Today was Zeeke’s vet visit. He had to get his rabies vaccine - apparently we were slightly overdue so he couldn’t get the three year, I’m not pleased about that - and his heartworm testing, and his general physical. His Lepto and Lyme were also due, but I told them not to give them. Den is still wants to get the Lyme vaccine, but everything I read isn’t very positive about the vaccine.

So anyways, he freaked out in the truck, as usual. We had to pick Den up from work on the way, and by the time we got there he looked like he was going to have an accident in the truck, so I ran him into the woods. Once at the Vet he was very alert and hyper, lots of nervous energy to burn. He sniffed another dog that was in the waiting area, sniffed everything he could reach in fact.

We put him on the scale, expecting around 110lbs. It said 88lbs!! The vet went over all his past records and said they’ve ALL been around 88 lbs, except for last year that said 96lbs and he said if anything that one looks like it could have been an error, since he certainly has never looked any different at any point. This is apparently his “good” weight, and the vet says if he looks good, keep it. But we’re just shocked, we fully expected him to weigh over 100, and he’s not even over 90! Boy can we estimate wrong, sheesh.

So then we went into the exam room and the doc came in. We talked about Zeeke’s weight and the vaccinations. I was happy that he wasn’t at all pushy about it, he just went over the risks of not getting the vaccine - which unfortunately made Den nervous. Then he looked Zeeke over. Zeeke did so good! He didn’t display any signs of aggression at all - two years ago (last time I went in with him) he actually had to be muzzled because he flipped out and tried biting the vet. He wasn’t happy, but he was good. They took him in the back to take blood and give him his rabies, and didn’t have any issues with that either. The vet also took a look at the lump on his ear, it’s very small and hard, under the skin. Says it could be a few things, but it definitely doesn’t look like anything dangerous, so we should just keep an eye on it and let them know if it grows. It’s been that way for a year, so I’m not concerned. It just bugs the heck out of me, though, I wish we could get it taken off - but that would require anesthesia, I’m sure, and that wouldn’t be good. If he has to be anesthetized for any other reason, then I’ll ask them to take it off.

We also picked up a 6-pack of the K9 Advantix and a year’s supply of heartworm preventative. For that and the visit it came to $280. Holy $^!$#!. I nearly fainted. We are SO buying our flea/tick medication elsewhere from now on.