E3: We are going to the vet

Listen to episode 3. Available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Judge peed on Bruce's leg on the examination table. From nerves, in a dog who is otherwise excellent about where he goes. Ben gave Bowie the wrong human allergy medication, Reactine Complete instead of plain Reactine, and spent two days calling the emergency vet at 6am while Bowie's pupils stayed fully dilated. Makenzie runs out the moment she is done, stops at the door, takes a breath, and then turns back.

Three dogs, three clinics, and in all three the visit asked something the appointment did not prepare anyone for.

This is a conversation about what actually happens in the room, for the dog and for the person on the other end of the lead.

We talk about the dog who looks fine on the table and what that compliance is actually made of. About Makenzie's hip dysplasia diagnosis, and the seven vets who said surgery immediately, and the eighth who said no. About the physiotherapist in the US who asked questions none of the previous vets had raised, and what changed when those questions went back to the vet in London. About finding that Makenzie is calmer at the vet when I am not in the room, and what that changed about what I thought presence was doing.

The conversation moves through what fear looks like in a clinic when it does not look like fear. Through what it means to advocate for a dog who cannot speak to the vet directly. Through the moment the list of options is placed in front of you and you are expected to decide.

The vet lists the options and waits. What we carry into that pause is rarely just the question we came with.