Flounder Goes To The Vet

On a rainy Wednesday afternoon last week, Flounder and I went to the Vet. Flounder is 94 years old ... about 13.5 in human years.
It was time for his annual check up, so I raced home from work, gave him a bath, and loaded him up for the ride into town.

He was a little worried, but I told him it would be okay. I asked him if there was anything new we should mention to the doctor, besides the dry eyes, new growths here and there, and the persistent yeast problem in his ears and skin.
Flounder sighed.


We were both a little bummed when the scale at the vet showed a 10 pound loss in weight compared to a year ago. I was worried that a new set of growths on his gums might be sensitive and be interfering with his eating. They were small, but it seemed plausible.
His sister Feather has a long history of interfering with his feeding after she wolfs down her own chow, but we had separated them at meal time, so I didn't think she was an issue this time.


We talked about it some while we were waiting for the vet to come see us in the little exam room.
He seemed worried.

I rubbed his big sweet head and told him not to worry. The vet would know what to do.

When the vet arrived, he gave Flounder a thorough exam. When he checked out the little growths on Flounder's lower, front gums, he found a bad tooth that was definitely sensitive as Flounder flinched when he touched it.

"It's not in there very good, I can jerk that right out and relieve his discomfort." said the vet.

"Okay, Doc, but I'm leaving the room if you are doing anything dental." I said. (Can I get an "Amen" fellow dentaphobes?)

As it turned out, Flounder took a short walk to a back room and came back missing the bad tooth, seemingly no worse for wear.

We left the vet with drops for his dry eye condition, heartworm tablets to keep him parasite free, and a powerful antifungal to battle his rampant skin/ear yeast infection. It's one of those drugs we have avoided using, as long term use can cause liver damage, but at this point in Flounder's travels, I think he should be as comfortable as possible.

Long term use of any medicine is probably not a concern of his now. That was hard to admit at the vet's and hard to write now.

Driving home, he let me know he was okay with my decision and that he still loved me.


Since the visit and tooth removal, he has been eating like a horse and we have been pulling him in to the kitchen for special high calorie spoiling sessions.

Feather is not amused, but being female, she has the opposite weight problem, and she is on stricter rations.

She goes to the vet next month. I'll keep you posted.

Other news:

I thought today's post would be about a ginormous grey ratsnake ... even bigger than the pump house snake I'm always posting here at PF!

When you are the science teacher and have a ... um, reputation ... label? ... like I do, kids will bring you all kinds of stuff.

Yesterday, after school, a bunch of boys brought me the biggest grey ratsnake I have ever seen. She might go a full 6 feet. We slipped her into an old book bag that someone had left in the classroom for months, and I took her home.

When I got home, I carried my camera, my laptop, and my snake book bag into the house and dumped it all on the kitchen table as is my habit. It was late, grey and overcast, so I decided to wait until the next day (today) to photograph her before releasing her in my woods.

The book bag con serpent sat on the table all through the evening. Around bedtime, I decided it might get dragged off by Bear, so I took it out and set it on a patio table on the front porch.

This morning, when I went to get her for photos, the bag was very light and she was gone. A slight gap on the zippered closure was all she had needed.

Not to worry, I'm sure she will turn up again and I will share her with y'all.

I'm wishing I had left the bag on the kitchen table now, ... at least then I'd know she was in the house somewhere and findable.