I arrived at 7:40, five minutes early. It was super foggy, so I was pretty proud of my early-ness. Nobody else, however, was quite that sunny, or ready. We, in fact, were about ten minutes late getting started for our appointment. A bit of a frustration point, since I'd been called & asked the night before if I could back the appointment up from the 8:00 appointment to 7:45 to better accommodate their schedules. Hmm.... Ask me to get there early, be ready, huh?
Romeo was tied to the trailer, and Ransom went first into the stocks. Dr Sam is very quiet when he works. A pleasure, actually. He quickly gave Ransom a look over, checked heart rate, respiration, gut sounds, temp, all checked OK. Dr Sam pried Ransom's mouth open with the float-contraption, and pointed out at least two top molars that were about an inch too long, one on each side. He strongly recommended a float, and I agreed. Doc sedated Ransom with a multi drug concoction. Ransom was quick to relax, but as the mechanical float began, he argued just a bit. More drugs it is! With an extra dose of two of the drugs, Ransom was in fa la la land, and the float continued.
A full batch of vaccines, and Romeo was next. Romeo's visit went much like Ransom's, only with less drugs, and less float work. Romeo had better teeth. But I figured Ransom's would be bad, since he hadn't been floated in my care. Romeo had been, about a year ago. Romeo took the sedate drugs real good! He was Out Of It for nearly 45 minutes. Vaccines for Mo, and off we go.
There's a new coggins out , by the way , if anyone else didn't know . It's digital. Instead of horse sketch drawings, they take pictures. I will know more when my copy arrives. Neat deal from what was described.
My overall impression is Dr Sam gets down to business, and focuses solely on the horse. That's a good thing. He told me what I needed to know, and his opinion, and he didn't mince words. He was to the point, and decisive. So from working with him and Deanna, I was satisfied.
I checked out. OI VEY! Um, at first impact, the cost for the two floats and full shots (& one coggins) about blew me over. I paid, but with a general thought of , "Holy crap!! I can't do that once a year! They're going to Kill My bank account!" When I got home, however, I checked the fees of CVC against my previous vet. Yeah, it's about the same. I suppose "sticker shock" set in when I had both boys there at once rather than one at a time.
Overall decision? Keepers! I like that they're closer, everyone is young & recent from school, so supporters of newer technology, including mechanical floats & sedating for floats. Even in the midst of construction, they were still working together as a good team. And did I mention it's closer to home? CVC is about 20 minutes from the house, whereas my old vet was 45 minutes away. I like 20 minutes away! Even in the fog!!
Sometime next week, I'll stuff in a final update about the rest of my day with the boys after we got back from the vet. I'll let Ransom & Romeo give you their point of view on the ickie nasty things I did to them after we pulled in the driveway.
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