Yesterday I found a round worm from Buddy Baer, so today we went to the vet. It was a good time to go anyway since he needed a follow-up check to see if he his heartworms were really gone (they are). The vet, Dearborn Animal Hospital, doesn’t take appointments on Saturday so you just have to show up when they open and get a place in line. We were third or fourth, so it wasn’t terrible, but still took over an hour for everything (a long time in the waiting room). Buddy was overly excited with all of the other dogs that were there and I noticed four other people with dogs sat in the other seating area and we were all alone. He would bark sometimes when he got excited about seeing a new dog come in, which is not appropriate for the doctor’s office. Fortunately they called us in pretty quickly (not that we were going to be seen, just to fill up all the exam rooms).
The technician was really nice to Buddy and he loved meeting a new person, just wagging his tail watching her while she typed stuff into the computer. The doctor came in and said something like “Oh my gosh, he’s just all head!” I guess so. I don’t think she meant it in a bad way, but that was the first thing she noticed. Then she said it takes two hands to hold onto his head as she scratched around his ears, which he really liked. She thinks he is more closely an american bulldog than a white boxer. He was perfectly happy to be examined by her even while she was checking his teeth. She pulled a decent size piece of wood from between two of his back molars, no doubt from some of the yard work he does in the back chewing up limbs and small trees. He has torn all of the ivy from all of the trees back there. Unfortunately he also has pulled a lot of bark off some of them too. He has also gone after the privet and wisteria. It’s pretty impressive work. Anyway, Buddy was just super cooperative the whole time, wagging his tail, and just being a good boy. And the vet came around, saying he is a “great dog” and “soulful.” He is a handful, but I think she really got what Buddy is all about. She was shocked he was listed as eight years old, but I think the shelter just put that down so they could adopt him out for free (no charge to adopt seniors). She commented on his prominent nipples and said that can be a side effect of being neutered later in life. Sorry, Buddy.
Anyway, it’s good that he is free of heartworms, but given his energy level, I already figured that. And I gave him his first round of dewormer, so even though he didn’t seem like he was feeling bad, that should clear that up. He gets another dose for anything that hatches later in three weeks. Then he gets a follow-up in April when he is due for some shots anyway.
Later: They called Monday with the results of his fecal exam and said they didn’t find any worms or parasites, but I don’t know what that was that I found. Maybe there just weren’t any eggs. At any rate, he ate all the dewormer and I will go ahead with the follow-up dose on schedule.