"I'm feeling skinny, Tony!"
Mackenzie Richardson Sifers, our beautiful tri-colored Bernese Mountain Dog, has a limp. I blame the mean boxer across the street who crashed her into a curb when she was only 9 weeks old and since then she favored her left paw.
She isn't a fast dog, by any means... in wit or speed, but adores people and other dogs around. She is quite content to sit and watch other dogs playing while she leans up against her newest human friend's leg (with our without their permission). She'll bark if she feels like dogs are being too rough, or if a child isn't where they are supposed to be, but doesn't go chasing after them. At most she'll waddle over and nudge or grab at them with her mouth (this is often confused with 'biting.')
Upon our return from our latest romp at the Dog Park, we noticed her limp was a little more exaggerated. Sometimes this happens when she's exerted a little extra energy, so we decided we'd watch it, but weren't too concerned. It was when she got up from laying down and yelped that we knew we needed to take her to the vet and get her poor limp checked out.
We drive up to our local vet clinic, "walk ins welcome" and zero line to boot, so we get seen right away. The receptionist takes notes and says we may need to x-ray it, and then she takes Mac back to get weighed... 97lbs.
The vet smiles at us and reassures us she will not be needing an x-ray. We simply have an overweight dog. Nik and I were surprised by this, because we were told Berners could get up to and beyond 100lbs, but apparently ours is a petite Berner and therefore should be under 80. Oops! The heat of Georgia has made it impossible to walk her, her fur is way too thick and the heat doesn't die down even when the sun is set, so that inactivity layered on the chunk...like our little bear was hibernating. The extra weight was irritating her already sensitive joint thus causing the pain and extra limping. Easy to fix, just less food, more walking (doable now that its cooling down) and joint meds to help with mobility.
Only that's not how we were told...
The vet, we'll call him Dr. Doug, because he reminded me of my Uncle Doug, was a tall skinny man. He had a beard like Santa Clause and wore a kitty-cat tie. He told us to make ourselves comfortable in the examination room. He hops up on the counter. Again smiles at us and says "I'm about to burst your bubble" (for the 4th time) "but I am going to be honest with you, and that will help you and your dog in the end." He was a cheery man, who liked to hear himself talk, but not in a conceited way, in an old man who has been around the block way. We learned about his family history, how much he loves his two grown kids, and what they are up to these days, how his mother's shoulder-replacement went, how his wife's retirement is going... all of these fact he somehow made relevant to why Mac is fat and how exercise and joint meds would help her. He made jokes comparing himself to Arnold Schwarzenegger, would laugh, take a deep breath and say, "anyway." as he looked up at the ceiling as if there was a cue card there reminding him which tangent he had left off at and how to tie it back into his education class. Because at this point, I was getting serious college flashbacks, and feeling nervous that I didn't have a notebook to take notes because I probably wasn't going to do very good on the quiz. What did he says his wife's name was?
He needed to get Mac some Dog-Asprin and left the room saying "I'll need to get help. HELP HELP. Ladies! I need help from you ladies..." A complete character.
Bottom line, losing 15 lbs will ease her pain and extend her life considerably. So time to start walking daily, even if its a short walk, eating less (a new dog in the house should help with that) and Mac'll be as good as new.
We walked out with our chubby-chubster bear of a dog, ears full of Dr. Doug's thoughts.
She isn't a fast dog, by any means... in wit or speed, but adores people and other dogs around. She is quite content to sit and watch other dogs playing while she leans up against her newest human friend's leg (with our without their permission). She'll bark if she feels like dogs are being too rough, or if a child isn't where they are supposed to be, but doesn't go chasing after them. At most she'll waddle over and nudge or grab at them with her mouth (this is often confused with 'biting.')
Upon our return from our latest romp at the Dog Park, we noticed her limp was a little more exaggerated. Sometimes this happens when she's exerted a little extra energy, so we decided we'd watch it, but weren't too concerned. It was when she got up from laying down and yelped that we knew we needed to take her to the vet and get her poor limp checked out.
We drive up to our local vet clinic, "walk ins welcome" and zero line to boot, so we get seen right away. The receptionist takes notes and says we may need to x-ray it, and then she takes Mac back to get weighed... 97lbs.
The vet smiles at us and reassures us she will not be needing an x-ray. We simply have an overweight dog. Nik and I were surprised by this, because we were told Berners could get up to and beyond 100lbs, but apparently ours is a petite Berner and therefore should be under 80. Oops! The heat of Georgia has made it impossible to walk her, her fur is way too thick and the heat doesn't die down even when the sun is set, so that inactivity layered on the chunk...like our little bear was hibernating. The extra weight was irritating her already sensitive joint thus causing the pain and extra limping. Easy to fix, just less food, more walking (doable now that its cooling down) and joint meds to help with mobility.
Only that's not how we were told...
The vet, we'll call him Dr. Doug, because he reminded me of my Uncle Doug, was a tall skinny man. He had a beard like Santa Clause and wore a kitty-cat tie. He told us to make ourselves comfortable in the examination room. He hops up on the counter. Again smiles at us and says "I'm about to burst your bubble" (for the 4th time) "but I am going to be honest with you, and that will help you and your dog in the end." He was a cheery man, who liked to hear himself talk, but not in a conceited way, in an old man who has been around the block way. We learned about his family history, how much he loves his two grown kids, and what they are up to these days, how his mother's shoulder-replacement went, how his wife's retirement is going... all of these fact he somehow made relevant to why Mac is fat and how exercise and joint meds would help her. He made jokes comparing himself to Arnold Schwarzenegger, would laugh, take a deep breath and say, "anyway." as he looked up at the ceiling as if there was a cue card there reminding him which tangent he had left off at and how to tie it back into his education class. Because at this point, I was getting serious college flashbacks, and feeling nervous that I didn't have a notebook to take notes because I probably wasn't going to do very good on the quiz. What did he says his wife's name was?
He needed to get Mac some Dog-Asprin and left the room saying "I'll need to get help. HELP HELP. Ladies! I need help from you ladies..." A complete character.
Bottom line, losing 15 lbs will ease her pain and extend her life considerably. So time to start walking daily, even if its a short walk, eating less (a new dog in the house should help with that) and Mac'll be as good as new.
We walked out with our chubby-chubster bear of a dog, ears full of Dr. Doug's thoughts.
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