Tuesday was our annual family vet visit for 2015. Mom likes to pack all five of us fur siblings up and get all the annual physicals done at once. It is not an easy task, but it makes it easier to remember when we need to go in, and we all feel better being together. Katie, Bailie, and I make a second checkup visit every spring as well. Every pet should visit the vet at least once a year and as a pet ages, twice is even better.
How did we all measure up at our annual family vet visit?
First place goes to Sophie!
This was a bitter pill to swallow! The cat who doesn’t like dogs, does nothing but lie around looking pretty, is a perfect example of health! Her weight came in at 8.7 lbs, her teeth scored a 0, which is the top score, and her vitals are all good. Seems to me this is proof genetics play a big role!
Second place goes to Bailie!
Bailie being our second most healthy fur sibling is no surprise as she is the youngest! Little Bailie is at 41 lbs which is a perfect weight for her size, all her vitals are good, but she scored a 1 on the teeth. Mom has not been brushing our very back teeth well enough, so there was some plaque there. Maybe next year she can move up to a 0.
Third place goes to me, Emma!
I’m extremely proud to share my weight of 36.2 lbs. Dr. Valenti was so impressed with everyone’s weight! She told us all about how extra weight shortens life and how we are all so nice and fit which is amazing and awesome! I am actually down about a pound from last year, but I’m still at a good weight for my frame. My teeth also scored a 1 because of plaque on the back teeth, just like Bailie. Mom is working on brushing our back teeth better since our exam.
I only came in at third place as I have a bit of an infection in my “private area”. I’ve been having some issues and it looks like maybe I got a cut somehow which got infected, so I’m on meds for that. Next Friday I’m turning nine, so it was time to do a senior panel of tests. I’m also pleased as punch to tell you all my numbers came back perfect!
Fourth place goes to Bert!
Bert and Bailie both enjoyed getting into tons of mischief in the exam room. With five pets, a vet, and two assistants, Mom was busy trying to pay attention to everything and didn’t get a lot of photos. Bert spent most of the time stealing dog bones out of the treat jar and eating them! Anyway, Bert is proud to let everyone know his weight is now 11.6 lbs. Eleven pounds would be ideal, but considering he was at 14.1 lbs in 2012, and 12.4 just a year ago, we are happy he is continuing to lose weight. Bert’s teeth scored a 1 overall, however, the back teeth on his left side are not looking too good, and he may need some dental work in the future.
Fifth place goes to Katie!
Coming in last is not a surprise for Katie being thirteen years old now. Quite honestly, all five of us are really nice and healthy, and have just a few small issues here and there which is wonderful. Katie has lost some weight and now weighs just 69 lbs. At this point her weight is still alright, but she needs to maintain or gain a few pounds. Katie’s teeth came in at a 1 as well, with the same back teeth issue Bailie and I have. Katie had her yearly senior panel done and it came back great, no issues were found. The reason she did come in last is we found out she has developed a heart murmur. It is about a 2 on a scale of 6, so she had a chest x-ray which came back showing everything looking good. Katie needs to be monitored as the condition will continue to advance and she may need medication in the near future. Her not wanting to eat and heavy panting are all signs of her heart issue.
The family vet visit overall results:
Our vet Dr. Valenti was so excited to see a family of our size with everyone in such good health. Not only do most of us have the ideal weight, we also have good muscle tone. She also said if Katie had not been such an active dog her entire life, she most likely would be having a lot of health issues at this point. She told Mom several times that for a thirteen year old Kuvasz, Katie is in amazing condition. The only real issue falls on Mom’s paws and that would be she needs to get to brushing our back teeth better which we have already started working on! Don’t forget to visit your vet! It is important for your health, and so easy to do!
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Poor Sophie…I forget that she is in the crew! She is much too quiet around the rest of you girls and Bert! BOL! I am so happy that all of you had great checkups. I am sure your back teeth will be sparkling next time and I’m sending positive thoughts for Katie ♥
The back teeth thing isn’t too bad, so I’m sure if Mom steps up her game we will be sparkling in no time. Katie will do fine. We just have to keep an eye on her, but she is a large dog and older, so things do happen.
Sounds like y’all did really well!
We were pretty happy about our check ups. We try to live healthy and it pays off.
Your vet must really look forward to your visit every year!! That’s a whole room full!! Glad everybody checked out ok and hope your infection gets better real soon!!
Yeah, when we roll in, we kind of take over the place, but it is fun for them too.
I’m glad that you got such good news. I think I will follow Sophie’s advice … lay around and do nothing than to look pretty :o) I have to admit that I have to see the vet for a dental cleaning… my mom was shocked, we brush my teeth and I get 87 dental sticks per day… :o(
Darn cat gets the best grade for doing nothing, not fair. Be glad you don’t have a cat! Bummer with your teeth, we are happy we all have pretty good ones still.
Sounds like everyone got great reports. You should all thank Mom for taking such good care of you!
We know we are pretty lucky to have the lives we do here at out house, but sometimes even with the best care bad things pop up, so we are happy we all checked out well.
YEAH! SO glad to hear everyone is healthy and fit. Although I’m certainly not surprised…except for the teeth, your mom takes great care of you guys.
We do have real good teeth, just the very back ones need some extra brushing, but that won’t be an issue. We are all pretty happy with our results.
That’s all good news. Hopefully Katies heart thing will not get worse.
It will continue to progress. She had nothing a year ago and a 2 this year. At least we know about it, so we can monitor it and get medicine to help out if it progresses to that point.
So glad to hear everyone is happy and healthy!!! Hoping Katie heart murmur doesn’t get worse. Did they say that the heat/humidity or the cold could make it worse?
No, she just said it will progress but when it gets a bit worse, she can take medication to help out with it. If we need a nurse, we know who to call 😉
Haha what a zoo! I love it. I guess when life is as stress free as Sophie’s is, you have a low resting heart rate.
We are all amazed that Sophie of all of us is the most healthy. It is just not quite right! It is a zoo with all of us at the same time, but somehow it is comforting, and when we get home, we put Mom down for a nap!
My dogs LOVE the vet because he/she always gives them a gravy bone or two.
I don’t care how many treats I get, I just want to leave! The place is scary, but every vet clinic I’ve ever been to has been scary. Nice people, but they should not be bothering me!
Well I am very glad to hear there were only small issues with you guys! Well done at the vets! My pets aren’t very fond of the annual visits!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
It’s such a waste of time we could be napping or out walking, but no, we have to get poked and prodded instead!
Whew! Your mom sure is brave handling everybody at once!!! Sounds like good news all around. Mudpie had her very first wellness check yesterday too and was told she’s “purr-fect” and “could not be any healthier”. YAY!!!
Perhaps she is related to cat sis Sophie?
AMAZING! I’ve never had more than three at a time at the vet. Can’t imagine the talent and speed it took to get photos shots as well as critter shots!
This year went better as far as us pets, but there was so much going on at once, and we were coming and going for various tests, we didn’t even get a shot of all five of us together. Oh well, we were there to get checked out, not model I guess.
When we go together I get very upset for my sister. I bark and whine while she is examined. Do you guys do that? Mom takes us separate now. Good job on your health!!! Hooray!
No, we are happy it is not our turn, or some of us like Bailie and Bert get into all kinds of mischief. It works best for all five of us go together.
I’m glad that you all had such good news at the vet! Back teeth are hard to get–even in human mouths, so don’t be too hard on your mom 😉
She admits she spends more time on the teeth she usually sees, so we will see if we can clean up the back ones.
We take our dogs in 2x a year for weigh-ins. It’s great to know how their doing and I base their food servings on their weight. This year, they’ll all be going in for blood work. I’m nervous about the needles and the cost, but it’ll be good.
It’s one big bill every year when we all go especially with our senior panel tests and Katie’s additional needs, but that is what a property tax refund is for, right? It’s easier on us to go together and then Mom only has to remember once a year to go for physicals and then again in the spring for us doggies when we get our heartworm tests and check ups.
Darn good checkup gang! I’m impressed y’all go at the same time, I can’t imagine that happening here!
If you all went together it would end up in a cat fight for sure!
Okay, back teeth problems or no, you’ve inspired me to learn to brush Nala’s teeth! Hopefully it won’t be too hard to convince her to be a willing participant in the process.
I had no idea that you were nine, Emma! You look great. So does Katie the Kuvasz (and talk about a house full of breeds I’ve never seen in real life! very cool). Good job at the vet–Nala says the vet is very boring. Maybe we should bring four other animals to entertain her in the exam room. 😛
Well, I won’t be nine for another week…just saying… the back teeth thing should be easy for us to fix, Mom admits she didn’t spend as much time on them as the front ones everyone sees. Teeth brushing is awesome. We’ve done it at night before bed since we were tiny puppies. Being thirteen and having only a 1 for teeth on a scale of five is amazing since they have never been professionally cleaned. Give it a try.
Alas, I didn’t get Nala as a puppy and she came to me with an aversion to having her teeth looked at, so we’ll have to do a little extra work. Still, I’m so impressed by y’all’s teeth that I think it’s worth the effort!
We definitely think it pays off and we all love teeth brushing. I’m sure Nala can learn to love it too.
Congrats on the basically clean bills of health!
We are always happy to head home with no nasty surprises!
Does your vet give you a discount for coming in with your entire pack?! I love that you can take them all in at once, how pawsome is that! Also LOVED the pictures of Bert helping himself to some doggie treats…haha, sneaky kitty 😉
We do get a 10% multi pet discount but I think it happens for just two pets too. It’s just easy to get it all over with at once. Mom missed the shot of him trotting along the counter with the bone in his mouth, it was a hoot. The vet techs got a good laugh!
I’m impressed how you took everyone in at once! I hope you get a discount. I thought taking two in was bad! Yay for everyone being fit and healthy overall. I hope Katie’s heart murmur isn’t too bad and she’s comfortable.
Katie is doing really well for her breed and age. The x-ray of her chest looks great, so hopefully she won’t need heart meds for a while. Mom started taking all the pets to the vet back in like 2000 in Germany and just kept up the tradition. It is stressy, but in the long run the easiest way to do it for everyone.
We are so very happy to hear that overall, you are all very healthy ups!! Dory also has a slight murmur that she has to watch!!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
The murmur isn’t good, but it is better than a lot of things they could find and can be helped with meds.
Yes this is the month that Mica and Aspen get their well checks and shots. We never miss our vet visits. Mica has had 3 blood panels done this year so we probably won’t get that this time. Glad you are all in great health:)
It’s so important to make sure and get those check ups!
Glad to hear the check ups went well. Storm needs to go in for her Lepto before hunting season starts….oh the joy. 🙂
3 of us 5 are not fans of vet visits, but it has to be and as long as we are healthy, it isn’t so bad.
I thought I left a comment here yesterday, but don’t see it! Knowing me, I got distracted and forgot to actually post it! 🙂 I’m glad your appointments went so well, and I think that’s all great, and knowing your Mom, we bet your teeth will be much better next time!
Cricket also has a heart murmur, and she’s only 11. We’re having it re-checked next week to see where she’s at.
I’m also always impressed that all 5 of you go to the vet at once!
I think you imagined commenting as I hadn’t seen one like this before. Katie’s heart murmur started sometime since last September, hopefully it will progress slowly. It is not easy going all at once, but to get us all checked up and done for a year in a few hours is worth it.
I used to take Callie and Shadow to the vet together all the time, as moral support for each other. I couldn’t fit all 3 of them in the car together, but Ducky was better off going solo anyway.
Glad everyone is doing so well!! Stay on top of Katie’s heart murmur — I know you will! — and she will be just fine.
Not thrilled about the heart murmur, but there are many things worse than that, so we are fine with it. All of us feel better when we are together and then we don’ fight when we get home either as we all stink like a vet office!
Tuxedo Jack here ~ Awesome pawesome Emma! Bert likes dog bisquits just like me. (I think my teeth need a little help in back too, do you have a good toothpaste recommendation?) 2catsandacattledog.com
We used to use Drs. Foster and Smith Tartar Control toothpaste and liked it a lot, but now we use the special toothpaste for our Emmi-pet. It is awesome tasting and is working wonderfully except where Mom doesn’t spend enough time! https://mygbgvlife.mystagingwebsite.com/2015/05/14/dog-dental-care-with-emmi-pet/
What a great visit. Kudo’s to you Joy for having some really healthy pets and keeping on top of them. They all look great and sound like had great exams. Keep up the great work!
Mom works hard to keep us all healthy, but no matter what you do, sometimes diseases sneak in, so we are always happy to get back good test results.
Mom is sitting with her mouth opened and amazed that you take all five to the vet at the same time! Do any of the dogs use any type of chew bones? I would think that might help with the back teeth as mine are still clean and I don’t brush. Love Dolly
It is just a bit of light stuff on the back ones. Mom is on it with the brush. We do chew some chew bones. Katie is 13 and has about the same amount Bailie and I do.