Vet Visit Victory

Well, Doink’s yearly vet visit is now history.  (Might not be an actual victory, but success doesn’t start with a “V” 🙂 )  While I feel like we’re both still recovering a little, it went well.

The vet I loved so much from last year graduated and moved away, and I missed her. The new vet and his assistant were both friendly and were great about explaining everything they were doing. The biggest concern is always the anesthesia. Pot-bellied pigs don’t metabolize it well, especially the injectable kind.  But since it would be WAY more stressful to get Doink to the vet hospital, they made do with the situation at hand.

Doink, being a very smart pig, knew the moment they stepped into the barnyard that something was up.  He went to his safe place—his bed—and would not come out.  I don’t like to be the one to try and coax him out, because I think he feels a betrayal of trust with me if I say, “Come on out, here’s a treat, it’ll be ok” when it obviously is not ok.  On the other hand, since he’s already fearful of the vets I don’t like them to be the bad guys either.  But we had to get him out, so we all became liars with treats until he finally succumbed to the call of the cookie and came out of the shed.

Tranquilizer shot was given and the waiting began.  The vets were calm and patient.  I tried to be.

Doink STRONGLY resists the effects of the anesthesia, standing and swaying until he absolutely can’t stand anymore.  Finally, he was in lala land and they got to work.

Tusks, top and bottom, got trimmed off and the edges smoothed with a Dremel.  The rest of his mouth looked good.  This vet had a formula for how short to cut the tusks and did not cut close to the level of the other teeth like they did last year.  I kinda wish they were shorter, but who am I to argue?

On to his little tootsies.   The big guns came out.

The whole thing took less than two hours.  They packed up their gear and headed to their next job, leaving me with a totally zonked out pig.   He slept for almost another hour while I hung around and watched him.  Then, slowly—but not at all surely—he tried to resume his normal activities. Oh my.

It was a much harder recovery than last year.  I think my only non-positive observation is it felt like the vets didn’t have as much time.  They gave him more meds, while last year they waited longer for the meds to take effect.  I think those extra tranquilizers made a big difference in the time it took for him to get back to normal—not an afternoon, but a couple of days.

The morning after, he was not coming out of the shed.  Here’s my attempt to lure him out… (For the record, he won 🙂 )

Now, three full days later he’s almost back to normal.  He’s getting lots of watermelon and pumpkin to keep him hydrated.  (I’m making sure my happy hour gin and tonic is lippin’ full.) He’s still not coming out of the shed much, but we’re supposed to have a beautiful weekend and I bet he’ll be back to munching grass non-stop soon.

We’ve come a long way from that first tusk trim nightmare.  It probably won’t ever be perfect—I’m guessing he’ll never greet the vets with love and affection—but at least I’m getting more used to the procedure and now I know how best to help him recuperate.  With watermelon for him and gin for me, Doink and I can get through just about anything!

**Shared at From the Farm, (mis)Adventures Monday and Our Simple Homestead**