Whenever I post pictures of Bowdu in a muzzle, he gets invited to photo pools for muzzled pets, which honestly creeps me out… Not sure if the addition of Bowdu’s “corset” just adds to the flames, but you know what? As long as you freaky furries keep your paws on your side of the screen, I’ll just carry on with business as usual here.
Anyway, this is how we suited up Bowdu for his vet visit on Wednesday morning. His basket muzzle is hanging a little loose, and it was cinched up tight when we got closer to the vet. I had the Thundershirt on him during our walk around the block, and he didn’t seem to think anything of it. The Acepromazine had started to kick in, but I’d only administered it about 80 minutes before the examination (the instructions recommended dosing him one to two hours before showtime). Note to self for future reference: Bowdu needs closer to two hours for the sedative to reach maximum effect.
Between the suit, the mask, and the drugs, we were able to draw another round of blood without having to completely put him under. It’s not a pretty solution overall, but if this is what it takes to get the job done once a year, then hell — I’m satisfied. It’s hard to tell what really helped the situation. Maybe all of it. I had my doubts about the Thundershirt, but since we have it now, we’ll probably use it again. Besides, Bowdu did let a vet tech physically pick him up, which he’s never submitted quietly to before!
The biggest advantage of the Thundershirt was that it very clearly flagged him as a “special care” dog and abbreviated my need to offer handling suggestions. A couple of the techs actually appeared to move more delicately and speak soothingly around him because they saw the Thundershirt and immediately understood its implications. Or perhaps it’s just a natural reaction to the absurdity of dogs in clothing.
Bowdu’s never going to be comfortable at the vet, no matter how much cheese, bacon, or pasture-fed dehydrated goat liver he gets while he’s there. He willingly enters the lobby and partakes of their hypoallergenic cookies, as we’ve done dozens of times during our “fun” visits throughout the year, but the instant he’s taken into an exam room, he knows the stakes are different. He’s really too wily to be fooled.
Wednesday’s vet bill:
- Office call, $56
- DHPP vaccine (3 year booster), $24.50 (after student discount)
- Bloodwork: total body function, $169
- TOTAL: $249.50
Thyroid numbers (blood drawn approximately 9 hours after his last dose of 0.2 mg Soloxine which he gets 2x a day, twelve hours apart):
- Free T4 (ng/dL): 1.6 (reference range 0.6 ~ 3.7)
- Free T4 (pmol/L): 20.6 (ref. range 7.7 ~ 47.6)
- T4 (ug/dL): 1.7 (ref. range 1.0 ~ 4.0)
I feel your pain, when we take our shiba in for anything out of the ordinary checkup it poses quite the challenge. Glad to hear the combination you used worked, we’ll consider this next time.
Hi, Do you remember the manf of your muzzle? The leather one at the vets takes a split second for Mojo to remove and the nylon one at home maybe 30 secs. I presume that this one stay put under a shiba’s snakelike headshake? Thanks! ~Mo
Ours appears to be a generic brand of “Italian basket muzzle” —
Italian Basket Muzzle
The strap and clasp don’t look as nice as the one pictured. Ours is a convenient snap-on clasp. The band is made out of simple nylon, and doesn’t stay cinched, but it’ll stay tight enough at the moment so that Bowdu can’t get it off. He’d be able to work himself loose over time, though. If unattended, he uses his claws to work it loose and pry it off.
Feeding him out of the muzzle, getting him used to wearing it for no apparent reason seemed to help. He freaks out about the muzzle they use at the vet, which is more like this
. That’s just too much for him.
Bowdu looks like he is going to fall asleep in the first pic.. =O
My PAOs have no issues going to vet, or examined by a lady vet. In fact Dao Sah Pao loves going to the vet to meet “familiar” people. As for Teh Pao, well, if the vet is male, that means trouble, if that is a male vet who happen to be Indian/ Black/ Tanned Skin, hell broke loose =S Guess that is a gender & colour thing =/
Pingback: Walk Around the Blogs: Action Items
We used the thunder shirt on Savannah. At times I think it helped. I love your last photo of him all smiles.
Sorry vet visits are so tough on Bowdu! Glad your prep paid off and his numbers were good too.