To the vet!

Every spring (and, thankfully, no time in between!) we make that yearly visit to the vet.  Dr. Singer has been Zoe's vet forever.  She used to work at Rotterdam Vet, then moved to Glenville Vet.  We followed her.  She's that good.  We love her, and Zoe does too.

A vet appointment is usually guaranteed to set you back a couple hundred dollars, and today was no exception.  Zoe had her temperature taken (you're putting that where?!), blood taken for a lyme/heartworm test (came back negative) and was weighed. 

Speaking of weight...2 years ago (2008) we got in trouble.  Zoe weighed 107 pounds, and was too heavy.  We mentioned she seemed to have trouble getting up sometimes, and Dr. Singer gently pointed out that all that extra weight would make it hard on her.  So we tried really hard, cut back on treats, even cut her food amount back a little.  Fast forward 1 year (2009), and we took Zoe back for her annual check-up...scared that she was still going to be overweight.  To our great surprise, she weighed in at 85 lbs!  We were shocked and very happy!  We want Zoe to be healthy and live a long time!

This year I was afraid again.  We haven't been very careful lately, and Zoe's only been on a few walks since the weather has been nice.  True, she plays out in the yard, but she doesn't get any consistent exercise.  I feel like a bad parent.  But lo and behold...Zoe weighed 86 lbs today!  Only up one pound from last year at the same time!  Dr. Singer was very happy with that, as are we!

So anyway.  After the weighing and stuff was done we waited in the exam room for Dr. Singer.  She came in and thanked us for the Christmas card (yes, we are the dorks that do a picture with our dog for our card, and even send it to the dog groomer and vet.) then jumped in with Zoe.  She's always petting her and giving her treats.  And shots.  I think Zoe prefers the treats.

We discussed some of Zoe's issues: she has an eyebrow tumor (we got cream to put on it, if it grows she'll need surgery) and, of course, her anxiety issues.  We're going to wait it out a bit with that, and see how she does.  We may try some behavior modification, or, as a last resort, medication.

All-in-all Zoe did a great job, and I'm glad that's over for another year.  I really hope she doesn't need to have surgery on her eye.  It would suck money-wise, and I don't want her to have to go through that!