and the toddler tornado to the vets so I simply went in. They had the vaccination ready, which I told him that at 9 years old I wasn't doing as I follow Dr. Dodd's protocol. The vet quickly took his temperature and ran his hands over him checking, looked in his ears and mouth real quick and pronounced him fine except for a pinker than normal belly skin, which probably means he laid down in the newly mowed grass and it irritated him.
I pointed out that his teeth actually probably need a dental. I scraped them recently but obviously couldn't polish them or get above sonic blast or irrigate the gumline obviously. The gums look irritated around the edges on a few, there's a higher pocket than there ought to be when I probed and some recession around the front incisors. Oh no, he assures me, they're not too bad at all, only some minor build up on the very rear molars. I replied, yes, I just scaled them like I mentioned a minute ago but he's been off his food and for Cade, chowhound that he is, that means it's time for a dental. Oh. Hm. Yes. He muttered something I didn't catch but nothing more about actually making an appointment for a dental. Wow... um, should I be having to TELL this to a vet? Personally I wanted to talk to the vet about testing his saliva for pH and production levels since even though we brush and use raw bones, Cade is prone to needing dentals yearly due to tight lips and a relatively dry mouth but I think that would have floated right over this guys head.
Then I asked, since he's a senior shouldn't we do some bloods? He looks at his file and goes hm, well yes, he's had some bloods last year. Um. Yes. Keywords: last year. This is a 9 year old dog - he qualifies as a senior, which means a baseline should be standard part of his check-up. He's on metacam, where blood draws to monitor tollerance and the health of kidney and liver should be considered routine and good standard practice. So a blood pannel should be an absolute no-brainer. Hm. Ah. Hm. No bloods. Just some stupid cortisone cream for his belly which is absolutely fine and a worming tab. I didn't even get to ask about her thoughts on his having a chiro or physio for his leg injury, which is causing some muscle on one side to become more built up. At the end of this, the bill was $96. Quite frankly for that amount of $96, I can run my own hands over the dogs body and tell you there's no unusual lumps or bumps, his heart and lungs sound clear, his temp is normal and he has clean ears. :-(
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