First Visit To The Vet

First, we visited the vet.

Then we walked in the late afternoon sunshine.

And then this big red baby laid in the shade and watched the world go by. 

My unnamed puppy and I made our first visit to the vet together.

Though there are plenty of good local vets, we hopped into the car together yesterday afternoon and drove forty minutes north to visit our friend, Dr. Jackie. To be sure, that's a long way to go for a vet visit, but given the special role she played in Ranger's life, it seemed like the right thing to do.

The three of us made some interesting discoveries. 

Baby is seriously overweight. 

She tips the scales at 98 pounds, and her ideal weight somewhere around 80. Jackie calculated an appropriate daily caloric intake of 900 Kcals and so Baby is hereby restricted to three cups daily of Science Diet weight loss formula and plenty of exercise.

Both of her lower canine teeth are fractured. 

The remaining stubs are still healthy, so there's no need to act upon this news, but she definitely suffered some sort of forceful accident to snap them off. Jackie speculated that she may have been kicked by a horse. 

Fleas and heartworms be gone:

Revolution is still the best, tried-and-true medication to keep the insects at bay. It's easy to use, harmless, and best of all, effective. 

Mani/Pedi? Check:

Took two grown women to wrestle my child to the ground and get her nails trimmed, but once they had her pinned, she took it like a champ.

* * * * *

And though all these tidbits are interesting, here is hands-down the most mind-boggling development of the day:

Jackie's assistant is a college student whose family lives in my neighborhood. That, in and of itself, is remarkable since this vet's office is a solid thirty miles away. But even better, she recognized me as the mom of Ranger, the dashing Irishman on the long leash who loved his daily walks.  

And that lovely coincidence was without a doubt the most interesting discovery of our first visit to the vet.