Taco and the Vet...

First, it is the surface of the sun today at a balmy 103 degrees. There is a slight breeze that occasionally blows the heat around. The good news is it is only 20 percent humidity, which means you can't see yourself de-hydrating.

Second, there are few things in this world that scare a Chihuahuas. For instance, running up to 80 lb Rottweiler doesn’t scare them. Or for that matter, standing on the edge of a two foot high curb stretching your hind leg to desperately piss on the bush (that a MUCH larger dog must have marked previously) just to loose your balance and fall those two feet to the mulch. And then look at me like I pushed him or something. However, there is one thing universally true that Chihuahua are deafly afraid of…The Vet.

Interestingly, when we approached the door of the new Vet, he sensed something wasn’t right (bear in mind - new Vet and he has never been here before). I opened the door and he stopped immediately. I proceeded inside to convince him it was alright and safe to enter. He looked at me like I was crazy for having crossed the line of death and he had no intentions of following. He locked up tighter than the tracks on a tank. I spend a couple of minutes coercing him to enter. Two hundred pound man out willed the 11 pound Chihuahua. Pathetic I know…

I took him because he was reverse sneezing and sounded like he had some congestion (much more than normal). The Vet told me that some dogs (especially Chihuahuas) have allergy problems and the reverse sneezing/congestion are signs of this. He also told me there is little to do about it. I asked about anti-histamines. He said I could give him Children’s Benadrile, but that only works for about 10% of dogs and is only a treatment and not a cure.

He did a full exam on the Taco and even took his temperature (which was as painful to me as him and I just had to watch – ever since I hit 35 and started getting the FULL physical exam, I have much more sympathy for anyone who gets something stuck there…). He examined his teeth and notice that one of Taco’s gums is a little recessed. Apparently, if there is an infection in the mouth it can cause more nasal congestion. So, to rule this out the doctor gave him some anti-biotic for 10 days. We'll see how he does after that.

Nothing else... Hope everyone is good back in O-H-I-O.