It's that time of the year again

I love my pets, I wouldn't trade any of them for the world, but this time of the year I am keenly aware of just how many of them there are, because this month, they allllll go to the vet for their yearly checkups and vaccinations.

It all started because Benny got a giant lump on his face. "Giant lump" doesn't even quite capture how it started, actually, it was more like half of his face swelled. I tried to take a picture of it, but given the black on black nature of his fur, I couldn't quite do it justice.

Long story short, I took him to the vet and they found a small puncture wound, like a bite mark. Apparently he got in a bit of a tumble with . . . wait for it . . . A BOB CAT. I don't actually know it was a bobcat, but Todd caught him mouthing off to (what we thought at the time was) another cat Friday night, and he swelled up saturday. Todd has since done a little research on the internet, and decided what he saw run away from the altercation was a bobcat.

The small puncture wound had turned into an abscess, so he had to go under and have the area shaved and a drain put in. Several hundred dollars later, he came home looking like THIS!

Yes, my friends, that is a piece of tubing running through two holes in his face and then tied. Try not to think about it too much, it is gruesome. That stayed in his face for a few days, and then, this past saturday, I got to snip the tubing and pull it out. Todd was not jealous of this job.

Fortunately, everyone else's vet visits were fairly normal. Shea and Chloe both had ear infections (???) so I get to squirt some stuff in their ears once or twice a day (they saw different vets, and got different directions on how to administer the ear medication.) and Shea goes in Monday to get shaved (expect pictures.) Shea and Chloe had their ears cleaned, and Shea got her nails trimmed. I have been woefully negligent in those kinds of things since I had the poor judgement to move away from Renee, who would get on my case about it and occasionally do it for me. Lexi, who is normally quite calm and sweet, completely wigged out when the vet tried to handle her, so we are going to have to work on that before next year.

Chloe and Shea and Benny and Bonnie all have to go back in a month for various rechecks and boosters, so I get to this allll over again. They are all four going on the same saturday, and the receptionist joked that they were basically opening that day just for us (at least, I think it was a joke!)

I love my vet. I loved them when I lived here before and they treated Beth for heartworms, and I love that I get to back to them now. They have been accused of being a little bit expensive, which is probably true, but I think it is worth it for the quality of care my pets get there.