Wednesday 31 July 2019

Vets, Pets and Vaccines

This week has seen our pet pooch Max, heading off to the vet's for his annual vaccines. I always feel a wee bit mean, possibly more so than I did when it was my daughter's going to the Doctor's for their vaccinations; I'm not entirely sure what that says about me and I probably don't want to know either, though I have a sneaking suspicion, I could be considered a crap mum! Anyway, I knew where I was going to be taking the little chap, and as horrid as the weather forecast looked yesterday, I felt obliged to try and dodge the clouds and take him for a nice walk, or perhaps a nice sniff, since that is what he seems to do more of. You may have caught his last post (cheeky chap), where he pretty much admitted to sniffing more than usual to get me back for having his hair cut! If you didn't, you can catch up here.

A Happy Max Before His Vaccines at the Vets

Trust me, he spent flipping ages sniffing round there and walking around in circles. I really do wonder if running into things as a pup has maybe done something to his head, still he's cute, and who really cares about his intelligence levels when he's so pretty?

Sorry, as usual I have digressed somewhat. Back to the point, which is the annual vaccination for pets. Does your pet need to have annual vaccinations? Well now, that's a question that only you can really answer. We have a cat, and she missed her booster when I was very ill, and though I have a lifetime plan, I simply cannot afford to pay for the initial jab again, but she is an indoor cat and has no interaction with any pet, other than Max. Hence I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

Now, our pampered pooch, on the other hand, is a whole other story. Like most dogs, Max is very sociable, he loves to say hello to the other dogs, sniffs anything and everything, and picks anything that is lying about, up in his mouth, so annual vaccinations are not up for debate. Thankfully, in spite of spending most of the first year of his life to and fro from the vet's, he loves the place, so getting him through the door is no problem at all.

Just a pet waiting to see the vet!
As you can see, he's pretty chilled out, plus it was very quiet so every single member of staff who walked past, stopped to make a fuss of him, and being the tart he is, he just lapped it up! He didn't even mind when he got called through to see the vet, in fact he was quite fond of the vet because he was given treats. As part of his annual vaccination visit, he gets a good overall health check up, which is good given the health problems Cavalier King Charles Spaniels can have. Thankfully, he's heart is all good, and his joints are fine (I would hope so, seeing as he has had £6000 worth of work to pin his knees in place), but there was an interesting issue (or not) with his teeth, which no one else had picked up on. Max has a teeny, tiny retained baby tooth. Thankfully, it's causing no problems, so a big sigh of relief there. Next it was time for the jab. The vet was very 'canny,' giving the boy a treat,  needless to say, he didn't even notice he'd had a needle jabbed into him. The kennel cough vaccine, well, that wasn't quite the same at all. You see, that one goes up the nose, which is not particularly pleasant. It took a couple of attempts, but it got done and Max got another treat as a reward, which made him love the vet even more.

So that's Max, covered for the next year and free to sniff and play with his friends. It may seem a bit cruel, but I'd really rather not have a poorly pooch. It's bad enough when a child is ill, but like a baby, a pet can't tell you what's hurting or how they feel. I'm glad I took out the lifetime vaccination cover too. 

As for Max, well, he's still a bit sulky, but I think he's forgiven me now.



If you would like further information on caring for your dog and his health take a look at the links below:


Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

24 comments:

  1. Pet care and vaccinations are important, believe it or not we have a round of things to do with our farm animals too #KCACOLS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't begin to imagine how many vaccines etc you need for all your lovely animals. It's a bad enough getting one pet to the vet at a time, but yes vaccines are very important to keep them healthy. Thanks so much for popping by x

      Delete
  2. Pet vaccinations are just as important as human vaccinations. It breaks my heart to have to do it for my kids and my fur babies, but I also gain such a peace of mind when it's over with too. #KCACOLS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does make you feel a bit mean doesn't it, but I know I'd feel a whole lot worse if the kids or the pets got sick with something that could have been prevented. Have a good week xx

      Delete
  3. We've never had a dog or cat but we had guinea pigs! They didn't need vaccinations. We did bring them to the vet a couple of times when they were feeling poorly and they appeared to enjoy their visits - the vet was great with them.

    Yes, I agree that pet care and vaccinations are important.

    Little Orange Dog is super cute, BTW.

    #kcacols

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Veronica. Thank you, he is a very cute little chap, but he does know it and plays on it; he's very cheeky too :-) xx

      Delete
  4. Aw, he is so sweet! I never used to miss a vaccine with my little staffy boy either.
    Well done Max :) x #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Jayne. Oh we love Staffies! They are such a soppy breed xx

      Delete
  5. Such a cutie! Sounds like you are taking great care of Max. My husband has retained one baby tooth too ;-) #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh wow! You just take it for granted that all those baby teeth fall out x

      Delete
  6. That look of pure betrayal they give you when the vet gives them the vaccination is literally the worst! At least it doesn't seem to have taken Max too long to get back to himself again #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the trick with the treat worked very well. He's very led by his stomach :-) x

      Delete
  7. Your little red dog is super cute. I'm glad the shots are done for the year. Meds up the nose sounds horrible - I'd want to bite the doc if he did that to me. #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you. I wouldn't be at all happy if someone was trying to stick something in my nose! x

      Delete
  8. Aww! What a sweetheart he is!
    Vaccinations are so important. It sounds like Max had a great time visiting the vets. #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He does love his vet visits, which certainly makes my life a whole lot easier x

      Delete
  9. Glad Max coped with the jabs. Lapping up all the attention too. Our current dog is very social. Loves to sniff everything. We could not miss jabs, worming or anything with him. Previous hound would avoid contact, of any kind, so she could get away with it. She lived to a right old age too. #MMBC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, you can't take a chance with a friendly, sniffy dog, but my, those worming tablets are a pig to get down them x

      Delete
  10. Hi Lisa, three of our dogs are due for their annual checkups and jabs in the next couple of weeks (I hate breaking the news to them). Luckily our vet is a friend and comes to the house so it's not such a circus. We had a dog that lived to be nineteen and for the last few years she never had a vaccination on our vet (at the times) advise as he reckoned her immune system was strong enough after all those years of vaccinations. Probably couldn't argue with that as she finally passed away from old age (I'd like to say in her sleep, but her body was failing her, but her heart wouldn't stop so in the end so she needed a little help)... However we do have a once feral cat that has never been vaccinated, she's just too wary. De-fleaing and worming her is a challenge and that's all done with one SpotOn application. It took us a week to get her in a cage to get her spayed! But she lounges around our house (outside and doesn't come into contact with other cats so the vet has said she'll probably be okay)... I'm sure Max knows it's for his own good really... And just so you know you are not alone, one of our little dogs doesn't play with a full packet and I'm sure that's todo with walking into things as a puppy too!

    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Debbie, that is very good to know. The number of things Max has run or walked into is crazy, he gets so easily distracted. He's also tripped over before, I didn't even know dogs could do that! Hope your three don't take the news of their vaccinations too hard xx

      Delete
  11. it is so important to give them their jabs though. Glad Max has gotten over it so quickly. He's a lucky pup! #KCACOLS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He is a very spoilt fur baby too, but with that face of his, how could he not be :-) x

      Delete
  12. I think it's worse with the dogs because you get them yearly. Once the bulk of the kids jabs are done there are only a few they have as teenagers. Thanks for linking up with #kcacols, hope you can come back next time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is very true, and the dogs don't understand that it's good for them x

      Delete