Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pet Priorities

What does your pet mean to you? I recently had a new client tell me, "This dog is the most important thing in my life!" He lives in San Antonio but travels to Austin on sales business and stays with his girlfriend here. Notice he did not say the girlfriend was number one in his life!

He brought his dog in for a nonspecific lameness, and asked me my opinion on an anal tumor his dog had. "My previous vet checked it and said it was benign, so we should wait until it is a problem, then remove it." Dogs get a lot of anal tumors; most are benign, but some are dangerous. "Is it growing?" I asked him. "You know, it is getting bigger," he said. I recommended removing it immediately. Even benign tumors can have grave effects, and I'd much rather remove it marble sized than lemon sized. I gave him an estimate for the surgery, plus taking care of a broken tooth I noticed. He immediately scheduled the surgery, and transfered all his dog's records to our office. OK, he's a little intense. But he saw the procedure as an investment in his highest priority.

Tonight a woman brought in her cat for nonspecific pain, and told me, "She is my best friend. I work nights and I cannot leave her without getting her checked out." The formerly howling feline pranced around the exam room, purring loudly. I did a thorough exam but found nothing. The owner was puzzled but happy for the peace of mind.

I love owners like that.

5 comments:

Dana said...

Yes...if all the pet owners were like that--although, he is a little over the top.
That hamster today was very cute, but much bigger than Vino. I still miss Vino. There'll never be another like him.

Thank you for your support during this blog-a-day #$%&. Who came up with this, anyway?

Laura said...

Next to my husband and family, my dogs are the most important thing in my life, too. Certainly more important to me than stuff or my job. I'm one of those weirdo's who are a little over the top. But I'm worse - I always get my veterinarian brother on the phone if I am skeptical of something the vet has said. I've never done that with my regular vet, but with the emergency clinic, I have!!

Emily said...

I can relate. I just had a dream last night that I was giving away all my furniture and most of my possessions (sound familiar?) and was supposed to give Sabrina to another family but decided at the last moment I couldn't live without her. The dream was so vivid...and I woke up with my snuggly fur-ball right beside me as usual.

The Library Lady said...

I adore my cats and they're part of the family. But I do bristle a bit about all the crap about being a pet's "parent".

When people develop :) stretch marks from giving birth to puppies, or have to send their gerbils to college, then they can get back to mean. Meanwhile,no way!

Anonymous said...

My dogs are #1 after my kids and Husband (okay, after the kids). I was just feeling guilty the other day that we're going away for 2 nights over Thanksgiving, and worrying that they'd be lonely and miss us too much. I draw the line at frou frou outfits for dogs, though.