Photo Friday: Pet

It's kismet!   I had already planned a blog post about Rocky and then Photo Friday went ahead and made this week's challenge: Pet.  Perfect!  Although I am guessing all those pet pics won't be terribly inspired, but alas I did not have a "heavy petting" hand on a woman's breast photo to submit! 

Obviously, I had a good selection of photos to choose from... not only Rocky, but alas pets from our past (which was also the planning to be mentioned in this post pre-Photo Friday)... but here is the one that always seems to make us smile:

It was pretty much after this "incident" that we stopped buying plush/stuffed toys for Rocky... or if we do get them, it is with the understanding that they will only be briefly sticking around.  The expression on his face is just pretty priceless!

Anyhow, the post that I was going to write is to tell you that Rocky isn't here right now.  I dropped him off at the vet about a half-hour ago for his very first teeth cleaning.  This whole doggie dental stuff I think is probably a bit of scam (how long did dogs survive without this?!), but it probably is a good thing to do... and we'll probably try to stick to an every other year schedule. 

While the whole anesthesia thing always makes me a little nervous, scheduling and getting through this dental visit has washed up some sad memories.  It was just a year ago (our vet always runs dental specials this time of year), that Toby was scheduled for a dental... which I had to cancel a day or two beforehand because he had developed a cough... and my long time readers will know, that what seemed to be no big deal at that time... just 6 weeks later was our much-too-soon goodbye to Toby to what ultimately ended up being lymphoma.   So again, while it had nothing to do with the dental treatment... it's still a reminder... and I really try my best to not remember dates or unpleasant anniversaries of this sort. 

Okay, that was Debbie Downer... so just go back and look at the picture of Rocky and what was a stuffed giraffe ... only lasted 86 minutes, which at the time was a record destruction time, which I am pretty sure has been broken since then!

Comments

[Scott K]

I can appreciate what you're going through.

I often have wondered the same thing about doggie dental care but decided just as human oral health helps humans live healthier lives, it's probably the same for dogs. I've read how dental problems in humans can cause a whole bunch of other health problems including heart disease and stroke.

We've been trying to take care of our dog's teeth via toys and chews designed to help clean teeth. That way we don't have to schedule the dental cleanings as often. I think the cleanings are rather traumatic for the dog. I felt so bad when we took Bailey as she seemed so stressed afterward even though she was sedated.

Costco has some really good dog dental chews they're selling right now called "Checkups": http://www.checkupstreats.com/ The good thing about the Checkups is that they are both easily digestible (Karter has problems with rawhide) and they're somewhat soft. Our vet strongly recommended that we stay away from hard dental treats like "Greenies". She says she sees a lot of dogs break their teeth on them. As a general rule, you're never supposed to give your dog anything harder than their actual teeth.

Hope Rocky is back to his old self soon.

[Scot]

What's up with this? You hard;y ever post pictures of Rocky, then when you do, they're old. We want new pictures! Can we please have some new pics?

[Jordan]

:)