Who in their right mind would have ever thought that taking a 9 year old Golden Retriever to the Vet would be like taking a 2 year old to the pediatrician?  My sweet dog Cooper normally hops out of the back of my SUV and makes a bee line for the Vet’s office. Not today, today she had to be dragged out of the back of the car, she was having no part of this at all. Once we got in the door I was sure she wud settle right down, we have been going to this Vet since she was a puppy. Nope it wasn’t to be, Cooper started to jump up on me and whine and cry as if she was telling me she wanted to leave NOW!!!
     We were there because I suspected she had a UTI, and I was correct. They did a urine catch, something I can’t do at home because we have Invisible Fence. Cooper goes out on her own, does her business and comes in. I tried to follow her around with a pan this morning, she wud squat, I wud slip it under her and she wud pop right back up. As if to say “we don’t do this Mom, I pee alone, go away now. After the 4th attempt I gave up and let her pee in peace.
     After the urine catch they brought Cooper back to me and she continued to whine and hyperventilate and carry on. No amount of calm words were working. Finally I invoked the Mom tone. “Sit down now!!”, it startled her so that she parked her fuzzy but and began to drool on my leg, but at least she was still.  For a moment until a couple came out of an exam room, each of them carrying a cat carrier. Cooper began to bark and whine at the cats, the cats began to hiss at her. Their owners were noticeably shaken and rightly so. Finally it was time to drag Cooper to the scale, again she resisted, it took me and a Vet Tech to get her there. Her panting, whining and hyperventilating the entire way. What was up with my normally quiet, calm and docile Golden today?
     The next step was the exam room, with another round of pulling and tugging to get Cooper there, and then 2 Vet Techs to hoist her up on the table. Normally she steps up on her own, lays down, they give her a cookie and use the hydraulics to send it up. The Vet handed her a cookie and she dropped it on the table, no bribery was working today.  After a basic body exam, out came the needle for blood, poor Cooper looked at me as if to say “see I told you it would just be a petting session”. It took 2 tries to get some blood, finally once that was done, and the tech started to lower the table Cooper decided to jump to the ground and shoot to the waiting room. Ugh this was not going to be an easy wait.
     Luckily my 18 year old came in just then. Cooper settled a bit of him, but really she was truly anxious in a way I had never seen her. Finally after the blood and urine tests came back and confirmed what I already knew. The Tech sold me antibiotics, more flea and tick meds cause I was out. And most importantly some anti anxiety meds for poor Cooper. She is gonna be clipped and groomed next month, and I think without them, neither her nor the groomer would survive the experience.