The Woes of Parenting

Okay, so I have to take one of my dogs, Zoe, to the vet tomorrow and I'm conflicted with a couple of things. For one, my hubby and I moved about a year ago and so our vet is still relatively new to us. I Loved my previous vet, who had his own office. I always had the same vet and he would sit and chat with me endlessly about my pets and my questions. There were times that I'd call because one of my dogs was getting sick and I'd be worried and he'd always have me try a home remedy (like rice, beef and plain yogurt) first before wasting my money and coming in for a simple little doggy cold.

Now I have a vet where there are four vets in the office so unless I want to cater my vet appointment with one of the vet's schedule - which is very difficult, I tried - I have to have a different vet each time! So the vets doesn't necessarily Know my pets when they see them, which is annoying. And then, on top of that, for some reason this vet office "likes" to test for heartworm every visit for my dogs. My previous vet Never did that except for their very first visit. I give my dogs their heartworm pill Religiously every month and so I don't find this extra expense necessary, but they guilt me into it like I'm a bad Mommy if I don't because "you never know" if Heartguard suddenly stopped working after it's worked for my dogs since I've owned them. With three dogs and two cats, all those extra little expenses start to add up...

Then I read an article that frustrated me even more. It was about Dr. Jean Dodds studies on vaccinations. She has researched the vaccination guidelines for over 30 year and she feels dogs and cats are being overvaccinated, and that partly the reason why is that vet offices need to make money and if they didn't have yearly vaccinations they couldn't make a profit. This discerns me. Now I have no problem spending money on my pets for their needs and to spoil them, but I do have a problem spending money if it's unnecessary, especially for something that causes them discomfort (one of my dogs cries every year for his vaccinations). I mean, pets are expensive as it is without having to waste money! Further, Dr. Dodds states that overvaccinating our pets may actually create adverse reactions and may be a risk to them.

Anyways, my third dilemma is Greenies. Once praised as the best thing for dogs' teeth since they were out in the wild chewing on animal bones (and nobody cared if they had diarrhea for a week), now there are articles popping up about the dangers of my beloved Greenies! My dogs are addicted to Greenies like it's their cat nip or crack. And I love them because it cleans there teeth so damn well. I'm going to ask my vet's opinion on the Greenie issue because it'll be hard for us to give up, but I also sure as hell don't want to risk my dogs' lives for them!

Man, being a parent now-a-days is just so difficult, so many choices and risks to consider, as well as the costs (which I hate to admit because it Does make me feel like a bad Mommy worrying about money, but I know that I will Always put my pets' health and happiness first before money). Anyways, my plan is to reject the heartworm test, ask about the vaccinations and get whatever my vet suggests and ask about the Greenies... as long as I'm not guilted out of any of my decisions. Man, and I was always so critical of those guilt ridden parents. Damn.

For more information on Dr. Jean Dodds and her research, here are some resources to get you started: Are our pets being over-vaccinated?, An Act to Require Veterinarians to Provide Vaccine Disclosure Forms, Dr. Jean Doddss' Recommended Vaccination Schedule. I also have an article that was emailed to me and that I can't find online, so I'd be happy to email it to anybody who requests it.

If being a furkid parent is this tough, I don't even want to think about being a human baby parent.