Stella and the Vet

Our sweet puppy, Stella, has a big problem.  She is terrified to go to the vet, and she needs to go get a heartworm test and some vaccinations.  The anxiety can be traced back to when she was neutered, about a year ago. Before that, a visit to the vet was a great happy treat and Stella loved everyone there.   Last year, when we went for her annual check-up, she didn’t like it much.  She was uncharacteristically nervous. The vet gave me some Ace (acepromazine) pills and suggested that the next time we come, I should give her a couple to calm her.  I’m not a fan of tranquilizers, so I chose to believe that Stella would simply get over this aversion.

This winter, I took Stella off the heartworm medication and the Frontline for a couple of months when there were no bugs. So, this Spring, I made an appointment for her to have a heartworm test before I put her back on the pills.  We went to the vet, without any tranquilizers, and Stella had a total meltdown.  I’ve never seen her like this, hiding under me, shaking, panting, refusing dog treats. The vet techs were very sympathetic and gentle, and we decided not to do anything that day. We re-scheduled, and I gave her the two tabs of Ace an hour and a half before we went back to the vet. The drugs seemed to rev Stella up instead of calm her. She was trying to play with the cat and racing around, and the closer we got to the vet’s office, the more upset she was. Once again, we went in, Stella freaked out and we did nothing but try to hang out until she calmed down. She never did. So, after talking to the vet, we tried it again with 3 pills.  Stella was very disoriented from the drugs, and she still panicked and we did not do the blood test and later, she was wobbling around like a drunk.  I felt awful that I had done this to her. The vet told me that some dogs will have that reaction to Ace, so we should try Xanax.

By now, I was really upset.  We love our vet and don’t want to find another one. We’ve been going there for almost 10 years, and we really believe that they are the best ones around. I googled around and found out that Ace is a sedative, which can sometimes not work because it is not “calming” but merely sedating – like a blanket that slows down the dog but doesn’t address the underlying anxiety. And Xanax is supposed to actually calm anxiety-ridden dogs. Did I mention that I don’t like these kind of drugs?  But I took Stella to the vet – a desensitization visit – and picked up the pills. I brought my husband along for moral support. Stella wigged out again and scratched him really hard on the arm as she was trying to jump on him to get away. He agreed with me: it’s official that Stella has a problem with the vet. The Xanax didn’t work either. It seemed to have no effect on her at all. When we got to the vet, she was panting and freaking out. They don’t want to restrain her, so we agreed that we would have to come up with some other plan, but their only suggestion was that I call an animal behaviorist.  So, I am waiting to hear from a vet who is a behaviorist that they recommended.

I’m wondering if somehow, since Stella seems to have this reverse reaction to the medications, maybe she wasn’t actually sedated enough when they neutered her. Of course, no one will ever admit that happened, and only Stella would be able to tell me. She’s definitely telling me something, and I am listening. I just need to figure out the best thing to do for her. She really needs to be on the heartworm medication since there are lots of mosquitos around right now. And I want her to be okay at the vet. I’ve always believed that my animals need to be calm enough to be handled by vets and technicians.  They don’t have to love it, but they need to be able to get medical treatment. I may just try a new vet and see how she reacts. Or see what the behaviorist says. Or schedule a house call with some vet.

What I don’t want to do is further traumatize my good, sweet pup.

What's New, Tiger Lily?

      

It’s a good year for the lilies. I am finding delight in the bursts of orange cheerfully appearing in random patches in our yard and along the country roads at this time of summer. The wild raspberries are soon to follow.

 This is not our usual 4^th of July. Last night, our 17-year old daughter flew across the world to Japan to begin a three-week adventure as one of five American kids chosen to be Junior Fellows by the Japan Society. It was a 14-hour flight, and I woke up about every two hours, marveling that she still has 8 more hours, six more, four more, two more before she lands. I thought about how long it takes to fly to Chicago or LA, and with each sleepless hour, it felt like she was going further and further away. Finally, at 4:30 am, she texted us to say that she had arrived and she loved us. Relieved, but wide awake, I got up to make a pot of coffee.

 I began thinking about love.  The lesson I learned earlier this summer was how deep and strong the love is between me and my husband. It took two summers in a row in which he almost died (Lyme Disease that went to his heart last year and the crazy tractor accident two months ago) for me to really get it deep in my bones that this is what real love is all about.  Now, in proudly watching my daughter bloom and leave the nest, I know that I will be getting another lesson in love. This one is about letting go.  As much as I already miss her, I know that she is ready to fly and I need to trust that she will always want to come home to tell us all about what she saw and what she did and what she learned.

Meanwhile, the horses are very happy that I am paying so much attention to them.

“To live in this world

                           you must be able

                           to do three things

                           to love what is mortal;

                           to hold it

                           against your bones knowing

                           your own life depends on it;

                           and, when the time comes to let it go,

                           to let it go.”

                           ––Mary Oliver

Beautifully Uneventful

This is a rare early Saturday morning moment when the sun is finally shining, the other people and animals are still sleeping in the house and I am drinking coffee while the cat snoozes on my lap. After spending weeks with my husband recuperating from his accident, waiting anxiously in hospital waiting rooms while stressful procedures were being done, after frightening phone calls that my daughter’s school is once again on lockdown due to some cruel hoax played by a stupid, insensitive person,   after days of torrential rain that once again flooded our barn, this simple normal activity of drinking coffee, listening to the birds chirp, feeling the summer breeze through the open window is a thing of great beauty.

So, I will simply wish you all the same enjoyment of life’s precious uneventful but oh so happy moments – have a wonderful time doing nothing!

Turkey Trot

 
 Yesterday around noon, the horses were enjoying the shade and fans in the barn on our first really hot, humid day of summer. I went out to give them a couple of flakes of hay for lunch, but only Siete stuck her head out of her stall to greet me.  When I looked in Silk’s stall, mama horse was standing in the cool darknes staring out the backdoor, absolutely mesmerized by something in my neighbor’s yard.

 
   There he was, the biggest, most magnificent Tom Turkey, surrounded by his harem of hens.  This fellow was huge, and showing off for his ladies. His tail was as beautiful as a peacock’s. I stood next to Silk for a while with my arm resting on her back, enjoying the show. The air was full of  turkey love, romantic gobbling and murmured sweetly clucked  nothings.   Inspired, I ran back into the house to get my camera .  I managed to get pretty close to Emperor Tom before he became protective of the hens and started to shoo them into the bushes.

     It made me think how similar this male turkey was to a stallion with his herd. I was motivated to do a little research and came up with some pretty interesting information.  Turkeys are known as “earth eagles” to Native Americans. They are associated with feminine energy and shared blessings, using the blessings of the earth for the greatest good of the flock. Female turkeys nest together in one big nest and share duties taking care of their young.

    About eight years ago, UC Berkeley scientist Alan Krakauer studied wild male turkeys mating rituals. He discovered that the males deferred to the dominant fellow and actually helped him mate with the females. It’s an evolutionary principle called “kin selection”. “Individuals may engage in altruism – behavior detrimental to their survival or reproduction – if the behavior increases the survival or reproductive output of their relatives." The dominant male preforms a classic strut – shuffling his feet and making a low drumming noise. "While the dominant male was strutting, however, the subordinate might continue to display, like a back-up singer, or even chase away other males that got too close," Krakauer said. When I see them from now on, I will imagine a Motown group like "The Temptations" or "Smokey Robinson and the Miracles". 

    The turkey parade continued this morning, while Stella went nuts barking at the windows. The ladies regally made their way across our front lawn, eating up all the ticks and insects that the herd of deer have been leaving behind all winter.  Soon they will be escorting their baby poults, or “lurkeys” as my neighbors call them, teaching them the Way of the Turkey that will be handed down to another generation.

   Ain’t Nature grand?