Foreign Doctors

When you are on vacation the last thing you want to have to do is take your kid to the doctor. If it’s something minor like a runny nose, then you might wait and see whether they seem to get better or worse before you research who to go see. If they do get worse it is bound to be at the most inopportune time. Sequoia is my furry kid and he pulled this stunt on me. He’s been scratching his ears for a few weeks and has had a drippy nose, but he’s a dog, they scratch and their noses are always wet. I figured it was not worth worrying. He’s got long, floppy, furry ears that can be prone to ear infections, but they did not look red. So, I’ve been watching it. At 6am the other morning he scratched and let out a high-pitched yelp! I jumped out of bed to find one of his ears bleeding. That was my cue. I had to find a local vet; the dreaded foreign doctor.


Dogs, like kids, get anxious about going to the doctor and especially one they do not know. I used to have a dog that would cower under the chairs in the Vet’s office. I didn’t know how Sequoia was going to react. We were still in Pagosa Springs, the land of large animal doctors who mainly care for horses, cows, and buffalo, so I looked for an established veterinary clinic that would see small animals. Like most parents with intuition I knew this was probably an ear infection, but I couldn’t diagnose it myself. I needed someone to get down there with a scope and tell me what they see before treating him with the medicine I have left from the last bout of infection. We were supposed to be heading out of town that same morning…bad timing as predicted.

I called first thing and got the earliest appointment available. Sequoia was a champion! The vet technician came over to weigh him and he just wanted to jump on her instead of the scale. Once we got into the room he let the vet poke and prod those ears without a flinch. The vet couldn’t believe how he kept still. The only nerves I saw were from the fact that he was lifted into the air and put on a high table. I praise our vet from home who was wonderful with him since he was a puppy. Keeping the experience positive is the key. She gave him a treat after his exam or shot. A woman with treats; what could be better for a dog? A pinch here and there is worth it if there are treats in the end! This vet didn’t have treats, but he was a big dog about it and didn’t sulk.

After a clean bill of health and no infection to be found he was diagnosed with seasonal allergies. As suspected, it was really nothing to worry about and nothing a little Benadryl can’t cure. That’s a relief. All the time we spent worrying that Adam was going to be allergic to the dog, and we got a dog who has allergies! Hope he’s not allergic to Adam. How’s that for irony?