Grueling Gauntlet
October is a grueling gauntlet of birthdays, health appointments, and preparation before the holidays. It’s one of my favorite months of the year, even though it’s always one of the busiest. Not only do I have my annual primary care, dentist, and eye doctor appointments scheduled, but my husband and I also schedule our fur babies’ annual vet and seasonal grooming appointments as well. And that’s not even including the blur known as NCAA football season, multiple birthday celebrations, and possible vacations to add to the madness.
The dogs get professionally groomed every three months. I could always give them a bath at home, but the groomer just gets them so pristine. Their fur is so soft and clean and they smell really fresh after their play date with the groomer. You can see the biggest difference with Sasha. She goes from a brownish off-white to a beautiful pure white. Her paws and toe beans go back to their original pink coloration instead of showing remnants of dirt from her scampering around outside.
In between the scheduled grooming appointments, my husband usually brushes them and their coats out each week. Since there’s usually piles of loose fur flying around, we sit outside on our patio to reduce the amount of fur in the house. Thankfully they don’t fight us too much since they enjoy getting rubbed and brushed, especially on their backs.
Despite our attempts to keep them nice and clean, after a while they definitely start feeling a little grungy. At this point, if you rub their fur for too long, you can actually feel a dander residue from their grimy skin. It’s pretty disgusting, but they truly can’t help it. I try to limit their baths to only once a month to prevent their skin from getting unnecessarily dry.
As for their vet appointments, we try to schedule them on the same day so we don’t have to wake up early two Saturdays in a row. It’s definitely more hectic than taking them one at a time, but it’s been great for optimizing our productivity during our packed weekends. We make sure to get their normal yearly vaccinations so they are protected against any germs or bacteria they may come in contact with.
I’ve always heard dog parks, groomers, boarding facilities, and even vet offices can be breeding grounds for contagious diseases and infections for dogs. I’d rather keep them as safe as possible and prevent putting them in those situations if they are potentially immunocompromised.
Since the twins are still so young and we place an emphasis on feeding them fruits, veggies, and supplements on a regular basis, they typically pass their exams with flying colors. The only issues they deal with the most are random ear infections and inflamed toe beans. Thankfully for them, we keep the medicine to clear up those discomforts on hand so they can get back to roughhousing and playing super quickly.
The cost of owning a dog doesn’t just stop when you buy or adopt it. The fully loaded cost includes food, toys, bedding, medicines, vet appointments, grooming, and any other normal, recurrent expenditures that are consumed solely by the fur baby. Pet insurance, while optional, is part of Nala and Sasha’s monthly bills, because you never know when they may require a major medical expense. I’d much rather know I’m getting reimbursed 80% after the deductible is met, than having to pay multiple thousands of dollars out of my pocket.
While October always seems like it’s a never ending marathon, it’s always fun getting to check things off my list and have quality time with family. Safe to say, no matter what we have going on, October is always a crazy, hectic time to be alive.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
