Zoey goes to the vet

Yesterday was Zoey's first vet visit!

The diagnosis: she is a healthy, happy puppy with a few minor things that need to be taken care of. They found a few parasites (apparently very common in puppies) and a slight infection in her left eye. I was given medication, and a follow-up appointment will be in 3 weeks.

Also, we started her on heartworm prevention and flea medication. This is something I never did with Jera; always meant to, but kept forgetting to call the vet. Then, on that last camping trip, I was chatting with a vet whole gently chastised me for not taking care of both of those things. I felt like a horrible pet owner, and made a mental note to call the vet as soon as we got back to Atlanta. Unfortunately, Jera ran away a few days later so we never did take care of that. It goes through my mind now that she is suffering out there with heartworms because I didn't have her on preventative medication. :-(

So, we started on heartworm treatment today. Anyone have recommendations as far as brands? The vet gave me Iverhart to try, and said I should let her know at the next appointment in 3 weeks if I want to stay with that brand or switch. The vet also gave me Frontline for the flea & tick control.

The last thing Zoey got yesterday was a microchip implant! That was a big needle, the poor little girl. Even the yummy treats the vet's assistant tried to distract her with wasn't enough. I am glad to have that taken care of, though. Even though having a microchip doesn't guarantee your pet's going to get home (Jera is a case in point), you can't imagine the peace of mind it gives you. We are also thinking of subscribing to a service that helps you when your pet goes missing by contacting vets in the area. That would have been so nice to have for Jera. It's only $15 a year, so I think it would be worth it, but I still need to talk to Paul.

So after all that, the vet bill was a little high yesterday! It didn't surprise me, but I wish that it wasn't so expensive to keep your pet healthy. Paul and I are trying to make a realistic budget that includes the cost of a dog. We had figured the cost to be about $500/year, but it's definitely more for the first year of a puppy's life (what with spaying/neutering, puppy shots, microchips, and start-up supplies needed). We'll see. :-) It all gets confusing - we may need financial consolidation software to keep all this as well as our loans straight!