Matildas Annual...

Matilda had her anual vet check yesterday. I was a bit nervous going in because I know how much she dislikes being handled by people she doesn't see on a regular basis however I kept my best "pack leader" costume on in hopes of keeping her as calm as possible. My favorite vet was there & took the time (as she always does with my Chi's) to get Matilda comfortable with her. She was able to do her exam & even check her teeth w/o an issue. Unfortunately she was called into an emergency just before blood draw/vaccination time. The aids there are great, I love them. But when it came down to holding her still for the poking she wasn't very thrilled. Panicked in fact. She looked for something to grab with her mouth though instead it looked like she was trying to swallow their heads. She just didn't know what to do or what she was doing. After about 5 seconds of that she just sat there wide eyed & waited for them to do their job. When they were done she couldn't run back to me fast enough... And if that wasn't enough excitment for one visit...

We walk out into the waiting room. There was a yellow lab waiting to be seen. No problem - Matilda never has had an issue with dogs...as long as they aren't over excited or over nosey with her. Better said, as long as they basically ignore her she's fine with them. So I'm paying for our visit when this huge...I mean ENORMOUS St Bernard walks out of an exam room to the scale which was right behind us. I've seen these dogs before but this one was by far the largest. Matilda nearly had a heart attack trying to run away from this dog. When we got out into the car she was panting like crazy (which she doesn't do unless running around outside in the summer time) then I notice...she got so scared she emptied her anal glands. Poor Matilda! The only thing I can think of is the large Newfoundlands that tried to attack her in town last year...perhaps she related the size to this calm St Bernard. Needless to say Matilda is apparently deathly afraid of XLARGE dogs...

Here she is - later in the day happy & content in her very own home. Oh & the stats of her check. She weighed in at 7lbs 15oz (though the harness she had on weighs 3-4oz itself). Healthy though has a couple baby teeth they'd like to take out (in which the vet seemed less than impressed that they were not remove during her spay, as was I but more on that another day). She also has a bit of tartar build up already which I knew about & despite our tooth brushing routine. I'm guessing they'll probably do a cleaning the same time they remove her baby teeth.