A Visit to the Vet's

Yesterday my daughter took my two dogs

and me to the vet’s. The younger pup needed

her rabies shot; the elder to have his nails

trimmed. The vet examined the youngster's

teeth and noticed a build-up of plaque.

We have an excellent anesthesiologist, she

assured me. There’s very little chance of

something going wrong. It’s pretty much

necessary to put dogs to sleep for an

extensive cleaning.

I knew how expensive that procedure would

be, so I nodded my head without mentioning

the subject any further. Back to the matter at

hand today—rabies shot, nails trimmed, and

oh yes, I’ll be needing flea and tick meds for

both dogs.

Your total today will be one-hundred and

eighty-four dollars the assistant told me.

Will that be okay? I said no. What choice

do I have but to pay? (A gasp and chuckles

from all the humans in the examining room.)

When the vet and her assistant took the little

pup out of the room for her inoculation, I

told my daughter that the teeth-cleaning bit

would assuredly be a pretty costly proposition,

and for now I’d have to let that one slide. She

winced and nodded her head in agreement.

When the doctor and her assistant returned

with my little one, she said, all done. She

did just fine. I then broached the matter of

rabies with the good doctor. We discussed

that for a while when she told me that she,

as part of her veterinarian responsibilities,

had to go through a series of rabies shots

for protection, and that it cost her some

six-hundred dollars out of her own pocket.

I looked into her eyes, and without blinking

or the slightest hint of surprise, I offered how

for that steep a price she might have instead

been given anesthesia and gotten her own

teeth cleaned.

Chris Hanch 9-16-18