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Monday, July 21st, 2008 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
basildestinyYay! I have three days off this week! I'm so happy to have time off, not so happy that I won't get the extra hour pay.
My brother will be back in town from Iraq (where he works for a contractor). Maybe today or some time tomorrow. We're going to a cookout tomorrow night at his girlfriend's house to welcome him home. He's back in town for his best friend's wedding on Saturday. I have that day off so I will be going. My brother will be the best man. And his friend who is getting married was the DJ at our wedding.
I LOVE corgis! They are just too adorable.
Tucker's breeder has several adorable puppies available right now. Including another litter from Tucker's parents, Faith and Llewy. I just love the black headed tri girl.
But my next dog is already lined up. When we get out of debt, I am getting a Collie. There's one still in Houston who will be named Zack if he's still there when I can rescue him. Otherwise I'll be adopting from a closer rescue group. And I will probably rescue a female since we have three boys already and name her Teyla.
Connor has another ear infection. He has been battling this one for a couple of weeks now. This has been the cycle since I got him. He'll be fine for a while and then he gets an ear infection. Or his ears bother him anyway. So I took to the vet probably three weeks ago. The vet and I had a misunderstanding. She thought I meant that I always run of antibiotic medicated ear cream. I meant I always run out of the ear cleaner. She gives me this long lecture of how using medicated ointment is bad which I thought was a boring lecture at the time. Later when we go to check out, she gives me this giant tube of the cream saying it should last for a couple of days and bring him back if it gets worse. I only use the stuff for a couple of days. It's the cleaner I need!
So since she told me I could come back in for cleaner any time, I went back two weeks ago and bought two bottles of cleaner. The bottle she gave me ran out after five days of use. I should mention that the instructions to clean his ears are to fill the ear canal with cleaner, massage it gently in and let him shake it out. Repeat 3-4 times on each ear daily. So a 12 ounce bottle doesn't last me very long. Not to mention that his ears are really bad and 3-4 times isn't doing the job.
In the mean time, my dog wanders around the house, shaking his head. And when he shakes his head, it hurts him and he cries. Last time I brought him in, I get this lecture how it could be allergies, but my options are to get him tested at the University of Tennessee Vet Hospital which could cost $1000 and might not fix anything or I can continue what I'm doing now. And also that I should bring him in more often so they can document the frequency of his ear infections.
So basically my options include spending $20 office fee every couple of weeks just so they can document he has bad ears, but there's nothing that we can do for him. And also I should be more cautious with ear ointment which I don't even use. I usually toss the bottle after a few uses. It doesn't help prevent the ear problem, it just stops the ear infection. Useless once the infection is gone.
I didn't really appreciate her lecturing me and acting as though I don't know what is going on. Black gunk comes out of his ears, but they'll tell me his ears aren't infected. We don't have any mud in the backyard that gets into his ears, people! He's an indoor dog. Yet somehow black gunk isn't anything to worry about because they aren't infected.
Every time I've taken him in for the ear problem, I get a different vet and yet not my favorite vet. Dr Allen is my favorite. He's the one that took the time to diagnose Chakotay. Instead of just saying that there wasn't anything torn and he probably just hurt himself being a puppy, he took the X-rays to confirm a Panosteitis diagnosis. And then gave us a prescription for pain medication to be taken as needed and will be on-going until he is two so we don't have to waste a $20 office fee every time he runs out of medication. And after that diagnosis, we have gone through one bottle of pain reliever and gone back once for a refill. Knowing that if he's in pain, we should medicate has prevented the pain from lasting weeks as it did before. As a result, he doesn't need as much medication. But Dr. Allen doesn't act like I am some novice dog owner who doesn't know the first thing about animal care. I'm not a certified vet, but I know when my animal isn't feeling well. And I know a thing or two about dog breeds.
Well that turned into a rant. It makes me angry when my pet is suffering and the doctors think I'm just being overly sensitive. I guess I'll go call and see if Dr. Allen is in today.
ETA: I really don't like the way the receptionists are overworked at that clinic. Apparently an ear infection is something that can be scheduled for as far away as Thursday. I have to work on Thursday so how about Wednesday at 11? I know I had to keep talking over my German Shepherd who was being obnoxious as soon as I got on the phone, but whatever I say! Once again a case of me not being direct. What do you have today or tomorrow, I should have said. Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I do for Connor and maybe bring Kira in for her annual check up.
My brother will be back in town from Iraq (where he works for a contractor). Maybe today or some time tomorrow. We're going to a cookout tomorrow night at his girlfriend's house to welcome him home. He's back in town for his best friend's wedding on Saturday. I have that day off so I will be going. My brother will be the best man. And his friend who is getting married was the DJ at our wedding.
I LOVE corgis! They are just too adorable.
Tucker's breeder has several adorable puppies available right now. Including another litter from Tucker's parents, Faith and Llewy. I just love the black headed tri girl.
But my next dog is already lined up. When we get out of debt, I am getting a Collie. There's one still in Houston who will be named Zack if he's still there when I can rescue him. Otherwise I'll be adopting from a closer rescue group. And I will probably rescue a female since we have three boys already and name her Teyla.
Connor has another ear infection. He has been battling this one for a couple of weeks now. This has been the cycle since I got him. He'll be fine for a while and then he gets an ear infection. Or his ears bother him anyway. So I took to the vet probably three weeks ago. The vet and I had a misunderstanding. She thought I meant that I always run of antibiotic medicated ear cream. I meant I always run out of the ear cleaner. She gives me this long lecture of how using medicated ointment is bad which I thought was a boring lecture at the time. Later when we go to check out, she gives me this giant tube of the cream saying it should last for a couple of days and bring him back if it gets worse. I only use the stuff for a couple of days. It's the cleaner I need!
So since she told me I could come back in for cleaner any time, I went back two weeks ago and bought two bottles of cleaner. The bottle she gave me ran out after five days of use. I should mention that the instructions to clean his ears are to fill the ear canal with cleaner, massage it gently in and let him shake it out. Repeat 3-4 times on each ear daily. So a 12 ounce bottle doesn't last me very long. Not to mention that his ears are really bad and 3-4 times isn't doing the job.
In the mean time, my dog wanders around the house, shaking his head. And when he shakes his head, it hurts him and he cries. Last time I brought him in, I get this lecture how it could be allergies, but my options are to get him tested at the University of Tennessee Vet Hospital which could cost $1000 and might not fix anything or I can continue what I'm doing now. And also that I should bring him in more often so they can document the frequency of his ear infections.
So basically my options include spending $20 office fee every couple of weeks just so they can document he has bad ears, but there's nothing that we can do for him. And also I should be more cautious with ear ointment which I don't even use. I usually toss the bottle after a few uses. It doesn't help prevent the ear problem, it just stops the ear infection. Useless once the infection is gone.
I didn't really appreciate her lecturing me and acting as though I don't know what is going on. Black gunk comes out of his ears, but they'll tell me his ears aren't infected. We don't have any mud in the backyard that gets into his ears, people! He's an indoor dog. Yet somehow black gunk isn't anything to worry about because they aren't infected.
Every time I've taken him in for the ear problem, I get a different vet and yet not my favorite vet. Dr Allen is my favorite. He's the one that took the time to diagnose Chakotay. Instead of just saying that there wasn't anything torn and he probably just hurt himself being a puppy, he took the X-rays to confirm a Panosteitis diagnosis. And then gave us a prescription for pain medication to be taken as needed and will be on-going until he is two so we don't have to waste a $20 office fee every time he runs out of medication. And after that diagnosis, we have gone through one bottle of pain reliever and gone back once for a refill. Knowing that if he's in pain, we should medicate has prevented the pain from lasting weeks as it did before. As a result, he doesn't need as much medication. But Dr. Allen doesn't act like I am some novice dog owner who doesn't know the first thing about animal care. I'm not a certified vet, but I know when my animal isn't feeling well. And I know a thing or two about dog breeds.
Well that turned into a rant. It makes me angry when my pet is suffering and the doctors think I'm just being overly sensitive. I guess I'll go call and see if Dr. Allen is in today.
ETA: I really don't like the way the receptionists are overworked at that clinic. Apparently an ear infection is something that can be scheduled for as far away as Thursday. I have to work on Thursday so how about Wednesday at 11? I know I had to keep talking over my German Shepherd who was being obnoxious as soon as I got on the phone, but whatever I say! Once again a case of me not being direct. What do you have today or tomorrow, I should have said. Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I do for Connor and maybe bring Kira in for her annual check up.
