Zen's New Vet - On Our Land Days 16-18

The last two days were filled with me working on my blog and cookbook, while Quantum and CK worked on the corral. Wonderfully boring and not worth blogging about. I seem to be one of those people cursed to live in "interesting times" so days that aren't worthy of talking about are a refreshing joy.

Today I'd managed to contact the local vet and set a tentative appointment. I crawled out of bed, grabbed a cup of coffee and then herded Zen into the Blazer at the crack of dawn. The vet sees appointments at 8:30 to 9:30am and schedules surgeries for the rest of the day. Unfortunately the Blazer had other ideas. 1/4 mile up the driveway the battery crapped out and Zen and I had to walk back to the trailers.

Quantum managed to get the thing back down the driveway, and set it up on the charger, but our morning at the vet was blown. Fortunately Mom was online and she managed to call the vet for me and find out that we could also go see him after 3:30. With the Blazer out of commission I had to take the Pickup. I'd never driven the beast before, and since the seat won't move forward, I had to drive it sitting on the edge of the seat and hanging on to the steering wheel to stay in place.

Walking into the vet's the first thing I noticed was that the place didn't stink of antiseptic. I immediately made friends with an older gentleman who was waiting in the lobby. Turns out he writes for the local paper. Sweet guy and very funny and friendly. Even better, he tells me how good the vet is. Now since I'd been told not to go to the other vet in town (super expensive) and recommended to go all the way to Trinidad, this was great news.

Zen was having the time of his life. within a few minutes he was alternating between licking the newspaper guy's leg and trying to climb in his lap.

I mentioned that I had yaks and the guy turned around and asked the Doctor if he worked with yaks. "I don't do anything the owners can't hold," the doc said, "and I don't do anything that spits at me, like camels or alpacas." He then proceeded to tell us of a time when he was younger and used to do cattle. "I had a cow with a prolapsed uterus," he said, "it hung out of her inside out, and I couldn't push it back in. The size of a 55 gallon barrel. But I sprinkled sugar on it and it shrunk and I was able to slam it right back in and suture it down." I smiled, knowing I'd read that in All Things Bright and Beautiful. Had he read the story there and used it wholecloth, did he get the idea how to fix it from there, or was that really the common remedy back then? For all I know that's still the remedy now.

Once the newspaper guy and his wife left I started filling out paperwork and Zen chose that moment to poop on the doctor's floor. Great way to make a first impression! We got Zen up on the scale/examining table. 55.9 lbs! Zen has gained a pound since I last weighed him.

Our new vet has a great bedside manner. Exactly the wise and unassuming old country vet type I'd hoped to find. I loved that he didn't have several assistants and did all the work himself. (Now maybe he doesn't feel that way.) But with past vets I've usually spent more time with the assistants than you get to with the doctor. I kinda like to know the person who's working on my precious puppy. He mixed the meds for Zen's ear (infected) making sure I understood not only how to use it, but exactly what was in it also.

At one point he mentioned that Zen was extremely well behaved. I did a doubletake. Zen usually flips out at the vet's. I don't know if he dislikes the smells or if it's the usual noise from 10 animals crammed into the waiting room at one time. (Our previous vet liked to schedule a huge amount of folks at once and then make us all wait an hour or more.) But he was right. Zen was a perfect gentleman through the entire visit. Well other than the poop. "What dog did you take to the vet?" CK asked, when I told about it later.

On the way home we saw another cow on the side of the road. Zen just watched it, silent and sniffing like mad. I can't wait till he meets the yaks. Also a bunny crossed the road in front of us. I love having wildlife roaming around again.

When I got home, Quantum and CK were working on the corral. Here's a photo of one of the posts, ensconced in a "post condom". A couple of plastic bags. Quantum's idea is that it'll help keep the post from rotting. It's already pressure treat, so I don't know how needed that is, but why not?